Who are the best NBA players of the Post-Jordan Era?
With LeBron James' Heat and Tim Duncan's Spurs matching up in this year's Finals and San Antonio capturing its fifth championship in 16 seasons, talk of legacies and all-time ranks was unavoidable.
But trying to rank every great NBA star who's come through the league over the years is an arduous, almost impossible task, while comparing modern stars to Michael Jordan is blasphemy to so many fans. With that in mind, let's try to rank the top players of the Post-Jordan Era.
If you're wondering why it's a top-nine instead of a top-10, it's because I thought Steve Nash at No. 9 was a good cutoff, whereas picking between the many candidates in the 'next in line' category (Pierce, Paul, Kidd, Iverson, McGrady, etc.) for No. 10 proved too difficult.
For the record, I consider the post-Jordan era as beginning in the 1998-99 season, following Jordan's second retirement and his final game as a Bull. All of the stats and figures included are only from the 1998-99 season on. Now let's get to it...
9. Steve Nash
1076 GP, 15.3 PPG, 9.2 APG, 3.2 RPG
PER: 20.3, Win Shares: 124.3
2-time MVP, 7-time All-NBA, 8-time All-Star
Nash's base statistics and zero Finals appearances don't do his great career justice. He's a two-time MVP and back-to-back winner of the award, one of the greatest point guards of all time, and at his very best, made teammates around him better like few players we've ever witnessed.
8. Kevin Durant
542 GP, 27.4 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.3 SPG, 1.0 BPG
PER: 24.5, Win Shares: 88.6
2014 MVP, 5-time All-NBA, 5-time All-Star
The only thing keeping Durant from climbing this list right now is the fact that he hasn't had as much time to work on his resume as the other players in question. Barring injury, KD should continue to ascend after posting one of the greatest individual seasons the NBA has ever seen this year, just as he should continue to ascend the ranks of all-time scorers.
7. Dwyane Wade
719 GP, 24.3 PPG, 6.0 APG, 5.0 RPG, 1.8 SPG, 1.0 BPG
PER: 25.3, Win Shares: 105.4
3-time champion, 2006 Finals MVP, 8-time All-NBA, 3-time All-Defensive Team, 10-time All-Star
With a killer post game for a guard, his midrange game, and his ability to get to the free throw line, Wade has been one of the best scorers of the last decade even without a consistent three-point shot in his arsenal. Add his defensive ability in his prime years, his sensational individual seasons to carry the Heat in 2008-09 and 2009-10, and the fact that he's one of nine players in NBA history with a career PER of 25 or higher, and keeping Flash off this list is impossible.
6. Dirk Nowitzki
1188 GP, 22.5 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 2.6 APG
PER: 23.5, Win Shares: 184.8
1-time champion, 2011 Finals MVP, 2007 MVP, 12-time All-NBA, 12-time All-Star
Dirk's ability to shoot from the outside, score from anywhere and put the ball on the floor as a seven-footer helped changed the game for big men and the NBA in general. Averaging 21.7 points per game on a near 50-40-90 (49.7-39.8-89.9) shooting split to get the Mavs into the playoffs in a tough Western Conference - in his age-35 season to boot - was merely the icing on the cake of an already unforgettable career. One-legged fadeaways forever!
5. Kevin Garnett
1138 GP, 19.3 PPG, 10.8 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.4 BPG, 1.3 SPG
PER: 23.9, Win Shares: 167.2
1-time champion, 2004 MVP, 2008 Defensive Player of the Year, 9-time All-NBA, 12-time All-Defensive Team, 13-time All-Star
He carried subpar Timberwolves teams to relevance with his two-way brilliance, helped resurrect the historic Celtics franchise, was the defensive anchor of the 2008 championship winning Celtics, and will go down as one of the greatest defensive players of all-time. He didn't get the nickname "The Big Ticket" for nothing.
Garnett's prime years in the mid-2000's included some of the most dominant two-way play you'll ever see from a modern big man, as he averaged 22.7 points, 13.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.6 blocks, 1.4 steals and a 27 PER over his last five years in Minnesota.
4. Shaquille O'Neal
801 GP, 21.9 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 2.5 APG, 2.0 BPG
PER: 26.1, Win Shares: 115.3
4-time champion, 3-time Finals MVP, 2000 MVP, 9-time All-NBA, 3-time All-Defensive Team, 8-time All-Star
Shaq's individual numbers are hurt by the 1998-99 cutoff, but even in the Post-Jordan Era, O'Neal had no equal when it comes to pure physical domination. To wit, Shaq averaged 29.9 points on 55 percent shooting, 14.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.4 blocks over 58 playoff games during the Lakers' three-peat from 2000-2002.
And the narrative that he should have kept himself in better shape doesn't hold much water, as the 7'1", 325-pound behemoth played until he was 39, appeared in 75 games for the Suns as a 36-year-old in 2008-09, and was still averaging 20 and 10 in his early 30's. What more did people want, other than free throws?
3. Kobe Bryant
1095 GP, 27.3 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 5.1 APG, 1.6 SPG
PER: 23.8, Win Shares: 164.9
5-time champion, 2-time Finals MVP, 2008 MVP, 15-time All-NBA, 12-time All-Defensive Team, 15-time All-Star
The Kobe Truthers will loathe him being anything but No. 1 on this list, while the haters will likely feel a few of the other names on the list belong higher than the Black Mamba. However you feel about Bryant the person, know this - he's one of the greatest scorers and is easily one of the top-three or so players of his generation.
Kobe's defensive contributions have been overblown in recent years as he's tailed off on that end of the floor, but in his absolute prime, he defended as well as almost any perimeter player. He could also drop 81 on you.
2. Tim Duncan
1172 GP, 19.8 PPG, 11.1 RPG, 3.1 APG, 2.2 BPG
PER: 24.7, Win Shares: 178.8
5-time champion, 3-time Finals MVP, 2-time MVP, 13-time All-NBA, 13-time All-Defensive Team, 13-time All-Star
What's left to say about The Big Fundamental? The lethally effective post game. The trademark bank shots. The All-World defense that few others in the game's history have been able to match. The consistency and otherworldly longevity - Duncan is just the second player in NBA history to win championships in three different decades.
Many modern fans think of Duncan as this old, Hall of Fame basketball soul who just won't age, but he posted some pretty gaudy individual numbers in his heyday that would have set the social media world on fire. For example, in the 2003 Finals alone, he had a 32-point, 20-rebound, seven-block, six-assist, three-steal performance in Game 1, a 21-point, 20-rebound, 10-assist, eight-block, near quadruple-double in the Game 6 clincher, and averaged 24 points, 17 rebounds, five assists and five blocks for the series.
How's that for fundamental?
1. LeBron James
842 GP, 27.5 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 6.9 APG, 1.7 SPG
PER: 27.8, Win Shares: 168.5
2-time champion, 2-time Finals MVP, 4-time MVP, 10-time All-NBA, 6-time All-Defensive Team, 10-time All-Star
If awards were handed out on pure merit every season, James would probably have a Defensive Player of the Year or two and possibly even additional MVP awards listed above, but the accolades speak for themselves. He's a two-way monster that can now score from anywhere on the court, bullying you down low or launching from deep (He's a 38.5% three-point shooter over the last three seasons), and can defend four out of five positions, if not all five, more often than not. He's one of only four players in league history, along with Jordan, O'Neal and Wilt Chamberlain, to post multiple 30-plus PER seasons and he's never missed more than seven games in a season in his 11 years in the Association.
Too many pundits point to the number of championships LeBron hasn't won without acknowledging that he dragged subpar Cleveland teams to championship contention year after year (No other post-Jordan player could have led the 2006-07 Cavs past the Pistons and into The Finals) or that just getting to four straight Finals with the Heat is an accomplishment in itself. He has more playoff games of 25, five and five than any other player in history, and has led his team in points, rebounds and assists in the playoffs 31 times in his career while no other player has done it more than 13 times (Larry Bird).
Those who choose to judge basketball players solely by team achievements will hold James' 2-3 Finals record against him - count the ringz, bro. Those who prefer observing the actual performances of each player, in all facets of the game, will tell you that King James is the best NBA player post-Jordan.