Enough *NOT* said.
81 points is incredible. I'm not doubting that in any way.
But can you honestly say you'd rather have Kobe on your team than Duncan? Duncan's never had 80. Duncan's never had 70. Duncan's never had 60. I don't think Duncan has ever had 50...or even 40. And what that tells me is that being top 5 isn't about putting up ungodly scoring numbers.
There are four players who are definitely top 5 in the league: Shaq, Garnett, Duncan, and LeBron James. I can make solid arguments for a number of players for that last remaining spot - including Kobe Bryant. But it's *FAR* from a lock.
With all due respect Joe, Shaq isn't even the best player on his team. My top 5 in no particular order
Duncan
Garnett
Lebron
Wade
Kobe
The only ones on your list Ziggy that are open to debate IMO is Wade and at the outside Lebron and my pick to replace one or the other of them is still Elton Brand, but again, you can make a very good argument for any of those 3 to take the final spot in a top 5 ranking, the other 3 are solid top 5, both the Lakers AND the Timberwolves are overachieving primarily solely because of Garnett and Kobe.
Garnett hardly has a stellar team around him and they have struggled mightily against the better teams in the NBA but they are at .500 and you can't exactly credit Wally Szczerbiak or Troy Hudson with that, it is Garnett. In fact, the Wolves are 4-10 over the same 23 game stretch I cited against teams at .500 or better so maybe not even Garnett is a lock for top 5, nah, he is too consistently good at what he does, sort of like Kobe is consistently good at what he does. You see, THAT is objective.
The Kobe argument we have beaten to death but the same applies, overachievement based strictly on Kobe's presence on the team. Why is it that Kobe's detractors give Garnett a pass, (or for that matter Shaq), the way the Wolves are struggling and yet he, like Kobe, must consistently carry them but Kobe is vilified? Don't give me the "he's a ball hog"' mantra Joe or Skander, it is wearing thin and simply doesn't jive with the pure facts, it smacks of nothing but bias, which is fine, be biased all you want, just be up front about it instead of hiding behind your cute little "analyses" of what makes a top 5 player and trying to come across as objective, the facts belie such nonsense.
