Superstar Status: The Elite 9

OK, this post mutated as I got into it. I started off bemoaning the label of "Superstar" being attached to every NBA player who averaged over 19 ppg, and gettin' my "ornery old man" on about how there are fewer and fewer true superstars in the League. I texted my boy Jake,"Look at the '91 All Star game roster n tell me how many superstars you see." I counted 7. Off the top of my head, I figured that, by the standards we've seen in the past, there'd be only 4, maybe 5 today, with 2 on the same team. I did some digging, had it out with my Brain Trust, and I admit, was pleasantly surprised to pluck out almost double that many superstars in the current constellation of NBA players. 

and THAT'S where we begin. Superstars? Sure, there are 28 All-Stars every year, and every team has it's player or 2 (or 3, if you're in South Beach) who is THEIR star, at least in his respective fan-base. But SUPER? I mean, there's only one Superman. Tecmo Bowl was ok, but Super Tecmo Bowl was where it took off. College bowl games are fun, but there's only one SUPER Bowl. Mario? Plumber who likes spaghetti. SUPER Mario? Bad-ass. So what separates the All-Stars from the ultra-elite superstars? How many legit superstars are in the league right now? I think we can agree that LeBron James and Kobe Bean make the cut. Dwyane Wade? Certainly. Here's where it gets murky. So I took it upon myself to use the most stringent, scientific, meticulous (meaning I arged and shouted back and forth with my boy Dun for an 35 minutes) to come up with the criteria to delineate the really good from the great. So we agree that, to be a superstar, a baller HAS to meet 5 bulletpoints:

1. Show marked improvement over the course of their formative years
2. Elevate their team's play
3. Be able to take over a game, changing the momentum to win it
4. Their team is appreciably worse without them (meaning, you replace them with an average dude at their position, their team is looking at the lottery).
5. The eye test, the “It” factor, air of confidence, whatever you want to call it. If someone who doesn't necessarily watch the NBA watches a superstar in a game, he just knows,”That guy is good. Really good.”

Basically, a true superstar's GM is only going to consider trading him for another true superstar (unless he's Billy King or David Kahn; then he'll give up his Lambourgini player for two 2nd round picks, $3,00, and a pack of Newports). This isn't about rings, scoring average, or hype, this is about the players who, through a combination of dominating talent and sheer will, can turn a franchise around. Who are the bonafide superstar's in the league today?

 

• LeBron James/Dwayne Wade, Miami Heat- 2 unstoppable scorers, 2 willing passers, both have led their teams deep into the playoffs, each individually capable of destroying the opposition. While LBJ is more physically dominating, Wade's display of a steely will and relentlessness is superior to LBJ's sometime-passivity in the big spots. Say what you will about LeBron's puzzling PR moves over the last 7months, but the Cavs dismal season without him highlight his superpowers.
• Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers- Right now, LBJ and Wade are his physical superiors due to their relative youth, but Kobe's competitive fire and on-court IQ are on another level. While he may be a cornball off the court, Kobe's ability to beat you in any way necessary (15 boards in game 7 is insane) makes him NBA royalty.
• Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic- We get it. He's a shaky free throw shooter, his offensive repertoire is still in it's infancy, and his recent rash of techs is calling into question his focus. But MAN, he can play some defense. To witness his claim on superstardom, go no further than Orlando's decimation of the Charlotte Bobcats in last year's playoffs. While foul trouble had Dwight sitting for long stretches, when he was in he bullied the Cats into submission with smothering D. Even though Orlando inexplicably goes long stretches without getting him touches (show me another top-notch player who get's only 10.2 shots a game, like Howard got last year), Howard controls games with tight D and efficient scoring.

• Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs- His time is winding down, but Tim Duncan is still, at 34, an upper echelon PF. Don't let the career low numbers (about 14 points, 9 boards, and 2 blocks in less than 30 mpg)this year fool you, Coach Pop realizes the end of Tim's time is near and is asking him to do less to squeeze every last year of productivity he can out of Big Fundamental. Younger, flashier power forwards are out there, but think about it, future nonwithstanding, you don't think Pat Riley would jump at the chance to swap Duncan and and Bosh? Jerry Sloan wouldn't ship Al Jefferson out in a heartbeat for TD? He's scoring less, but he's proven he can imprint a game by defending the rim and controlling the boards. Superstar certified.
• Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls/Chris Paul, N.O. Hornets/ Deron Williams, Utah Jazz
  Here's where I almost lost a homie. D. Will and CP3 have been The Standards at point guard for the last 5 years; tough, efficient, and have shown that they can beat teams with the pass or shouldering the scoring load. I had them tabbed as superstars- they hit all 5 of the criteria dead-on. Rose, though...Naaaaah. My buddy Dun disagreed; more accurately, he stated,”You high.” Words were exchanged, family members defamed, guns drawn. But I can now admit I was wrong; Improvement? Scoring up by 4 points every year since his robust 16.8 ppg, dimes up to 8 a game, with almost 5 boards to boot. No question he's elevated this team's play, as evidenced by the epic 1^st round match-up the Bulls and Celtics waged back in '09, Rose's rookie season. Game domination? Just last night, he willed his team to a win over the Heat, hitting more than a couple eye-popping plays down the stretch. (the left-to-right-cross-floater-combo he hit Chalmers off with was Mortal Kombat“Fatality” level sick). Without him, the Bulls would be, in a word, putrid; there'd be bo one to get Boozer the ball, and they'd challenge the Nets and Cavs for a spot on the bottom of the barrel. Finally, just watching him handle the rock, watch him setting up his man with the slow dribble, like a coiled spring, you just KNOW he's about to do something that you probably are going to shout about (Click the link, please. He ducks so he DOESN'T hit his head on the BACKBOARD. Click it). So yeah. Any bias I had about his youth is blown away.
• Kevin Durant, OKC Thunder-The “KD is a lock for MVP” talk after he shot the world's eye's out at the FIBA Games this summer was a little overblown; he faltered a bit out of the gate this season, Russell Westbrook has been astronomical, and the Thunder took a while to hit their stride. SOMEHOW, my colleague Dun was of the mind that, while Rose was elite, KD was merely “a good scorer who got the refs in his pocket”. My rebuttal? “You high.” Durant's a force to be reckoned with; vast improvement, takes his team on his back, devastating scorer who has no problem diming, and with a team literally built around his talents, he's vital to his teams success. As far as presence, he's like a not-dorky Tim Duncan; quiet and seems humble, but really in tune with his team.

And that's IT. Those are the league superstars. Amare' Stoudemire? Has the “swagger”, scores like nobody's business, doing a bang-up job as Da Man in NY, but does too many dumb things at bad spots, is too caught up in his numbers, and really, besides scoring, isn't a complete player. Steve Nash? A Picasso of passing, but a Dagwood Bumstead of defense, we're learning that maybe he needed Amare' more than vice versa. Joe Johnson? Please. Next....Chris Bosh? After his “chill” comment and the whining travesty he pulled about his “widdle ankle boo-boo”, I'm not sure he's even star status. Carmelo Anthony? BREATH-TAKING scorer, but too much of a volume shooter; like Amare', if he's your best player, no way you're winning a 'ship. And as much as it hurt leaving Blake Griffin off of the SUPERstar list, I need to see it for more than 40 games; he's already ahead of the rest of the pretenders in my mind.

That's what I think, any opinions? Questions? Tell me I stink? Hit me, here or on Twitter, SnottieDrippen.

Yo, Kobe'. &^$%# Just Got Real.

Pau delivers in the clutch. And in a scarf.

Ah, the NBA is on an' poppin'; teams are past the "getting in gear" phase (except the Magic, they got another 2 week window to get it together). Remember the DEFCON-1 when Miami stumbled out the gate, the "I think LBJ and Wade are beefing!" rumbles and the "Spoelestra is GONE!" muttering? Yeeeeeah, about that. And how about LA bullyfooting out the gate, rolling to 8-0, then 14-2, while Pau displayed the full tool chest he has at his disposal, Shannon Brown unleashed his devastating long-range game and came out scorching,  and Kobe' played the facilitator, when the "LA is so good they're bored" talk had LA fans foaming at the mouth? To paraphrase that ol' Jay-Z song "it was all good just a week (ok, about 3 weeks) ago..." LA fan But LA is approaching the crucible of it's season; starting with the Bucks playing custodian by mopping the floor with a LA in front of a disgusted Staples Center crowd, and followed by a 16 point shellacking on a national by the resurgent Heat, the schedule ratchets up the opposition level; before LA lost to the Bucks, a wearing down Pau Gasol said, "You have to start tightening things up. You want to see some progress."  At the time they were 21-7, giving the "all-business" sound bites as the fervor built for the Christmas showdown with Miami. Since then... 0-2, their 5th loss to a sub-.500 team (last year around this time they were 21-4;  they hadn't lost their 1st game to a team with a losing record until their 35th game. And while 21-9 is perfectly respectable, watching LA from the 1st week and a half compared to the disjointed performances from the last 2 losses is like night and day. Now, this isn't me crowing about the Fall of the Lakers; if Boston taught us anything with their Rope-A-Dope performance last year, it's that to veteran, established teams, the regular season is less about W's and more about fine-tuning rotations and maintaining health (which is why even I, a Laker-hater, feel bad for Pau Gasol; almost 40 minutes a game for a not-particularly-athletic 30 year old big is tough). But even the most pro Pro-Lakers apologists like the writers at Silver Screen And Roll have to admit that, with opponents winning a paltry 41ish% of their games (that's like a 12-17 record, gross). It all averages out, though, with the 2nd half of January sees LA battling foes with a projected 65% win percentage, and from there on out the opposition projects at +.536. LA IS still the team to beat, no doubt; their resume' earns them that much. Artest has got to do SOMETHING on offense, and Pau has to return to his November (12 g, 20 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 54% from the floor), and Bynum needs to move from "potential" to "bonafide" if LA is going to duplicate the success of the past 2 years. On deck- Tuesday San Antonio Express rolls into town. Good luck with that...

Reality Check: This WILL Happen



"They are SO mean on Twitter."

 Right now, as a wanna-be blogger, I'm slackin'. I post less than Chris Bosh does. I produce less than Vince Carter in Crunch-Time. I put up less numbers than Michael Redd's kneecaps. I got all kinds of issues, My ISSUES got issues, and I'm not updating what is SUPPOSED to be the dopest blog in the land enough, but it's cool, because it's STILL the dopest blog in the land. The season starts in less than 48 hours.  Skip Bayless, Bill Simmons, John Hollinger,  and especially Zach "Bacon" Harper at Talkhoops.net, they all pontificate, subjugate, evaluate, palpitate and insinuate their season previews. I'm gonna tell you what exactly is gonna happen this season. As I type, I'm watching Ahmad Rashad try to slurp Kobe, telling him he doesn't "need" the same motivation MJ needed; the same guy who woulda spent millions to pay for the medical situation that  would have allowed him to take Michael Jordan's child into his man-made womb if MJ woulda lrt him, is now tryna put Kobe into the conversation with Mike. Ms. Cleo has temporarily given me the gift of sight (Ms Cleo and the fact that I know what the &%#@& I'm watching), so I'm gonna bless you, the NBA reader. As an NBA fan, I hold these truths to be self evident...




 

1. One of the 3 following teams will win the 2011 championship: Miami Triple Threat, LA Lakers, or the    

Boston Celtics. I'd bet anyone, any time, any where.

2.The Miami Heat might not win the champiuonship, but they will DESTROY alot of teams, win a butt-ton of games, and are gonna have nights where we wonder if they'll ever lose. The vitriol and venom is aimed at the Heat. The message board fake-gangstas are trashing the Heat, saying that they're overrated, they don't have the talent to support the hype. Be real. LeBron screwed over a city (and by Electricity, a whole state), but statistically he can't be touched. the foolish babble about Durant being the "best player" is pure media-driven hogwash. Best scorer? Durant, hands down. Best player to build around? I'll take LeBron's 29.7 pts, 8.6 asts (DUDE IS 6'8". 270 LBS!!!!!) and 7.6 boards over Durant's 30.1 ppg, 2.7 asts, and 7.6 boards ANY DAY. Look  at those assists numbers again.  And damn, Dwyane Wade, who's been missing through the whole "what's wrong with the Heat???" preseason, put up 26.6 points, almost 5 boards, and, most importantly, 6.5 DIMES A GAME last year. That's over 15 dimes a game between those Heat's two primary ballhandlers. Why are some fools claiming that the 2 stars can't co-exist, as if  they have some kind of selfishness syndrome?  And somehow, Bosh got stuck this label of being some kind of lame, just along for the ride with these 2 superstars. 24/11/2.4 steals and a block. Bad team or not, those are elite numbers. In the preseason games I watched, Bosh shut that talk down. His jumper was wet, he drove to hole with authority, he used crafty shimmies and fakes on the low box...Bosh is doing exactly what he did in Toronto, with alot more room to fry his opposite number. We are going to witness history.

24 min 5 sec. Yao shuts it down.

3. Yao Ming will play well but get hurt at some time and miss significant time. It's all well and good to try to limit Yao's minutes protect him, but we ALL know the old adage: if you're out on the court worried about getting injured,sooner or later (probably sooner than later), you WILL get injured. No real baller can thrive on such a rigid minute farce. If you had a sleek top-of-the-line SUV with a known bad axle or a faulty transmission, would you be scared, driving it only to the store 6 miles away at 8 miles and hour, no more, no less? Or would you go out and get a less awesome but more dependable vehicle? It's getting to that point with Yao. The Rockets will be exciting to watch, may make a surprisingly deep playoff run, but the absence of Yao will sink 'em in the playoffs, Ground Hog Day-style...Kevin Martin will score in bunches, Aaron Brooks will cook and look unstoppable at times, and Budinger's a legit NBA threat, but where's that ROCK for that squad, the dude to get tough buckets down the stretch when there's 3:13 seconds left and they're down 7?

NOT the recommended box-out.

4. Orlando has a motivated D. Howard (you're a multi-millionaire with physical gifts no one else in the league can touch- why the HELL weren't you motivated last year? You're paid to do one thing: pay basketball really, really well. Why didn't you holla at Hakeem last year, or the year before???). Orlando also is depending on the ultimate dog-player/frontrunner, Vincent Carter. VC HAD breathless talent; but he admitted to dogging it in Toronto, and he's gakked in all his bigtime moments- he is what he is. He's not-good when it matters. He worried about being a star without ever being a star. He'll find a way to trip up the Orlando Magic. They won't win one until they go through a mini-rebuilding and shed that idiot Carter's contract. I saw a mock deal to Denver for Carmelo an' Chauncey for Peaches/Reddick/Bass and Carter and Jameer, which would have given Orlando it's best shot. if the Magic wins a 'ship this year I'll eat one of VC's "I suck at life" hats. Let's be real; you can't teach "playing nasty", so Howard hasn't learned how to play nasty. He's a physical freak, he'll probably win 2 or 3 'ships sometime in his career, but this Orlando team is a Regular Season Killa and Playoff Pansies.



taken yesterday. They've already given up.

5. Let's be real. Dallas is like the Cowardly Lion- they just don't have the heart. The basic talent is there- Boubeaouis is freakin' Tony "Longoria" 2.0 with a J; Dirk is a 7 footer raining Js, Jason Kidd is Mr. Do-It-All M.C. Guess what? 2 of those 3 have been the exact same for the last 13 years. Who exactly is gonna make Dallas an elite team? Caron Butler? Yeah, if this was 4 years ago when he was a dominant player. Tyson Chandler? He couldn't hold Kevin Love's jockstrap this summer at the World Games. Prediction- Dallas wins 50+ games and flames out in the 1st two rounds of the playoffs. Dirk isn't an Alpha. Jason Kidd's hanging on but he won't put a team that needs a serious 2nd star like Dallas does over the hump.  Jason Terry will give you 20 on some ridiculously in-the-mug jumpshots in losing efforts as usual. Stop playing, that's the Dallas max.

6. Who else, San Antonio? C'mon, Tim Duncan is still a very, very, very, VERY good player, but the years haven't just caught up with him., they've built condos on his back and strip clubs in his knees. Yeah, he'll give you 17-20 ppg and 8-12 boards in the monitored minutes Pop will give him, but with the athletic freaks all over the center and PF landscape, how is this throwback gonna lead his team to the Ring? When's the last time we saw Manu and Tony Parker dazzle on a consistent basis? When's the last time we saw San Antonio string a 4 week period of dominance together? Can you see the Spurs, with no perimeter stopper, dealing with 7' Durant, jumping jack Ibaka, and X-Men mutant Westbrook in 7 games? Be real; Splitter will help, George Hill will help, but in what reality are they beating LA, Miami, or even OKC? The Spurs have fallen back to the pack.



"Weeee SUUUUUUUUCK!!!!"



7. The Nugs window is nailed shut. Carmelo's girlie-drama and Kenyon Martin's mentally deficient reasoning (dude, you're PAID for what you DO, not for what you MAY DO IN THE FUTURE; any time you miss games is stealing money) already got the Nuggets out of the picture. Chauncy's overrated at this point, Nene' is good but not that bomb big man they need, JR Smith is insane...they're like the Atlanta Hawks West.

"Yaaaay! Chcaaago!"

8. Utah Jazz? We love Deron Williams, BEST PG IN THE L, (can't wait to see him somewhere in Texas in 2013!) and we love Jerry Sloan, in my opinion the best coach in the league over his career; he took Karl Malone, Stockton, and the 99 Cent Store Clearance rack to the finals, and more recently he molded Deron, Boozer, and The Other Jacksons into "contenders" (getting Wesley Matthews an bloated contract from the Blazers in the process). But...be real...

9. The Nets Terrence Williams will catch some poor soul slippin' and destroy all nonbelievers with one of those once-in-a-generation, reality twisting, make-me-scream-while-watching-from-the-couch monster poster dunks....

10....kinda like Rose did.

11. Also. Anthony Randolph will put heads to bed.

12. And Javale McGee will make it punch-time at lunch-time.

13. Blake Griffin will be Rookie Of The Year. I like John Wall, he's got his own style, carries himself like a star (I refuse to use "swag". Not gonna happen...), but if you've seen Griffin in the preseason, you've seen an animal ready to be unleashed on the bigs of the league. He can snag double-doubles in his sleep, goes to the rim with bad intentions, and he's got that elusive "motor" so many GMs would give their first-born child for their power forward to have.

"THE ICE-CREAM MAN IS COMIIIING!!"

14. This year will mark the 1st noticeable of the slow-but-steady decline of Kobe' Bryant. Say what you will, at least I admitted that he IS the league's best....but age + mileage on his knees + lingering finger problems -LeBron's prime -KD's ascension to an elite player = Kobe' finally reliquishing the "Best Player" label at the end of the season. I'm not hatin', not saying he'll suck, or any of the old "Aw, hell naw, youza hata!!!" standbyes....Lakers fans, enjoy him while you can, it's goin' down...

A Man On Trial

I'm under the gun. I have a confession to make. Firstt, a little backstory. I love watching dominant basketball. I remember watching Mike eviscerate teams and destroy dudes careers and when the horn sounded, I had the satisfied feeling of a full man who just finished polishing off his favorite meal; when Rodman was added to that Bulls squad and we witnessed the record setting rampage through the league, I was in basketball Heaven, it was the dopest of the dope. Watching that 1st LA Shaq/Kobe juggernaut in the early 2000s was like watching a damn top-notch boxer laying all challengers on their back in a parking lot brawl. Somewhere along the way, with Shaq blowing town and Kobe showing certain Diva-like tendencies and allegedly taking unsuspecting hotel service-workers gross panties against their wills, I admit it, I stopped liking Kobe'. I admit, the whole "I'm-not-trying-to-be-like-Mike" while desperately trying to be like Mike thing irked me. The whole "won't-get-Ason (no J)-Kidd-cuz-of-Bynum?-Trade-his-azz!!!" garbage and the BS trade demands when the team struggled got on my damn nerves. So when Vince Carter, T-Mac, and now LeBron hit the scene, I would go through all the rigmarole to put one of these guys, ANY of these guys, above Kobe in the 2 guard hierarchy, cuz I just didn't dig that dude. I mean, who beefs with Ray Allen? Fast forward to December 2009; Lebron is stampeding any and all defenders, the Cavs are doing skits and dancing on the sidelines, and I'm telling any and everyone that wanna babble about Kobe',"Yo yo, my man, Kobe' is nice and all, and I'mma let you finish, but LEBRON JAMES is the BEST PLAYER in the League!!! THE WHOLE LEAGUE!!!!" *Shrug*. Did he dance on the sidelines DURING  a game, pissing of Chi? Yeah, and that was some bull. Did he start to really get full of himself, and start referring to himself in 3rd person WAY too much? Hell yeah, and that was crap. But guess what? I didn't care; he wasn't Kobe. The League bestowed him his MVP, Kobe' was banged up, life was good. Then- The Celtics expose LeBron as gutless (I don't care about his "the fans are spoiled" talk; a true warrior would have went out with both guns empty, shot 6 for 24 with 7 turnovers if he had to, he would have TRIED). THEN...Kobe' wills his team to ANOTHER Finals. And DENNN....Kobe' DOES shoot 6/24, but dude grabs 15 boards; at 6'7" with a bum knee, that's insane. I remember sitting in that sports bar with my homie Dun, surrounded by rabid, drunk Lakers fans, while I crowed and heckled with Boston bruising their way to a 4th quarter lead IN LA!!!! BUT...Kobe' goes 8-9 from the line and grabs 4 boards in the 4th. It's over, LA wins. Are you ^$%#* KIDDIN' ME!?!? Did he shoot 40% for the series? Yeah, the Boston D was a wall, and Kobe' was a walking wounded wing all by himself. Did Pau play better than Bryant in Game 7? Hell yeah, Pau's 18 points and 19 boards was game changing, but in the crunch, that jerk Kobe' grabbed the game by the throat and took it home as his. So yeah, as much as it makes my eyes bleed and my teeth itch, I will admit it: Kobe'snot the fastest or more athletic anymore, he's not the best shooter, not the best pure scorer, or the best defender. He's still not a good person, but Kobe' Bean Bryant is the best player in the damn WORLD. Excuse me while I go set myself on fire. I see you Dev...

I hate this guy.