NBA Power Rankings: Kobe Bryant and Each Team's Most Dynamic Offensive Weapon
As the old saying goes in the NBA, and in all sports for that matter, defense wins championships. While that may be true, it is offense that puts the butts in the seats, sells the jerseys and makes the money for the teams.
Beyond that, it's the high-flying dunks, the long-range threes, the silky-smooth crossovers and the effortless yet seemingly impossible passes that get the fans out of their seats.
These plays are some of the most dynamic in all of basketball, and each team has at least one player who is capable of doing these things.
Some were easy choices, such as Kobe Bryant for the Lakers, Kevin Durant for the Thunder and Deron Williams for the Nets.
However, others were not so easy. Wade or LeBron? Carmelo or Amar'e? Do the Cavs even have one of these players?
All of these questions and more are answered in the following slides, all you have to do is click the little arrow in the bottom right hand corner to find out what they are.
Atlanta Hawks, Joe Johnson
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It's a bit hard to pick out the most dynamic scorer on the Hawks.
Joe Johnson does what Joe Johnson has always done, even if he has had a bit of a down year, Josh Smith is like a big, angry, worse shooting Scottie Pippen and Al Horford is just a Mack truck down low.
Heck, if this were last year, you could argue for Jamal Crawford as well.
When it comes down to it though, the tiebreaker has to be who the fans come there to see.
Seeing Josh Smith work like a man possessed with his combination of power and finesse is fun. Seeing big Al put the fear of god into a defender when he grabs a loose rebound and rams it back home is exhilarating, but the real treat is Johnson.
Johnson can score from anywhere on the floor, and when he is really trying hard, he can do something unexpected at any moment. He mixes highlight reel dunks with the ability to break the ankles of many NBA defenders in a way that only some of the best can do it.
There is a reason he got a maximum contract this offseason, even though it still seems a bit insane.
Boston Celtics, Rajon Rondo
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God help me, but I'm starting to develop a little bit of a man crush on Rajon Rondo.
On the Celtics, Paul Pierce can do all the Paul Piercey things, Ray Allen can drain the three and Kevin Garnett can be big and mean and score like big mean men can, but Rondo is just something special.
If you take away the fact that he has a jumper that is as bad as mine (I'm the Ben Wallace of pick-up games, don't let me shoot if I'm on your team, but I'll grab any rebound that comes my way regardless of the size of the guy next to me), Rondo is one of the most exciting and unpredictable players around.
He can dismantle nearly any defender in the league off the dribble and get to the rim, at which point he can do one of 948 things, either take the shot for himself, curl the ball around the opposing big man to KG, deftly reverse the ball to Allen or no-look dish it out to a wide-open Pierce for a 12-footer.
You name it, he can do it.
Oh, and this just absolutely makes me weep with gladness.
Charlotte Bobcats, DJ Augustin
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The Bobcats are a team with nobody who really sticks out.
Sure, Stephen Jackson is the main man on the 'Cats, but he isn't really a dynamic player at this point in his career.
Tyrus Thomas is ferocious at times but is nothing really special in the end.
Eventually, after struggling for a while to pick someone from this group, I had to go with DJ Augustin for his ability to heat up like a microwave and go on streaks where he doesn't miss a shot for five or six straight attempts.
Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose
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Take Rajon Rondo, take away some of the ridiculous passes that Rondo can pull off, but instead, give him a jumper and freakish athleticism and you have Derrick Rose in a nutshell.
Rose can do almost anything on the court, and his ability to do just that has earned him a whole lot of hype in this season's MVP race.
Rose can attack, fake the attack only to step back and shoot, dribble, drive and pass and break down defenders like they are 12 years old.
It's truly a treat to watch Derrick Rose do what he does.
Cleveland Cavaliers, Christian Eyenga
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There are many ways I could have gone here and having watched most of the Cavs' games this year (don't weep for me, I'm already dead) I went down every road before deciding on Eyenga.
I could have picked Baron Davis, everyone would have said, "Ah yes, that seems correct," and skittered on.
I could have picked Ramon Sessions and his constant cutting and slashing to the hoop and been content with myself.
However, in the end, my mind wandered back to the player that made me the most excited throughout this season, and that was Christian Eyenga.
"Sky"enga is a freak of an athlete, and every time he gets near the ball on offense, he nearly hits his head on the scoreboard like a punt at the new Cowboys' Stadium. He may not score much, but when he does, it is exhilarating.
Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki
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Dirk Nowitzki turns in a year like this one every so often to remind everyone why he is the best foreign-born player since Hakeem Olajuwon.
This season, Dirk has been exciting in every single game I have seen him play in.
He can score from anywhere on the floor and is an excellent passer, making him seem like a seven-foot Larry Bird.
Sure, Dirk may be a bit more slow-footed in his advanced age, but he is still one exciting player.
Denver Nuggets, Danilo Gallinari
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I will admit it right here and now that I haven't watched enough of the new-look Nuggets to really get a handle on them yet, but I do know that each time I have watched them, I ended up being extremely entertained by Danilo Gallinari.
My favorite thing about this Nuggets team, and the biggest reason that they are able to thrive without Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony is the fact that they do have so many dynamic players who are not necessarily stars, but able to score in so many different ways. It makes them extremely difficult to defend.
Gallinari makes me swoon for the mere fact that I saw him play for a few minutes with the Nuggets as a face-the-basket power forward, and he did a great job of it. He looked like a smooth, Italian Luis Scola for the time.
He has such a smoothness to his game that it seems every step that he takes is so natural, and it becomes intoxicating to watch him play. I don't know if other people feel the same way about him, but I'm just saying my experiences with the guy have made me develop a bit of a man crush.
Detroit Pistons, Rodney Stuckey
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Can we all have a moment of silence for Rodney Stuckey?
Here's a guy that is playing with two guys that need to retire (Ben Wallace and T-Mac), two guys that need to be role players on a new team (Tayshaun Prince and Rip Hamilton) and two guys that got way overpaid and now aren't worth half of what their contracts say (Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva).
On my count, he is playing with one other guy (Greg Monroe) out of 12, that should actually be laying the foundation of a team that should have been in full-on rebuilding mode last season.
All this taken into consideration, Stuckey still finds a way to put together a fun offensive game with his combination of size, strength and athleticism.
Golden State Warriors, Monta Ellis
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Monta Ellis has been accused of being a ball-hog, and in a lot of ways he is, but he plays in an offensive system that allows him to be that ball hog and be exciting while he is at it.
Ellis is the quickest guy on the floor in almost every game he plays and can leap incredibly high for a guy his size.
This allows Ellis to not only create exciting fast breaks but also penetrate into the lane and bang bodies down low, as he is also a very tough little guy.
He has a Jimmer Fredette-ish confidence in his shot that allows him to take some of the most awkward looking shots you could imagine, whether they go in or not is sometimes beside the point.
Houston Rockets, Luis Scola
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Some of you will be screaming at your computer screen right now for the fact that I didn't pick Kevin Martin for the Rockets, but there is just something about Luis Scola that makes him entertaining.
Scola is one of those players who will play with his body on the line in every play. Although he is a bit undersized for the low post, he is amazing in the low post at the same time.
The number of low-post moves that Scola is proficient at boggles the mind. He can go either way dribbling with either hand, he can back down an opponent and spin either way. Scola has an array of fake-out moves, a good jumper from about 15 feet or less and is just impressive altogether in the post.
The best part about Scola is that just when you think you have his low-post game figured out he dishes the ball down to a cutting guard or fellow big man with the skill of a point guard.
Indiana Pacers, Darren Collison
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One of the things that makes Darren Collison so fun to watch on offense is the fact that he is one of the freakishly athletic types that have flooded the NBA in recent years.
For a guy that is a hair over 6-0 to get up as high as he can get at times is something special in itself, and it should be appreciated.
Besides that, Collison is a natural ball-handler who is good at creating his own shot and creating other peoples shots as well.
He may not be as pure a point guard as some of the better point guards in the league, but he does show off some flashy moves from time to time.
Los Angeles Clippers, Blake Griffin
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What is there to say about Blake Griffin that hasn't already been said?
Let's recap for a second shall we?
He can post up anything, even a Kia, he can jump over anything, even a Kia, and he could overpower anything...even a Kia.
Lame jokes aside, there is one thing I have to say about Blake Griffin that I have noticed, the only time he ever makes an expression on offense is when he is going up for a dunk or to grab an alley-oop, otherwise he is stone faced.
This, I think, is what makes him so exciting. You can see his face start to contort, and you know something ridiculous is coming. It's like a little warning that you are about to see something that is going to make you go, "Ohhhiiiuguggghhh." At least that's the noise I make when I see him do something crazy.
Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant
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Kobe Bryant is the easiest choice to make in this whole slideshow.
I'm not normally a Kobe fan-boy, but honestly Kobe Bryant can do anything he wants on a basketball court. Anything.
When Bryant goes into "Underbite Mode," you are about to see something that you will talk about tomorrow or possibly tweet about at that very moment.
That is the one thing I think LeBron James is missing from his game, and it's not something most players have ever had.
When you can actually see a player slip into "get out of my way" mode, it's like nothing else you have ever seen on a court. When LeBron gets there he usually slides gradually into it, rather than flipping a switch, he eases into is.
If he can turn it on and off like Kobe seemingly can, then I think he will be able to lead his team to a title. He may win a title without that mode, but it will be a LeBron-Wade joint operation, rather than a LeBron expedition featuring Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Memphis Grizzlies, Rudy Gay
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Rudy Gay stunned the basketball world this offseason by signing a max contract with the Grizzlies, (this is also the team that signed Mike Conley to a five-year extension worth nearly $50 million (and we wonder why the league is going broke), but at some point, people forgot what a good player Gay actually is.
Rudy Gay is like a poor man's Joe Johnson but with a better attitude and with a lot more likeability, so I would say I like Gay better.
As for his offensive game, Gay is like any other small forward that has come into the league since 2002. He is a freak athlete, a high-flier, has a JaVale McGee-like wingspan and is a good shooter.
All of those things make for a fun offensive player.
Miami Heat, LeBron James
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If we were talking about who is the best scorer on each team, this would be a harder choice, but when talking about the most dynamic scorer on the Heat, the winner is LeBron James.
Dwyane Wade is exciting and dynamic in his own right, but James may be the most dynamic scorer in the game.
I watched the guy play for seven years, and the only thing I wanted to see from him that he didn't do enough was post up, otherwise he can do almost anything on the court.
His dribble breakdowns of his defenders are impressive for a guy that is 6'8", and his dunks are legendary at this point.
Every time you go to see LeBron play, you know you are going to be on your feet at least four times during the course of the game because of something he does.
Milwaukee Bucks, Brandon Jennings
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Although Brandon Jennings was shut down with a broken foot for about a month earlier in the season, he is still the Bucks most exciting offensive player.
He is constantly moving, with or without the ball, and is an excellent ball-handler who is quicker than a hiccup.
Along with that, he is extremely willing (maybe too willing) to take chances on the offensive end of the floor.
All of these things make for a dynamic and exciting offensive player.
Minnesota Timberwolves, Kevin Love
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It's hard to find a player on the Timberwolves that I would consider a dynamic player offensively, so I took the easy way out and picked Kevin Love.
Love is a fun player who can stretch any defense with his ability to play at the rim and shoot the long ball.
It is this ability to score from anywhere on the court, along with grab about 73 offensive rebounds during the course of a game that make him exciting.
New Jersey Nets, Deron Williams
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The trade for Deron Williams gave the Nets something they didn't have before—a dynamic scorer.
Sure, they had Devin Harris who was a good scorer and a good point guard, but he wasn't nearly as exciting as Williams is.
Anytime you can have a player induce this, you know he is something special and exciting.
New Orleans Hornets, Chris Paul
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Chris Paul is arguably the best point guard in the league, which easily makes him the most dynamic offensive player on the Hornets.
Paul can score in a variety of ways and is a very cerebral penetrater, and you can see him slowly size up his opponent and figure out the best way to break him down.
He is also a terrific passer and can see lanes that seem impossible at times, looking like Brett Favre throwing a pass through a tiny window at times, except he doesn't throw nearly as many interceptions.
New York Knicks, Carmelo Anthony
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Before the Carmelo Anthony trade, there was no question that Amar'e Stoudemire was the most exciting offensive player on the Knicks. Now, however, there is no question that that person is Carmelo Anthony.
Anthony can score in more ways than probably anybody in the NBA, as he is a good jump shooter, he can take his man one-on-one at the top of the key and penetrate on a dribble drive, he can post up most players on the court and can use finesse low-post moves to break down a down low defender.
Carmelo is one of the most versatile shooters in the game, and it is extremely entertaining to watch the guy do his thing under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden.
Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant
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Where Carmelo Anthony is one of the most versatile scorers in the league, Kevin Durant is one of the best at doing what he is best at.
Kevin Durant is extremely capable of getting to the rim off the dribble, and he is great at moving without the ball and creating his own shot without having the ball.
Down low he can post up and power the ball home using his tremendous strength and slam it down using his incredible athleticism.
Durant can also pull up at any time and drain a jump shot in the face of any defender or catch and shoot beyond the three-point line.
Orlando Magic, Dwight Howard
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Dwight Howard is the best player at arguably the most important position on the floor, and while he does that, he is extremely exciting.
Howard is the most dominant center since Shaquille O'Neal when he was in his prime, but he has yet to reach the peak that Shaq did between 1998 and 2002. However, he is still a strong man who looks like he is playing amongst boys at times, making it very interesting to watch him.
Dwight can dominate the low post, gobble up offensive rebounds to put back in with ferocity, and he is starting to develop a very good low post game.
Watching him get the ball on the low block and spin with the speed and finesse of a man six inches shorter while putting it easily off the glass with his right hand is a thing of beauty.
Philadelphia 76ers, Andre Iguodala
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I tried to talk myself into picking Jrue Holliday for this one, believe me I did. But in the end, I had to settle on Andre Iguodala. So long as he is still playing at a high level, he will be their most exciting offensive player.
Iggy is another one of those freaky athletes that we have seen flood the league who can jump over a building with a single bound.
He is also quite fast once he gets some room in front of him which gives him plenty of boost when taking off for a fast-break dunk.
Phoenix Suns, Steve Nash
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I could go on for hours and hours about Steve Nash. He is easily the best player in the league at getting as much as he can out of the team that he is given.
Without Steve Nash, the Phoenix Suns would be headed for a top-five draft pick, with Steve Nash they are a borderline playoff team.
One of the things that Nash does so well is see every angle on the court. He could get the ball to any player on his team whenever he wants to, and that's what makes him so dangerous.
Besides his tremendous point guard skills, Nash is a terrific shooter from anywhere and can even get to the rim and throw his body into harms way from time to time.
Chris Paul and Deron Williams may be the point guards that get everyone up in arms, but if I had one game or one series to win for that matter, I would want Steve Nash to be my point guard.
Portland Trail Blazers, LaMarcus Aldridge
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LaMarcus Aldridge has become one of the best finesse big men in the NBA this season, and watching him slowly break down his defender in the low post is just fun to watch.
Aldridge has some of the quickest feet of any big man in the NBA and can whirl around like a helicopter at any time and pull up for a jumper, fake the jumper and lean in to draw the foul or lean under the defender and bank it home.
He can shoot the mid-range ball great for a big man, and with some added muscle, he has been able to body up some of the biggest boys to roam the court.
Aldridge is just a complete big man who has been incredibly fun to watch grow this season from an average low-post player to one of the best in the league.
Sacramento Kings, Marcus Thornton
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I couldn't make myself pick Tyreke Evans here because when it comes down to it, when you have a guy shooting 16 or 17 times a game and only making six or seven of those shots, it doesn't matter how many different ways you can score, it stops being exciting.
Thornton, however, is a complete offensive package and is starting to look like quite the steal for the Kings.
He can pass better than many of the two-guards in the league and is terrific at leading a fast break. Plus, he is a player with tons of finesse who can control his body impressively in mid-air.
Oh, and he kind of looks like a slimmed down Biz Markie, which is very cool.
San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginobili
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Watching Manu Ginobili play is like watching a guy on the streets run a three-card monte game.
His game is incredibly quick and agile, he is always changing directions and there is always a trick up his sleeve—and don't rule out the possibility of it being a dirty trick.
Ginobili can do so much on offense that it doesn't seem like he should be able to do. He is a skinny little Argentine guy who looks like he could be your balding Uncle Tony.
The only difference between Ginobili and your balding Uncle Tony is that Ginobili can play some of the smoothest yet dynamic offense in the NBA...and swat bats out of the air.
Toronto Raptors, DeMar DeRozan
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DeMar DeRozan really burst onto the scene in the past few years through the dunk contests (and he was screwed in both contests he competed in), but he is really a great player besides the whole crazy hops thing.
Sure, DeRozan has the ability to jump 63 feet in the air, do a double-backflip while reading poetry and sipping a cappuccino, all before throwing down a ferocious dunk.
Besides that he is a terrific catch-and-shoot guy and is pretty good at creating his own shot with the ball.
Utah Jazz, Devin Harris
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After losing Deon Williams to a midseason trade, the Jazz have their consolation prize Devin Harris taking over in their offense.
There are more efficient and prolific scorers on their team, such as Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap, but Jefferson can't do much outside of eight feet, and Millsap is far too streaky.
Devin Harris, on the other hand is a dynamic point guard who isn't up there with the elite but has good point guard skills in his own right.
He is also a pretty good scorer when given the opportunity and can drive to the hole when needed and shoot from just about anywhere on the floor.
Washington Wizards, John Wall
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Nick Young and the recently acquired Jordan Crawford nearly swayed me their way, but I haven't seen enough out of Crawford to give him this title, and I think Wall edges out Young by a few strides.
John Wall is an amazing point guard at this point in his career; he is one of the best rookie point guards in recent memory.
When Wall really gets his game on a roll then you will see some pretty amazing things.
He is a natural point guard and, like Steve Nash, seems like he can easily get the ball to any player on the court whenever he wants.
Along with his amazing point guard skills, wall is an excellent dribbler and can break down many a defender and is good at making some wild shots to boot.
Any time Wall is in the game, you are in for a show.
