April 16th, 2010 by Chase

It’s playoff time NBA fans! And one of the featured 1st round match-ups is the 1st seed defending NBA champ Lakers vs. the up and coming 8th seed Oklahoma City Thunder. Because of the Lakers recent woes towards the end of the regular season, there are actually some people out there who are picking Kevin Durant and the Thunder to upset the 1st seed Lakers. But those of us who have been watching Kobe and Co. these past few years know better. The Lakers are preparing for another Title run, and the Thunder are just another victim.

Featured Matchup: Kobe Bryant vs. Kevin Durant

The young vs the old. The seasoned veteran vs the new kid on the block. Durant had a monstrous season. He led the NBA in scoring with 30.1 points per game, helping lift the Oklahoma City Thunder rise to their first ever playoff birth since their pilgrimage from Seattle. Durant’s season was so good that it began to stir up comparisons between he and Kobe and lifting him to be one of the most exciting players in the game today.

These are the two best players in this 1st round playoff match-up. So let’s take a second and look at what we are dealing with here. Here are a couple thoughts…

1. Durant is inexperienced in the Playoffs, this being his first playoff run.
2. YAPR = yet another playoff run for Kobe Bryant, this being his 13th playoff run
3. Kobe is clearly not healthy. A bad ankle, torn up knee, and some mangled fingers not to mention wear and tear from 6 NBA Finals appearances.
4. Durant is playing with a ton of confidence right now. He’s playing at an MVP type level.

Here’s my prediction..

Kevin Durant is going to put up bigger numbers than Kobe in this series simply because of the fact that Kobe is hurt and also because he has to put up insane numbers for the Thunder to even compete in this series. However Kobe Bryant’s experience, will, and skill level will control and eventually dominate this series. Lakers will win in 5 games, losing game 3 on the road in Oklahoma before closing out the next two games. So let me repeat…

Kobe Will Get The Better of Durant. Lakers in 5!

Why? Because at least 2 of these games will come down to the final seconds, and Durant simply cannot close out a game the way Kobe Bryant can. The modern day version of Mr. Clutch will show Durant how to truly close a game. And that is why you can have Durant, and I’ll take Kobe!

January 29th, 2010 by Chase

The Eastern and Western Conference All-Star Reserves were announced yesterday and course like every season, there are notable players who were snubbed while others should never have made the list. I’m going to leave any arguments concerning the Starters out of this blog post, since you really can’t hold any selective group of people accountable because it’s the fans as a whole who choose the All-Star Starters. So let’s talk about the Reserves that were chosen by the coaches and GM’s around the league. Let’s start with the Eastern Conference.

2010 Eastern All-Star Reserves

1. Rajon Rondo
2. Paul Pierce
3. Chris Bosh
4. Joe Johnson
5. Al Horford
6. Gerald Wallace
7. Derrick Rose

Who Should Have Made It?

1. David Lee
2. Josh Smith
3. Stephen Jackson

Let me start off by saying that New York’s David Lee should have made the team. Over who? You could argue that David Lee has had a better season than Paul Pierce and therefore should be on the team instead. You could even argue that Atlanta’s Josh Smith should have made the team over Pierce considering the type of season he has had. Pierce, as great of a player as he has been, just has not had a great season. With Kevin Garnett expected to skip playing in the All-Star game because of a bad knee, expect one of these 2 players to fill in as his replacement. Now let’s take a look at the Western Conference All-Star Reserves.

2010 Western All-Star Reserves

1. Brandon Roy
2. Chris Paul
3. Deron Williams
4. Dirk Nowitzki
5. Kevin Durant
6. Zach Randolph
7. Pau Gasol

Who Should Have Made It?

1. Chauncey Billups
2. Chris Kaman

Pau Gasol missed 17 games during the first half of the season. How was he chosen to be a reserve? Yes Pau is an All-Star caliber player. But when you miss that many games you shouldn’t be playing in an All-Star game. The Clippers Chris Kaman should have that spot instead. He’s had a better season than Pau statistically. Period. I know the Grizzlies are doing well, and I know Zach Randolph has had a good stat year. But the Denver Nuggets are easily the second best team in the West, and are nothing without their floor leader Chauncey Billups who is having yet another solid NBA season. I think he should be on that list rather than Randolph.

What do you guys think? Who should have made it? Who should not have made it? Also, congrats to Deron Williams for making his first All-Star Appearance. It was long overdue!

January 9th, 2010 by Chase

Bringing you the top 10 list of the NBA’s best players. Just like in 2009 and 2008, we rank the top 10 players in the NBA based on 3 major areas of criteria. These criteria include winning, individual statistics, and the intangible’s like leadership, being clutch, fighting through injuries etc. At the bottom of the list are the “Honorable Mentions” that did not quite make the list of the top 10, but were of course very close. Let’s get right to it!

1. Kobe Bryant

After winning his 4th NBA Title, the guy hasn’t missed a beat. You can say the guy actually got better over the summer, working out with Hakeem Olajuwon and introducing a solid post game to his offensive arsenal. Many people want to crown LeBron James at the top of this list, but it just does not work that way. Kobe is still at the top of his game and he is winning rings, not LeBron! Expect Kobe to win his second MVP in 2010′.

2. LeBron James

LeBron is a beast to say the least. After winning the MVP last season, LeBron has a very good chance of winning it yet again this season. There is nobody else in the world at the same level of Kobe and LeBron. The man get’s better and better every single season. If you would have told me 10 years ago that one day we would see a player with Michael Jordan’s athleticism and the size of Karl Malone, I would have called you crazy. It’s crazy to see what LeBron can do on a basketball court.

3. Dwyane Wade

It’s crazy how this guy is always being overlooked because of Kobe and LeBron. Dwade is flat out a great player. The word Great get’s used in sports far too often. When I say great I say future hall of famer. The big question for Wade will be if he can lead his team to a competitive season and past the first round of the playoffs. If he can do that, Wade will reach a level that LeBron and Kobe have reached with getting the most out of their teammates.

4. Chris Paul

What needs to be said here. CP3 is the best point guard in the world hands down. He’s nasty competitive. He can finish going to the rim like no other point guard in this era. He can pass, shoot, score, defend. The only downside here is the New Orleans Hornets organization lack of willingness to support him by providing him solid players and a coaching staff to work with. Outside of that, Chris Paul is holding his own as the modern day version of Isaiah Thomas.

5. Carmelo Anthony

If Carmelo Anthony can stay healthy, he has a good chance of winning his first MVP award in 2010. I don’t know what Melo is eating for breakfast, but the guy has made himself unstoppable.  He’s an offensive scoring machine, and he has stepped up his game defensively to an elite level. Melo proved in last year’s playoff run that he is one of the leagues top 5 players and cannot be stopped by anybody when he has the ball in his hands.

6. Kevin Garnett

People are moving this guy out of their top 10 lists because of his injured Knee and his age. Baloney! The Celtics are one of two dominant teams in the league (the Lakers being the other) and Garnett is by far the cornerstone of the Celtics. Without him they are nothing. Even though Garnett’s offensive numbers are down, his defensive precense is still as frightening to opposing teams as ever. And talking about intangibles, nobody brings more leadership and effort day in and day out than Kevin Garnett. He’s a poor man’s Bill Russell, and that my friends is quite the compliment.

7. Dirk Nowitzki

I don’t know if it’s cause he’s German, or because he’s white, or what exactly it is. But people seem to always sleep on Dirk Nowitzki. But Dirk continues to put up huge numbers since he won his first MVP award a few years back. His team continues to be competitive, and he continues to show more and more toughness each season. Truly one of the most gifted 7 Footers we have ever seen in Basketball. He is a joy to watch!

8. Dwight Howard

Popularity wise Dwight Howard is easily in the top 3 or 4 of this list. But being one of the best players in the NBA has nothing to do with popularity, and everything to do with your game. He’s the strongest guy in the league. And he’s the most dominant player inside 4-5 feet from the rim. Defensively he can change entire playoff seasons with his inside precense. But he won’t move higher up on this list until he can provide leadership to his team, and develop more of an inside post-up offensive game.

9. Deron Williams

The only reason Deron Williams doesn’t get more “pub” as one of the premier players in the NBA today is because of where he plays. That being Utah of course. Combine that with a team full of lazy, unambitious, self-serving players around him and you can see the difficulties he has to deal with. But every year he gets better and better. Scoring, passing, ball-handling, defense etc. The guy can do it all at his position. Throw Chris Paul out of the equation, and Deron is the best point guard in the World.

10. Steve Nash

Steve Nash didn’t make the list in 2009, primarily because the Suns stopped winning and Nash started to look old. This season however is a completely different story. Nash is showing no signs of his age whatsoever, and is leading his Phoenix Suns to a winning season with an under-talented team and an inexperienced head coach. The guy is still one of the funnest players to watch in the game today! Don’t be suprised if this guy pulls a John Stockton on us and plays til’ he’s 40.

Honorable Mentions

• Kevin Durrant
• Brandon Roy
• Pau Gasol
• Tim Duncan
• Paul Pierce
• Joe Johnson

December 3rd, 2009 by Chase

Many of us have been saying it for years. And it appears now that it wasn’t just Kobe Bryant fans that were proclaiming the black mamba as the greatest in the game. According to a survey performed by the Sporting News, Kobe Bryant is at the top of the list of the 50 best players in the world. Who voted this top 50? A total of a 107 basketball experts including 28 hall of famers!

The voters were apparently swayed by Kobe’s maturation into his leadership role according to Magic Johnson. “I think what we’ve seen from Kobe in the last two, three years is that he has become an incredible leader, “Magic Johnson said about Bryant. “That was the only thing he had to do that was left on his resume. Before, there was no question that he was the best basketball player in the world, like he is now. He was dominant every night, but he didn’t take on that leadership role.  Now, he is the total package.”

The results of these votes has Lebron James fans upset all over the blogosphere. Dime Magazine recently wrote a piece about it and a quick read through the comments and you can see how upset LeBron fans are. They just can’t seem to handle the truth.

All of us here on Bestplayerontheplanet.com including writers and readers alike, have been saying it for the past 2 years. When Hall of Fame basketball players say you are the best, then you are the best. Period. I’d much rather take someone like Clyde Drexlers vote than Bill Simmons. Wouldn’t you?

Congrats to Kobe for making the top of the list. Expect to see Kobe continue to surpass people’s expectations of him. I think you could be seeing another MVP award for Kobe Bryant this year. Just sayin’.

November 30th, 2009 by Chase

This is actually a really cool story. The New York Times recently wrote a piece titled “Titan’s Young Rebounds, With Help From a Friend – Kobe Bryant”. The article talks about how the NBA superstar Kobe Bryant reached out to Vince Young several times the past 2 seasons to help him out a bit. By giving him a vote of confidence and some words of advice from one successful athlete to another.

“He has a passion to be great and a willingness to improve,” Bryant said last week in a telephone interview. “He just wants to get better.”

Apparently the two athletes exchanged phone numbers during the NBA All-Star weekend a few years back. Ever since then Kobe Bryant has made sure to extend any needed advice Vince Young’s way. In hope of it helping.

“I’ve been asking him different questions to help me get through the process I’m going through because he’s been through a whole lot of adversity and things like that,” Young said of Bryant. “So why not try to get in his ear and see what he did to get back to the top where he is right now?”

Kobe is primarily teaching Vince Young not to care so much about what others opinions are of him. A hard learned lesson Kobe Bryant has had to learn throughout his NBA career. “I don’t care what people say about me, and that’s what he’s kind of learning,” Bryant said. “At the end of the day, he has to perform. Kick butt and let them jump back on the bandwagon.”

Whatever the advice Kobe Bryant is giving Vince Young, it’s working! Young has single handedly led the Tennessee Titans to a 5 game winning streak since he has been back as the starting quarterback. Doesn’t hurt to get some practical athlete advice from the greatest athlete on the planet!