The question is often asked, if you could pick one player to build a franchise around, who would you take. Lately this has become a no brainer of a question and 9 out of 10 times the answer is Lebron James. So we are going to skip pick one and move on to picks 2 through 6 deciding who each of those teams should take.
Pick 1: Lebron James-
Pick 2: Carmelo Anthony- The 25 year old Anthony is having by far the best year of his career. In his 6th year out of Syracuse he is averaging 29.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Ever since he played for “The Redeem Team” Melo has been a completely new player. He has come out and worked on his defending and rebounding and it shows by how hard he works on the court. Anthony has shown time and time again that he can make the big shot when it counts.
Pick 3: Kevin Durant- Durant can flat out score. He’s been doing since his surprise freshman year at Texas and hasn’t stopped since. At only 21 years old he has as much upside as any player in the NBA. Over his first 3 years in the league his scoring and shooting percentage have both gone consistently up. Durant has also proved to be an incredibly hard worker and it has shown not only in his offensive stats but also defensively. Kevin Durant IS the one guy on this list that I would think about taking ahead of King James.
Pick 4: Dwayne Wade- Flash is one of the most electric players in the game today. He has an average 3 point shot but can create his own shot as good as anyone in the league. At just 6’ 4” he throws his body around more than anyone outside of Allen Iverson. Because he throws his body around so much, he tends to get injured and has never played the full 82 games. In the 08-09 season Wade averaged more points per game (31) against “good teams” than any other player in the league. The main concern with Wade going forward is that his body won’t stay healthy enough for him to play the brand of basketball that he currently plays, but he is still one of the top players in the NBA.
Pick 5: Chris Paul- Chris Paul is one of the top 3 point guards in the game today and is a double- double waiting to happen averaging 20.4 points and 11.2 assists per game. Paul is also a solid on ball defender averaging 2.3 steals per game. CP3 is one of the classiest guys in the league as he continues to suffer through New Orleans money saving tendencies, which have severely limited the talent around him. (David West cannot be the only other true talent on your team.) Given a strong nucleus Paul could carry any team to the top because he simply makes the players around him better.
Pick 6: Dwight Howard- You can’t go wrong with a 6’ 11” 24 year old who has averaged a double- double every year in the league. Howard’s scoring is a little down this year at 17.8 points per game, but he is doing this while shooting 60% from the field. On top of the offense that Howard brings to the floor, he is also averaging a league leading 13.3 rebounds and 2.73 blocks. Howard changes the game at the Defensive end of the floor as much as any player in the NBA and if he will continue to work on his offensive game he will define himself as the best big of his Era.
Honorable Mention: Chris Bosh, Deron Williams, Monta Ellis, John Wall
Clip of the Night:
awesome idea for a post.....i love the notables, John Wall lol. LeBron has to be #1, just because he can play any position you need him to. No offense to Kobe, but he is the greatest player in the world right now, and he's headed for uncharted waters. Places other kids can't swim. I don't have Melo as high on my list, just due to i'm not sure how much upside he has. He's improved from last year, but he might have hit a ceiling, we'll see. KD is my 1A. i'm actually finishing a post on him right now. I feel like if you were starting a team, you'd have either LeBron, KD, or Dwade (maybe dwight howard too). I think the others are in a lower tier that you could start a team around, but you'd much rather have the prolific scorers that the top 3 are. love it as always KC....seriously i check this thing like 5 times a day to see if there's a new thought from my man.
ReplyDeleteJohn Wall, hahah!
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