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...
