5. Kevin Durant
Led the league in scoring for the 2nd consecutive year (27.7) and despite Lebron's claims that he could win the scoring title ever year, Durant is the best scorer in the NBA today (Anthony is a close 2nd). He can shoot from virtually anywhere on the floor, hes too quick for any power forwards, and he can shoot right over most SF/SG. He shot 46% from the field, which given the difficulty of he shots he takes, is pretty impressive. He's also one of the best FT shooters in the league (88%) and gets to the line more than anyone but Howard (9 FTA per game). Plus, I think he can probably bench 185lb now at least one time and he'll no longer be blown away by strong wind gusts (though a shove from Randolph sill will still send him flying). I went back and forth between Durant and Howard, but Durant has the ultimate tie-breaker: dropping 66 in a game at Rucker this summer:
4. Dwayne Wade
Image taken from picturepush.com
Even after adding Lebron and Bosh, Wade averaged 25.5 PPG (4th in the league) on a very impressive 50% from the field. Besides Tony Parker (51.6%), I don't think there's is a guard in the league who gets into the lane more easily and gets more easy scores. He's was also among the league's best in steals (1.5/game) and is one of the best rebounding guards in the game. Last season he averaged 6.4 RPG and finished 4th in rebounding rate (behind superstars Mike Miller, Landry Fields, and Q. Richardson) among all guards. Wade also finished 3rd in Hollinger's player efficiciency rating (PER) and 6th in hoopsstats.com's efficiency rating. Plus, if the commercials are true, he leads the league in average number of times getting up from a fall (1.143 get ups for each fall, don't think anyone is breaking that record).
3. Dirk Nowitski
Over the past couple seasons, Dirk has drastically altered my opinion of him (I'm sure he'll be happy to hear!) from fantastic shooting 7 footer to fantastic shooting 7 footer who can also drive a little bit. I think he's become a much more versatile scorer over the past 4-5 seasons and it makes him much more difficult to guard. While last year his PPG were down from 25 to 23, his shooting percentage was up (51.7% versus 48.1%). While this improvement is probably mostly due to his teammates being better so he didn't have to take as many difficult shots, there is no denying he had a fantastic season. In addition to being top 10 in points, he was also top 10 n FT% (89.2%), PER, and hoopstats efficiency rating. He also won his first title and by denying the villains of the NBA their first title, made it one of the most memorable seasons of my lifetime.
2. Derrick Rose
When the Bulls were debating whether to take Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley with the #1 pick of the 2008 draft, I was vocally championing for Beasley to anyone who would listen. I admit I may have been wrong on that one. Rose made huge leaps in 2010 improving in virtually every statistical category (PPG, APG, SPG, BPG, RPG). While his scoring improvement was pretty dramatic (25.0 up from 20.8), I think the most significant difference in his game was his ability to get to and convert from the line. Last season he averaged 6.9 FT/game and made 85.8% of those versus just 4.3 and 76.6% the year before.
The biggest knock on Derrick is that his efficiency ratings aren't as high as most of the players on this list. According to hoopsstats.com, he is 14th in efficiency and Hollinger PER has him at 9th. This is largely due to his relatively low FG% and his relatively poor assist-to-turnover ratios. I think these can easily be explained away by his role on the Bulls. Since the Bulls don't have a second player who can create his own shot, Derrick is often left trying to beat entire defenses on his own. This means he gets fewer easy scoring opportunities than almost any superstar in the NBA and also will have more turnovers as he needs to have the ball in his hands such a large percentage of the time. The same reasons his efficiency ratings are low are the same reasons that he is the league MVP. He is simply more important to the Bulls than any other superstar is to their team. Hopefully, the addition of a good outside shooter (Hamilton) will take some pressure off Rose and improve his efficiency as a player.
1. Lebron James
As much as I hate Lebron and the Heat (and I think it was a huge cop-out for Lebron to join Miami), LBJ is hands-down the best player in the NBA. He led the league in PER (27.34) for the fourth season in a row and was 3rd in hoopsstats efficiency rating (slightly behind Howard and K.Love). He was 2nd in scoring (26.7) , led the league in assists for non-PGs (7), and was the 2nd best rebounding SF with 7.5 RPG (behind Gerald Wallace). He was also top 10 in SPG (1.57) and led the league in triple-doubles (4). He's probably the best passing forward since Larry Bird and can take over a game like nobody since Jordan. He once scored 29 of the Cav's last 30 against the Pistons in a game 5 and just last season, he scored 10 straight to send the Heat to the Conference Finals.
It's scary to think that he is already the most complete player in the NBA and he's not even a great shooter. If he reaches his potential, he will go down as one of the best 5 players of all time.
Hope this gets everyone excited for the start of the NBA season. Let's hope someone (Bulls) can stop the evil Heat again this year!
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