Top 10 of the 21st century

[Godymas]

Was listening to the BS Pod and he incorrectly said “Kevin Durant is a top 5 guy of the 21st century” and it got me thinking, purely off this century, what are the top 10 guys?

Imo, locks are (in no particular order)

1. LeBron
2. Steph Curry
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Tim Duncan
5. Shaq

All 5 are 4-5x champions and are undeniable in their legacy as well as locked into the top 15 all time list. You can’t really argue for any other guy to be above those 5.

Now is the interesting part, who are the bottom 5? Difficult decisions here, including a collection of guys in the 2020s.

Imo it goes something like (slightly ordered)

6. Giannis
7. Jokic
8. Kevin Durant
9. SGA
10. Dirk

HM: Kawhi, Kevin Garnett

[Whopper_Sr]

1. LeBron
2. Duncan
3. Garnett
4. Curry
5. Shaq
6. Kobe
7. Dirk
8. CP3
9. Jokic
10. Giannis/Durant/Wade/Harden/Kawhi

AD the lone man out for the #10 spot. Need to see more from SGA. Shoutouts to Draymond and Manu.

[MMyhre]

I don't think Curry has to be locked in the top five, if you value his teammates and coach higher. Does Curry have gravity, undeniably. Did Curry have elite help winning his rings? Undeniably. Draymond Green is one of the best defenders of all time, a very smart and versatile basketball player. He had both him, Iggy and Bogut in 14-15. That's a pretty damn solid foundation for a defense. Klay Thompson was as elite a 3 and D sidekick as you can get.
If I add 2008 Chris Paul to the 14-15 Warriors, do they win it all? Maybe. 08/09 Dwyane Wade? I think so. And so the list goes on for all these players that will be underrated compared to someone in a better winning situation. Tbf Curry creates a lot of that winning situation by being an unreal offensive engine, but some of these other guys are great in their own right and has more reliable self-scoring in the postseason like Wade or Kobe, with better defense.

In 17 and 18 they added Kevin Durant after choking against the Cavs. They were just stacked, again.

His 21-22 run is the one where you can't argue much against it. Wiggins and Poole has not looked as good before or after that run, and if those are some of your key players in a championship run you are clearly doing something very right as the main guy. I still notice that the defensive rating was the lowest for the regular season, and decent in the postseason, so again, Draymond Green probably deserves more credit All Time than he will get.

Now, obviously Curry was the engine. You don't find players like Curry, but put Curry on the New Orleans Hornets and then with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.. does he win it all? I don't think so, so why should he automatically be locked in the top 5?

How much was Curry reliant on Draymond Green and vice versa? I just don't like putting all the glory in the offensive player. But people who watched the Warriors with unbiased eyes for a long period of time will know more than me about details in this, the problem is getting the "unbiased" analysis of the Warriors, as many of them are just unhinged Curry fanatics.

I think Stephen Curry is top 5, I am just saying that he had a lot of help along the way, so the timeline where he doesn't have Draymond Green is one I would like to see, and vice versa. So I don't automatically lock him in there as I would LeBron, as LeBron has a higher value by himself on impacting basketball games as shown by him taking those 2007 Cavs to the finals for example..

The same argument goes for Kobe and Duncan, while for Shaq I am not sure, I would need to know more. I think he might be a bit overrated as Kobe helped him a lot in for example the 2001 playoffs against the Spurs, and his 4th ring was a whopping 13.7 pts finals average while Wade had 34.7 pts and took over. So he looks good on the surface because of those finals MVP, but Kobe had some real firepower along the way in those tough west playoffs. No one wins alone, but we like to glorify someone and forget the context of how they won many times..

I think I have the same top five, but someone like Jokic is certainly in the conversation.
6-10 would be in no order:
Jokic
Dirk
Wade
Giannis
KG

HM: Kawhi, Durant, CP3, Nash.

I think SGA needs one more playoff run and he will likely just outright enter the top 10 if he wins and plays better than this year.
I don't value Durant as I think he is a choker when he is the leader, and was exposed in a lot of those OKC playoff runs and outright just quit on them. Luckily this will hang over him for the rest of his career, while some people will just look at those rings, the overall numbers (they look a lot better in the regular season and in the playoffs on the stacked Warriors for some reason) and not look at the context of things and overrate him. Also all the NBA players love the great 1v1 player so that hype train never dies, team basketball, defense, intangibles and playmaking are overrated. Score 1v1. Cool. Star. American culture I guess.

Edit *** I like the Manu and Green mention above me. Underrated.

[Bad Bart]

1. LeBron
2. Curry
3. Kawhi
4. Kobe
5. Dirk
6. Duncan
7. Shaq
8. Giannis
9. AD
10. Wade

[JShuttlesworth]

The Top 5 would probably be made up of; Lebron, Duncan, Curry, Shaq, and Kobe. In whatever order you want. Those 5 are locks.

The players 6-10 are probably a little bit more interesting. I'd probably say; Garnett, Dirk, Giannis, Durant, Jokic. Again, in whichever order

I don't think someone like SGA has done enough to claim Top 10 at this point. All of the guys in the Top 10 have a ring, if not multiple. All of the guys in the Top 10 have an MVP, if not multiple.

I'd probably have Wade 11th.

[MiamiBulls]

Shaq for the 21st Century...in the Top 5???

With Shaq, it's essential 4-5 years of high level play. Those 4-5 years of Shaq doesn't outweigh Durant's career or Dirk's career. Folks overrate Shaq's effectiveness past 2002. He was fatter, slower, was becoming more & more of a tree plant on Defense, FT% was cratering & substantially suppressing his overall scoring efficiency.

[eminence]

I’d be deciding between Shaq/Wade/Jokic for the last spot currently.

KG/Kobe/Duncan/Dirk/Bron/CP3/KD/Harden/Curry the top 9.

[Stan]

It's ridiculous to put SGA there yet. Mine would go

LeBron
Duncan
Kobe
Curry
Jokic
Giannis
KD
Dirk
KG
Shaq

HM's to Wade & Kawhi, their careers were just cut a little too short by injury to overtake Shaq's insane peak to me.

[SA37]

Off the top of my head:

1. LeBron
2. Jokic
3. Curry
4. Duncan
5. Kobe
6. Giannis
7. Durant
8. Nash
9. Dirk
10. Harden

I am leaving Shaq off because I think the majority of his dominant years came pre-2000. I also left Garnett and Wade off because I don't think they were as dominant/transformative as Nash/Harden.

[Godymas]

The Top 5 would probably be made up of; Lebron, Duncan, Curry, Shaq, and Kobe. In whatever order you want. Those 5 are locks.

The players 6-10 are probably a little bit more interesting. I'd probably say; Garnett, Dirk, Giannis, Durant, Jokic. Again, in whichever order

I don't think someone like SGA has done enough to claim Top 10 at this point. All of the guys in the Top 10 have a ring, if not multiple. All of the guys in the Top 10 have an MVP, if not multiple.

SGA has 1 ring, so does Giannis, so does Jokic

the place he lacks is multiple MVPs, but then you’re comparing him to a Dirk or KG or Kawhi or an MVPless DWade who also happened to team up with Shaq/LeBron

I'd probably have Wade 11th.

[wegotthabeet]

Was listening to the BS Pod and he incorrectly said “Kevin Durant is a top 5 guy of the 21st century” and it got me thinking, purely off this century, what are the top 10 guys?

Imo, locks are (in no particular order)

1. LeBron
2. Steph Curry
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Tim Duncan
5. Shaq

All 5 are 4-5x champions and are undeniable in their legacy as well as locked into the top 15 all time list. You can’t really argue for any other guy to be above those 5.

Now is the interesting part, who are the bottom 5? Difficult decisions here, including a collection of guys in the 2020s.

Imo it goes something like (slightly ordered)

6. Giannis
7. Jokic
8. Kevin Durant
9. SGA
10. Dirk

HM: Kawhi, Kevin Garnett

Putting Curry + Kobe > Duncan is criminal.

[JujitsuFlip]

Shaq for the 21st Century...in the Top 5???

With Shaq, it's essential 4-5 years of high level play. Those 4-5 years of Shaq doesn't outweigh Durant's career or Dirk's career. Folks overrate Shaq's effectiveness past 2002. He was fatter, slower, was becoming more & more of a tree plant on Defense, FT% was cratering & substantially suppressing his overall scoring efficiency.

2001 title (FMVP), 2002 title (FMVP), and 2006 title.

8 time All-Star 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009

6 time All-NBA 1st team 2001-2006

1 time All-NBA 3rd team 2009

2 time All Defense 2nd team 2001 and 2003.

Which 5 players are you putting above Shaq?

[JinKaz69]

If Wade didn't team up with Lebron and had healthy knees, he would have been in contention for 6-10 spots.
Dwight isn't in the conversation but Magic Dwight may have an argument for top 6-15 spots (and I don't like him).

[JinKaz69]

Off the top of my head:

1. LeBron
2. Jokic
3. Curry
4. Duncan
5. Kobe
6. Giannis
7. Durant
8. Nash
9. Dirk
10. Harden

I am leaving Shaq off because I think the majority of his dominant years came pre-2000. I also left Garnett and Wade off because I don't think they were as dominant/transformative as Nash/Harden.

It's a bit weird to see this comment from a Heat fan.
In my opnion peak Wade is the best player of this group (him, KG,Nash, Harden).
He was a retentless slasher and elite two-way player.

[Cavsfansince84]

If Wade didn't team up with Lebron and had healthy knees, he would have been in contention for 6-10 spots.
Dwight isn't in the conversation but Magic Dwight may have an argument for top 6-15 spots (and I don't like him).

I don't think playing with LeBron has anything to do with it. Shaq played with Kobe, Steph played with KD, etc. It's mainly just his knee issues. His prime was basically over at age 30/31.

[Godymas]

Was listening to the BS Pod and he incorrectly said “Kevin Durant is a top 5 guy of the 21st century” and it got me thinking, purely off this century, what are the top 10 guys?

Imo, locks are (in no particular order)

1. LeBron
2. Steph Curry
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Tim Duncan
5. Shaq

All 5 are 4-5x champions and are undeniable in their legacy as well as locked into the top 15 all time list. You can’t really argue for any other guy to be above those 5.

Now is the interesting part, who are the bottom 5? Difficult decisions here, including a collection of guys in the 2020s.

Imo it goes something like (slightly ordered)

6. Giannis
7. Jokic
8. Kevin Durant
9. SGA
10. Dirk

HM: Kawhi, Kevin Garnett

Putting Curry + Kobe > Duncan is criminal.

the only criminal thing here is your reading skills

[Bornstellar]

LeBron
Duncan
Curry
Kobe
Shaq


Jokic
Giannis
Dirk
KD
KG

[JB2]

LeBron
Duncan
Curry
Kobe
Shaq


Jokic
Giannis
Dirk
KD
KG

Not the other I’d put them in, but those are the right names.

Good list

[UcanUwill]

Top 9

LeBron
Shaq
Kobe
Duncan
Jokic
Curry
KD
Dirk
Giannis

10th could be : KG, Nash, Wade, Luka

[ropjhk]

Lebron
Duncan
Kobe
Shaq
Curry
Jokic
Durant
Giannis
Dirk
Garnett

HM: Nash, Kidd, CP3, SGA, Kawhi, Wade