Jay GreesonI answer emailed sports questions every Friday in my online column, the “5-at-10.”
Feel free to fire a question if you have one.
This week we got a bunch of great questions, including someone asking about the NBA Finals MVP and the best NBA players who have entered the league since 1979.
I think the MVP of a series can be from the losing team because it’s a direct comparison over the course of the games played. We understand your point, and lean toward that thinking during the regular season, when the definition of value has a wider interpretation and wider sample from which to examine.
But the main thing that needs to be addressed on the MVP voting was if they were bent and determined not to give it to the best player in the world, then it’s mind-boggling how Stephen Curry did not win it, never mind not get a single vote.
How can Andre Iguodala be the most “valuable” player when a) The Cavs wanted him to shoot the ball on every possession and b) his ‘awesome’ defense of LeBron James allowed him to set Finals records for points accounted for?
Whatever.
As for the question about the top 10 players to enter the NBA since 1979, it’s an awesome question and one we could spend entirely too much time on.
Before we can list, we are going to set the following criteria:
First, you have to have a title to be considered. Period.
Second, normally I try to set value by the trade scale. That means if the Bulls called and offered Michael Jordan in his prime for LeBron in his prime, which team would say no? That does not work here because of outside value, positional importance and fan connection.
Third, what happened to the teams after the superstars left carries a ton of weight.
Fourth, teammates matter. Jordan was scoring a ton of points, but the Bulls were no better than the third-best team in the East until the Celtics got old and Scottie Pippen emerged. That hurts Jordan some, you know.
OK, here’s our top 10 players since 1979:
1. Jordan – The way he re-invented himself midway through his career to become a perimeter assassin is the difference-maker. If LeBron can do that, he’ll win five of the next eight titles and there will be no debate about any of this.
2. James – The fact that he’s made five consecutive finals with two teams, that when he left Cleveland they became the worst team in the league and that when he left Miami, the Heat went from four-time finalists to missing the playoffs is too much.
3. Magic Johnson – LeBron 1.0, but loses to LeBron because of the huge athletic differences. Ahead of Larry and the rest because after Magic got HIV, the Lakers tumbled.
4. Kobe Bryant – Arguably underrated in all-time circles because he’s such a jackwagon. We believe this, too: If LeBron was as selfish and had the killer instinct that Kobe does, he’d have two more championships and at least three more scoring titles.
5. Larry Bird – Injuries hurt, and there’s probably no one this side of Jimmy Chitwood we’d trust more to take the final shot.
6. Tim Duncan – His individual rankings in some regard are watered down by the overall success and franchise respect the Spurs have achieved, if that makes sense. It becomes easy to think “Well, the Spurs did this as a team,” but Duncan’s skills are top shelf.
7. Hakeem Olajuwan – Quite possibly the most skilled big man to ever play.
8. Shaquille O’Neal – Physically unstoppable. But when you can’t be on the floor in crunch time because you are a liability to your team, that hurts your overall value.
9. Dirk Nowitzki – This may be too high, but other than the romanticism with the Bird-Magic/Celtics-Lakers stuff, Nowitzki’s career is very similar to Larry Legend’s. Dirk scores more and wins less because he doesn’t have Dennis Johnson, Kevin McHale or Robert Parrish around.
10. Isiah Thomas – His injury-riddled body holds the career numbers down, but it’s too easy to forget how fluid and effective he was. In fact, there were a lot of folks who would have rather had Thomas than Magic when both were in their prime. The prism of time has rightly swung that opinion in Magic’s corner, but Isiah could really play.
Curry will be on that list soon. Iguodala will not.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter @jgreesonftp.com. You can read his online column, the “5-at-10,” Monday through Friday at timesfreepress.com after 10 a.m.