milky_way
01-19-2003, 06:00 PM
Simply the best
Our man selects the top player from each NBA squad
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/jack_mccallum/news/2003/01/15/insider/
Recently I was talking to an NBA assistant coach about a certain player when he said to me, casually, "Well, he's our best player."
"Oh," I said, "I thought so-and-so was your best player." (The coach wanted identities kept off the record.)
Coaches use that phrase frequently and it got me thinking: If I had to select only one "best player" from each team, who would it be? And, if I was trying to think the way coaches do when defining a "best player," what qualities would go into that encomium?
Picking a best player seems easy -- and in some cases it is -- but the choice isn't always so obvious. Kobe Bryant, for example, is clearly the best basketball player on the Los Angeles Lakers in that he handles the ball, makes 3's, shoots mid-range jumpers accurately, drives to the basket, rebounds, defends, produces in the clutch, and folds his towels neatly in the locker room. But given the choice between Kobe and Shaquille O'Neal -- we're leaving Mark Madsen out of this for a moment -- which player would the coaches keep if they absolutely could only hold onto one of them? Because the bottom line in how coaches define "best player" is this: Who is the team's one indispensable player?
Well, I'm going to take a crack at it. I can't read any coach's mind -- Lord knows getting into their tortured skulls might not be pleasant -- but here's my take on each franchise's one irreplaceable on-the-court asset, as I think the folks in charge would see it. In most cases I'm going to ignore factors such as age and contract and assume we're talking about a "best player" for this season only. Teams are listed in alphabetical order by conference:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlanta Hawks: Well, Shareef Abdur-Rahim may be the most dependable scorer, but Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson can do some things out on the court. I'm going with him.
Boston Celtics: This might seem like a hard choice, but Paul Pierce is an easy pick over Antoine Walker. (Of course, they're both shooting 38 percent from the floor.)
Chicago Bulls: Judging by how much they've flapped their gums this season, Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford probably think the Bulls' best player is their own bad self. It isn't. It's Jalen Rose, without question.
Cleveland Cavaliers: The numbers say Ricky Davis (23.1 points per game). But, even though he has only 23 pro games under his belt, I say Dajuan Wagner.
Detroit Pistons: This is the first real tough one. Ben Wallace is one-dimensional, but his rebounding is one helluva dimension. Still, I have to go with Rip Hamilton, the central piece of an offseason Pistons trade that has kept the team in the Eastern Conference hunt.
Indiana Pacers: This could be considered a tough one since Isiah Thomas has done such a good job of selling, to what is essentially an 11-man rotation, the idea that stats don't matter. But Indy's best player is clearly Jermaine O'Neal.
Miami Heat: Here's a very reluctant vote for Eddie Jones. In all likelihood, a year from now the Heat's best player will be Caron Butler.
Milwaukee Bucks: Their most underrated player is Sam Cassell with quiet 3-point shooting demon Michael Redd a close second. But Milwaukee's best player is still Ray "He Got Game" Allen.
New Jersey Nets: At last an easy one. Jason Kidd is it. A much-coveted free agent at the end of this season, Kidd has a lot of people wondering if he'll be in Joisy next season.
New Orleans Hornets: Considering the back problems he's had recently, Baron Davis might not be the obvious choice, particularly since Jamal Mashburn is one of the most underrated quality scorers in the league. But I go with The Baron.
New York Knicks: With a 21.8 points per game average, Allan Houston is the leading scorer on this team by five points. But I'll take the tougher, more all-around guy in second place -- Latrell Sprewell.
Orlando Magic: Tracy McGrady. Any argument? Better not be.
Philadelphia 76ers: Allen Iverson. Any argument? Yeah, there probably will be some. But to me this is a no-brainer.
Toronto Raptors: I know it's hard to evaluate a guy who rarely plays, but, for all the trade talk swirling around him, Vince Carter is far and away this team's best player. Yes, I remember how well the Raptors did without him at the end of last season. Doesn't change my mind.
Washington Wizards: A few years ago could you have ever imagined a time when Michael Jordan was on a roster and wasn't the best player? Well, on the Wizards it's Jerry Stackhouse and it's not just an age thing (Jordan turns 40 on Feb. 17; Stackhouse is 28).
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Dallas Mavericks: With two players averaging more than 20 points per game (Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley) and another at 18.6 (Steve Nash), this might seem like a hard choice. It isn't. Nowitzki has joined the ranks of the top players in the league.
Denver Nuggets: During a game in Philadelphia on Dec. 16, Juwan Howard snapped back at an obnoxious fan who called him "a $100 million bum." OK, so Howard clearly became the poster child for overpaid NBAers when he signed that notorious seven-year, $105 million deal with Washington before the 1996-97 season. But -- and this is not to damn him with faint praise -- Juwan Howard is this team's best player. (All right, maybe it is damning him with faint praise.)
Golden State Warriors: This is a tough one. Jason Richardson's athleticism is so routinely praised, but Antawn Jamison's reliable scoring (23.5 points per game) is so routinely overlooked, that Richardson might seem like the right choice. My guess is, the coaches still consider go-to guy Jamison their best player.
Houston Rockets: Absolutely the toughest pick on the board, the Lakers included. You have to give up one star: Do you part with Steve Francis' all-around game? Or Yao Ming's enormous upside? I say the coaches would stick with Steve Franchise. (But I could probably be convinced to change my mind.)
Los Angeles Clippers: The top guy is not Lamar Odom, though he is clearly the Clips' most talented player. Nor do I think it's Andre Miller, who would've been my choice back in November, when he arrived from Cleveland, carrying with him much hope for a Clippers turnaround. It has to be the ultra-reliable, double-double king Elton Brand.
Los Angeles Lakers: I made the case above for Bryant, who has as many skills as anyone in the game. But there is no one on the planet like O'Neal -- and there hasn't been since Wilt Chamberlain. I say the coaches would keep Shaq Daddy, as long as the issue is this season and not long-term, when Shaq's age (31 in March compared to Kobe's 24) and toe issues could be mitigating factors.
Memphis Grizzlies: What Hubie Brown has done to rein in point guard Jason Williams has been extraordinary. But this is an easy one. Pau Gasol is the key to this franchise, now and long-term.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Duh, Kevin Garnett.
Phoenix Suns: Interesting team. Shawn Marion (team-high 21 points per game) and Stephon Marbury (20.5) are almost indistinguishable as scorers, and Marbury, of course, is the push guy and the team leader. But something tells me the choice would be versatile swingman Marion, who also leads the Suns in steals and blocked shots and is right there with rookie Amare Stoudemire in rebounds.
Portland Trail Blazers: They're a team sort of like Detroit (though much wackier) with a lot of weapons and no clear leader. Bonzi Wells gets far too many headlines for his behavior, and not enough for his play, but, then again, so does Rasheed Wallace. I'm tempted to have those two cancel each other out and give the nod to Scottie Pippen, who still knows how to fill up a boxscore. But the vote here is Wallace.
Sacramento Kings: I would love to be privy to a conversation in which the coaching staff discusses the relative merits of ultra-versatile Chris Webber and team quarterback Mike Bibby. But the Kings jetted off to a terrific start this season without Bibby (then again, they did that last season without Webber), so I'm giving the nod to Webber.
San Antonio Spurs: Wish they were all this easy. Tim Duncan.
Seattle SuperSonics: Desmond Mason makes the headlines with aerial acrobatics, and 23-year-old Rashard Lewis is a comer. But Gary Payton is this team's best player, as he has been for, oh, the last decade or so.
Utah Jazz: For entirely different reasons, this is almost as tough a decision as Houston. Age has affected the performance level of both Karl Malone (39) and John Stockton (41 on March 26). Yet, who would Jerry Sloan want out there more than those two in crunch time? And if it wasn't one of the dynamic duo, would he choose defensive demon Andrei Kirilenko (team-high 66 blocked shots from the small forward position) or Matt Harpring, who seems to have finally found in Salt Lake City a fit for his versatile skills and toughness. Hmm ... though this may be heresy, I'm going with Kirilenko.
Our man selects the top player from each NBA squad
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/jack_mccallum/news/2003/01/15/insider/
Recently I was talking to an NBA assistant coach about a certain player when he said to me, casually, "Well, he's our best player."
"Oh," I said, "I thought so-and-so was your best player." (The coach wanted identities kept off the record.)
Coaches use that phrase frequently and it got me thinking: If I had to select only one "best player" from each team, who would it be? And, if I was trying to think the way coaches do when defining a "best player," what qualities would go into that encomium?
Picking a best player seems easy -- and in some cases it is -- but the choice isn't always so obvious. Kobe Bryant, for example, is clearly the best basketball player on the Los Angeles Lakers in that he handles the ball, makes 3's, shoots mid-range jumpers accurately, drives to the basket, rebounds, defends, produces in the clutch, and folds his towels neatly in the locker room. But given the choice between Kobe and Shaquille O'Neal -- we're leaving Mark Madsen out of this for a moment -- which player would the coaches keep if they absolutely could only hold onto one of them? Because the bottom line in how coaches define "best player" is this: Who is the team's one indispensable player?
Well, I'm going to take a crack at it. I can't read any coach's mind -- Lord knows getting into their tortured skulls might not be pleasant -- but here's my take on each franchise's one irreplaceable on-the-court asset, as I think the folks in charge would see it. In most cases I'm going to ignore factors such as age and contract and assume we're talking about a "best player" for this season only. Teams are listed in alphabetical order by conference:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlanta Hawks: Well, Shareef Abdur-Rahim may be the most dependable scorer, but Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson can do some things out on the court. I'm going with him.
Boston Celtics: This might seem like a hard choice, but Paul Pierce is an easy pick over Antoine Walker. (Of course, they're both shooting 38 percent from the floor.)
Chicago Bulls: Judging by how much they've flapped their gums this season, Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford probably think the Bulls' best player is their own bad self. It isn't. It's Jalen Rose, without question.
Cleveland Cavaliers: The numbers say Ricky Davis (23.1 points per game). But, even though he has only 23 pro games under his belt, I say Dajuan Wagner.
Detroit Pistons: This is the first real tough one. Ben Wallace is one-dimensional, but his rebounding is one helluva dimension. Still, I have to go with Rip Hamilton, the central piece of an offseason Pistons trade that has kept the team in the Eastern Conference hunt.
Indiana Pacers: This could be considered a tough one since Isiah Thomas has done such a good job of selling, to what is essentially an 11-man rotation, the idea that stats don't matter. But Indy's best player is clearly Jermaine O'Neal.
Miami Heat: Here's a very reluctant vote for Eddie Jones. In all likelihood, a year from now the Heat's best player will be Caron Butler.
Milwaukee Bucks: Their most underrated player is Sam Cassell with quiet 3-point shooting demon Michael Redd a close second. But Milwaukee's best player is still Ray "He Got Game" Allen.
New Jersey Nets: At last an easy one. Jason Kidd is it. A much-coveted free agent at the end of this season, Kidd has a lot of people wondering if he'll be in Joisy next season.
New Orleans Hornets: Considering the back problems he's had recently, Baron Davis might not be the obvious choice, particularly since Jamal Mashburn is one of the most underrated quality scorers in the league. But I go with The Baron.
New York Knicks: With a 21.8 points per game average, Allan Houston is the leading scorer on this team by five points. But I'll take the tougher, more all-around guy in second place -- Latrell Sprewell.
Orlando Magic: Tracy McGrady. Any argument? Better not be.
Philadelphia 76ers: Allen Iverson. Any argument? Yeah, there probably will be some. But to me this is a no-brainer.
Toronto Raptors: I know it's hard to evaluate a guy who rarely plays, but, for all the trade talk swirling around him, Vince Carter is far and away this team's best player. Yes, I remember how well the Raptors did without him at the end of last season. Doesn't change my mind.
Washington Wizards: A few years ago could you have ever imagined a time when Michael Jordan was on a roster and wasn't the best player? Well, on the Wizards it's Jerry Stackhouse and it's not just an age thing (Jordan turns 40 on Feb. 17; Stackhouse is 28).
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Dallas Mavericks: With two players averaging more than 20 points per game (Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley) and another at 18.6 (Steve Nash), this might seem like a hard choice. It isn't. Nowitzki has joined the ranks of the top players in the league.
Denver Nuggets: During a game in Philadelphia on Dec. 16, Juwan Howard snapped back at an obnoxious fan who called him "a $100 million bum." OK, so Howard clearly became the poster child for overpaid NBAers when he signed that notorious seven-year, $105 million deal with Washington before the 1996-97 season. But -- and this is not to damn him with faint praise -- Juwan Howard is this team's best player. (All right, maybe it is damning him with faint praise.)
Golden State Warriors: This is a tough one. Jason Richardson's athleticism is so routinely praised, but Antawn Jamison's reliable scoring (23.5 points per game) is so routinely overlooked, that Richardson might seem like the right choice. My guess is, the coaches still consider go-to guy Jamison their best player.
Houston Rockets: Absolutely the toughest pick on the board, the Lakers included. You have to give up one star: Do you part with Steve Francis' all-around game? Or Yao Ming's enormous upside? I say the coaches would stick with Steve Franchise. (But I could probably be convinced to change my mind.)
Los Angeles Clippers: The top guy is not Lamar Odom, though he is clearly the Clips' most talented player. Nor do I think it's Andre Miller, who would've been my choice back in November, when he arrived from Cleveland, carrying with him much hope for a Clippers turnaround. It has to be the ultra-reliable, double-double king Elton Brand.
Los Angeles Lakers: I made the case above for Bryant, who has as many skills as anyone in the game. But there is no one on the planet like O'Neal -- and there hasn't been since Wilt Chamberlain. I say the coaches would keep Shaq Daddy, as long as the issue is this season and not long-term, when Shaq's age (31 in March compared to Kobe's 24) and toe issues could be mitigating factors.
Memphis Grizzlies: What Hubie Brown has done to rein in point guard Jason Williams has been extraordinary. But this is an easy one. Pau Gasol is the key to this franchise, now and long-term.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Duh, Kevin Garnett.
Phoenix Suns: Interesting team. Shawn Marion (team-high 21 points per game) and Stephon Marbury (20.5) are almost indistinguishable as scorers, and Marbury, of course, is the push guy and the team leader. But something tells me the choice would be versatile swingman Marion, who also leads the Suns in steals and blocked shots and is right there with rookie Amare Stoudemire in rebounds.
Portland Trail Blazers: They're a team sort of like Detroit (though much wackier) with a lot of weapons and no clear leader. Bonzi Wells gets far too many headlines for his behavior, and not enough for his play, but, then again, so does Rasheed Wallace. I'm tempted to have those two cancel each other out and give the nod to Scottie Pippen, who still knows how to fill up a boxscore. But the vote here is Wallace.
Sacramento Kings: I would love to be privy to a conversation in which the coaching staff discusses the relative merits of ultra-versatile Chris Webber and team quarterback Mike Bibby. But the Kings jetted off to a terrific start this season without Bibby (then again, they did that last season without Webber), so I'm giving the nod to Webber.
San Antonio Spurs: Wish they were all this easy. Tim Duncan.
Seattle SuperSonics: Desmond Mason makes the headlines with aerial acrobatics, and 23-year-old Rashard Lewis is a comer. But Gary Payton is this team's best player, as he has been for, oh, the last decade or so.
Utah Jazz: For entirely different reasons, this is almost as tough a decision as Houston. Age has affected the performance level of both Karl Malone (39) and John Stockton (41 on March 26). Yet, who would Jerry Sloan want out there more than those two in crunch time? And if it wasn't one of the dynamic duo, would he choose defensive demon Andrei Kirilenko (team-high 66 blocked shots from the small forward position) or Matt Harpring, who seems to have finally found in Salt Lake City a fit for his versatile skills and toughness. Hmm ... though this may be heresy, I'm going with Kirilenko.