Nash

Looks like I advanced in the Best Sports Blog Names Tourney going on at Zoner Sports. Good work, Both Teamsters. We made the Final 12 (How’s that gonna work when it comes down to three? Rock, Paper, Scissor? There’s not a lot of logic to it.)

Meanwhile, I forgot to mention another bracket-gimicked thing that I was involved in. This one honestly seems pretty poorly run since no one really knows what’s going on, but it’s a “Blog Madness Tournament” that is essentially a debate type thing where good sites like What Would Oakley Do?, Hail Mary Jane and a bunch of other dudes I’ve never heard of discuss sports.

It’s hosted by some site called Sports2Debate that I really know nothing about and had never heard of previously, but I agreed to participate nonetheless and apparently advanced instead of some other NBA site cause I posted a few things and they didn’t. Thrilling, I know.

The whole thing is whatever, but I figured I may as well repost what I wrote since I so rarely write my actual opinions about the current NBA season over here anymore and it’s already written anyway.

The question was: “In the current NBA, who is the best ______ ?”

And we were supposed to give answers for the following categories: (1) rebounder, (2) thief, (3) dunker, (4) at taking it to the hoop, (5) outside shooter, (6) leader, (7) passer, and (8) ball-handler.

The other guy in the debate was Bob Boozer Jinx, who runs a pretty decent-looking Bucks blog I’d never heard, and he said Dwight for the best rebounder before passing the mic to me. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the rebounding category and all the others.

Good luck with that one, five other guys.

#1. The best rebounder in the world is Dwight Howard. Since this is a debate and that fact in undebatable, I agree that we should just move on to best shooter.

I’ve long held that Peja Stojakovic and Allan Houston are the co-best shooters of all time. Most people seem to think that Peja has fallen off a little since his Kings days due to the back troubles. That is certainly true in the sense that he does have some nights where is isn’t absolutely lights out from three, but looking past his injury woes this season, he still hit 44.1% from three last season. But if you’re not consistent every night, it is hard for me to consider you the best shooter in today’s game anymore.

Ray Allen is the next obvious candidate. He, too, is not as consistent as he once was, however, and, anecdotely, I’ve seen him miss an awful lot of wide-open threes since he’s become a Celtic. I feel like he was making more contested shots at a higher percentage in Seattle and Milwaukee. Given his third-option status (or even fourth with Rondo), I was fully expecting some 45+% for Ray Ray from behind the line in Boston. And while he has been back to straight water for most of this year, I can’t simply ignore the fact that his jumpshot turned into hot garbage for almost an entire month during last year’s run to the title. Yes, he found his groove again before the Finals, but his 1/6 and 4/12 shooting nights were a big part of the reason it took the Celtics 20 games to close out Atlanta, Cleveland and Detroit.

Thus, I’m going with Steve Nash. Not only is he one of the most underrated great shooters in NBA history (check the mind-boggling yearly 3PT percentages…or, all the percentages, really), but he has to be the best pull-up three-point shooter off the dribble I’ve ever seen. Many people might wanna say this is all D’Antoni, but check the numbers he was putting up in Dallas and his first go-round in the desert and it’s pretty clear that no other high-minute, high-volume long-distance is on par with Mr. Nash right now. Throw in his uncanny ability to pull-up in the clutch for a key three whenever the Suns need some quick points, and the two-time MVP clearly reigns supreme.

[Bob Boozer Jinx never showed back up, so I just kept going with the rest of my arguments.]

#2. The best passer in the league is unquestionably Chris Paul.

His ability to penetrate and move whereever he wants on the floor allows him to find any and every possible angle to deliver an optimal pass. As such, he not only finds guys perfectly when they do get open within the offense or on the break — something he does as well as anyone in the League — but he also creates passing lanes that would never exist if the ball was in the hands of a mere mortal.

Moreover, CP3 places the ball perfectly into the hands of a shooter. This is a mostly overlooked aspect of passing the ball as most people dwell on assist totals and spectacular, Jason Kidd-esque, cross-court bounce passes that make the crowd go “ooh” and “ah.” But more often than not, the precision of a delivery in something as simple as a swing pass or a drive-and-kick makes the difference between whether or not a jumpshot goes in. Paul puts the ball right into the shooting pocket more than anyone else in the Association aside from possibly Nash.

Similarly, he hits guys in stride on the break or in motion off a screen with similarly uncanny consistency. Whether it be a bounce pass to a guy streaking to the rim from the wing, another guard leaking out past half court of David West coming across the lane at the high post, he hits them in a spot where not only are they in a good position to score, but they catch the ball in a place where Chris Paul has essentially already made the decision on what move they should use or where they should go next.

In summation, CP3 runs shit.

#3. Since this debate appears to be over, I’ll just post the rest quick-style cause why not?

LeBron is the best at taking it to the hoop. His reluctance to do so for stretches allows for a case to be made for Dwyane Wade, but King James’ freight train in a bulldozer’s body plus the lightning first step and ability to cover ten feet in one stride put him well beyond anyone else in the League at getting to the rim — maybe ever if you weigh the fact that MJ was playing against athletes like Craig Ehlo who probably couldn’t even physically play in today’s NBA. [Note: Tony Parker is having a truly transcendent and completely overlooked season right now. Had this been done with more precision, he would have definitely been an honorable mention here as number three behind LeBron and Flash. Nobody -- NOBODY -- can stay in front of Tony Parker right now. He has the whole League back-pedaling on ice skates.]

Best dunker in terms of effectiveness in a basketball game has to be Dwight. Or still Shaq maybe. Given Vince and JRich’s ages creeping up, I’m not sure who’s the best dunker in a dunk contest sort of way. I’ll say still Vince. He was so ahead of his time his parents haven’t met yet as recently as two years ago and he hasn’t lost that that much off his vertical yet.

Best ball-handler is CP3 — just ask Jason Terry. Can’t recall ever seeing Frenchie get his ball took neither though. Kobe, Steve and AI are certainly in the mix. Chauncey and Deron are always in total command as well. [Note: DWill's crossover has no peers, only admirers.]

Best leader is a pretty stupid thing to rank people on. But it’s gotta be Duncan, right?

Best thief is CP3. He’ll steal your first-born child. The combo of Flash and Super Nintendo Chalmers in Miami is scary some nights though.

[And through those such shrewd debating stylings, I walked away victorious by a vote of 3-1 -- and that didn't even include me voting for myself since I was not allowed. Try to contain your excitement.]

"Why don't you or Manu take the MVP this time? My mantle's full anyway."

Known Associates: Allan Houston, CP3, Flash, Frenchy, Jesus Shuttlesworth, Kobe, LeBron, Nash, Peja, Spurs, Superman

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