The Halfway Mark

It’s the halfway mark of the season, which means it’s time to discuss the top 5’s. That is the top 5 teams, MVP candidates, and top 5 starters for each conference. It’s also time to start the watch for all of the other end of season awards.

Western Conference Team

C- Kevin Love

This should come as no surprise; he has been on a tear for the past several years and has been one of the most consistent players game in and game out. This is his first start in the All-Star game and he is a player almost every guy would love to play with.

PF- Marc Gasol

Marc has been a really good player, solid, and often underrated. In a league with very few good big men these days, Marc is one of the truly good, fundamental players left. 

SF-  Kevin Durant

What can you say about this guy right now, other than he is unstoppable. Playing offense like a man unconscious, and playing decent defense to boot. He is carrying the Thunder on his shoulder while Westbrook is still out.

SG- James Harden

This is his second year with the Rockets and he isn’t cooling down yet. Still putting up good numbers and trying to lead the team to another playoff run with newcomer Dwight Howard.

PG- Stephen Curry

Good defense and out of this world offensive ability. Along with Klay Thompson, Steph looks to lead the team to a strong second half.

Eastern Conference Team

C- Roy Hibbert

He is a true 7-footer, and he uses it to his advantage. Playing well with the best team in the Eastern Conference he doesn’t look like he can be stopped.

PF- Chris Bosh

Normally I think he is overrated, but this season he has been playing like a true All-Star. Filing a much needed gap in the absence of an oft injured Dwyane Wade, he has put up great numbers in some great individual and team efforts this season.

SF- Carmelo Anthony

Better defense than the typical Melo, but his offense is just as good as always. The Knicks really need for him to keep the pace for the second half of the season.

SG- Lebron James

No surprise here. He has been one of the best two way players in the game for the past 8 or so years. He has played at an MVP caliber level again this year.

PG- Kyrie Erving

Great young player and only getting better. The Cavs aren’t making the playoffs, but the draft should help this team next year to make a strong push.

Top 5 Contenders

5. San Antonio

Good team with lots of talent, but will their age get the better of them this year? Should make a strong push in the playoffs this year, but does the good ol’ gang have enough left in the tank.

4. Golden State Warriors

Young team with al the talent in the world. They haven’t been there before, so do they know what it’ll take to win it all or will their youth get the better of them. All we know at this point is they put on one exciting show.

3. Miami Heat

The fulcrum to their success is the health of Dwyane Wade. If he’s in the lineup they could make it a three-peat, without him it might be too much for the rest of the team to handle, even with Lebron James.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder

Without Russell Westbrook, they have a good chance; with him they are one of the most dangerous teams.  A loaded and deep line-up they match up well with any team.

1. Indiana Pacers

Best team in the league right now, hands down, and they are only going to get better. Danny Granger is back in the lineup after a very long time off, so once they get him acclimated to the system I don’t know if anyone will be able to stop this team.

Top MVP Candidates

3.  Paul George

Really deserving as he is the true leader of the best team in the NBA. Needs to keep it  up not only to keep his team in the hunt for the 1-seed, but to keep his MVP chances afloat.

2. Lebron James

Although he has probably won a few of these in the past that he hasn’t deserved, the days he is deserving of all the praise he receives.  He has some real competition this year  to get yet another MVP award.

1.       Kevin Durant

He has probably deserved one of these before now, but this should be his year. He has put the team on his back and carried them to one of the best records in the NBA . Lets just see if he can keep it up for the rest of the season and when Westbrook comes back.

One of the Greats or most Overrated?

One thing we have a tendency to do as humans is to rank things. In sports this is very prevalent, and we do it with everything. Ranking people or teams by statistics or an overall body of work is how we compare one with the next, and it makes it a “tidy” way of doing so.  Statistics are important because it is a way of quantifying how good a player was, and gives us a gauge as to what they may be in today’s version of the league. The one major problem with this is that the game has evolved. The rules have changed, the competitiveness has changed, but most importantly the competition has changed. With this in mind, I want to examine one of the “greatest of all time.”

In the NBA, there are those names recognized by even the casual fan, and ranked amongst the best players of all time; Jordan, “Magic”, Bird, “Dr. J”. These and others are revered because they can be imagined being just as good if not better at any point in the history of the game, they have a sort of feel to their game that can withstand the test of time. But there is one player I have in mind that I don’t feel matches that same level of these players, and yet is still revered to the same magnitude as these players.

Wilt Chamberlain is considered to be one of the top 10 players of all time by many critics and rankings. However, in my opinion he might not even be in the top 50. This article isn’t meant to bash Wilt Chamberlain, but only meant to give another perspective on his legacy. Surely he is a great player and absolutely in the top 100, but the following summary will show why he shouldn’t hold the lofty position most give to him.

Wilt Chamberlain was considered a giant in his day. Standing in a 7 foot and 1 inch, he stood head and shoulders above most others. This height advantage was one of the greatest advantages in all of sports history. He was definitely a physical marvel at that time, and you can’t take that away from him, just like you can’t take any physical tolls away from players in today’s game when discussing them. However, the tallest players he was playing against in that era were around 6’9” to 6’10”, and his wingspan was incredible as well which just added to his height advantage. IF you were to put him into today’s NBA, he would be of average size in comparison with most other big men.  Not only that, but big men today are much more technically skilled than in that era.  Not to say he wouldn’t still be an athletic freak, but I don’t know if he would stand out from the rest of the trees.

The next major problem I have in the debate of Wilt Chamberlain is with the rules of the day compared to now.  He was able to put up incredible statistics year after year, but with the new defensive 3 rule I think it would put a tremendous damper on those figures. Also, with the way fouls are called today, combined with his height advantage being diminished, his defensive numbers would also see a negative trend.

All of the above mentioned reasons help make the argument for his fall in the ranks, but the one point that brings those points to light, is Wilt Chamberlains matchups with Bill Russell.  Russell is one of the most truly skilled players of all time. He was a 6’9” with all the skill in the world, and continually got the better of Chamberlain. This should shed a little light on what it would be like for Chamberlain in today’s NBA.  The players are obviously not all as skilled as Russell, but the size and skill improvements of the players in today’s game would bridge some of that gap.

So, in all reality, it is really difficult to rank players from different eras and group them all under one giant umbrella, but having to do so I would say Chamberlain ranks somewhere right around the 50 mark, which is still an incredible accomplishment if you think about it, but not as lofty as some or most make him out to be.