They did this by year, by decade, agreements/disagreements? Really interested in what you guys thoughts are of the 80s and 90s... I saw the 00s and it's pretty accurate, you can nitpick with a player or two (Nash was NEVER the best player in The League), but for the most part this seems accurate and they got the Top 3 guys right mostly every year, from what I've seen...
Just some things I have slight argument with, though again I find it mostly accurate: •I notice an inconsistency in conflating "best player" with best season. Understanding this is subjective, they called CP3 the best player in the world in '08, and Nash in '05, and all respect to both, they were never the best in the game. That jumps out to me... •I disagree with KG in '04. He was never the best player alive, '04 was his GOAT year but I don't recall anyone believing he was the best player overall. In retrospect, I think by the end of their run Kobe was the best player on the Lakers, and even amid KG's MVP year, I remember constant debate in real time whether he measured up to Duncan. '04 should be either Duncan or Kobe... I think my major takeaway is, alot of guys have flashes and are deserving of being in the conversation, but you don't get that title with one hot year unless there's a complete dropoff with the competition. The 00s in particular was a round Robin with Duncan, Kobe, and Shaq at the first half of the decade, most years you could pick either and not have a real wrong answer... I remember the convo at the time of the 3peat Lakers being Shaq was the best player in basketball. Duncan obviously had the injury that helped Shaq in '00, and in '02 Duncan was right there with him again, and part of this is why I rank Duncan ahead of Shaq overall----->there was never really a time that Shaq really separated from Duncan. Shaq was helped greatly by circumstances, which I don't blame him for, but do the Lakers win in '00 if Duncan is available? Do the Lakers beat SA in '02 without Kobe? Circumstances happen, so I tend to lean Shaq as the best player alive all three 3peat years... Mid-decade, 03 to 06 are Kobe and Duncan above everyone else, with a handful of challengers (KG, Shaq, Dirk). But I don't ever feel like KG was ever the best player alive, Shaq was not peak level, and Dirk probably wasn't the best player alive ever either, but his '06 and '07 seasons for sure had him in the conversation... I've been vocal for years about this, that I don't think there was ever a year Kobe was the sole best player in basketball. That gets alot of disagreement on here, but my opinion is he was always the most popular, exciting, and marketable, and people conflate that with elevating him over everybody. I felt this way in real time, but I can see calling him the greatest player in '08. I think one of the more impressive aspects of Kobe's legacy is that he was legitimately in the conversation for best player longer than all of his 00s contemporaries besides Duncan, for 7 consecutive years he was clearly a Top 3 player and he doesn't have an unwarranted case as #1 any of those 7 years----->this can't be said about Shaq, KG, Iverson, Mac, Dirk, Kidd, Nash, Amare, Webber, etc...
The 10s look mostly accurate too. My only pushback is with Curry in '16, he had arguably the greatest individual season of the modern era. But he was coming off of being outplayed by LeBron in '15 Finals, then got outplayed again by him in '16 Finals. You can't be the best player alive getting sandwiched like that, he'd have it if he led the chip, but I can't overlook him being hotter in the regular season than The Finals, when the other guy was the other way around... That said if it ain't LeBron he's the only other answer. KD has been in the conversation for years, but similarly to Kobe, there's never really been a year KD was definitively the greatest player alive. And Curry shytted on him in the WCF, so if it ain't LeBron, its Steph and I def ain't saying you can't make the case for Steph... I feel like if KD has a year, its '18. Hitting the shot and winning one Finals doesn't make you the greatest player when the opponent ran you for years----->but doing it two years in a row on the same opponent, you can have the mantle. That's been my opinion on that the entire time, but everybody here has eyes and ears and even after the '18 win there was no consensus KD was the best. I give it to him but there's never been a consensus... And I can't justify Kawhi in '19. The two biggest challengers were taken out of the running, and I don't know how you overlook that KD played one quarter in The Finals and you couldn't even tell Kawhi was on the floor. That game and the rest of the series was setting up to be an epic public exposal. Kawhi can have '19 by default, but there's a clearly a forced narrative since then, to say he's better than the other guys...
What years specifically would you give Kobe? I got him in the conversation every year from 04 thru 10, that's 7 years...
What metric are they using for the 00s list cause it's trash. Nash was never the best player at any point.
08, maybe even 07 There was not a single person alive that called Paul the best player in the league in 08
No, he shouldn't have. You wanna know who is the best basketball player in the world in 2008? Watch the USA-Spain Olympic finals game. While Chris Paul is busy hiding in the corner and LeBron & Wade are playing hot potato with the ball, Kobe is the one who put the team on his back and brought the gold home. 98-92 USA Kobe hits a three, 101-92 104-99 USA Kobe with a dagger four point play, 108-99 111-105 USA Kobe clutch drive to seal the game, 113-105 Kobe shoulda won 2006, 2009 & 2010 too. Nash's 2006 is a travesty and miss me with LeBron's regular season stats, I'm not impressed. We all know who was the last man standing in '09 and '10
Once again feel how you want to feel but the way you frame your points will always be why it’s really hard to take you serious.
