The Top 50: Redux

By Sam Rubenstein

The SLAMonline top 50 list ran all summer long, producing some heated debates along the way. Did we make some mistakes along the way? Sure. But for the most part I am comfortable with it. After absorbing the shots taken in the comments, I took a look back. If I don’t comment next to the player’s name, that means I am perfectly fine with where we’ve placed him.

1. Kobe Bryant
2. LeBron James
3. Dwyane Wade
4. Dirk Nowitzki
5. Tim Duncan
6. Allen Iverson
7. Steve Nash
8. Carmelo Anthony – many of you were outraged that he was too high. 30.8 ppg to lead the league so far on nearly 49% from the field.
9. Chris Paul – some of you thought he was too high. I’m fine with him here.
10. Kevin Garnett – Could be higher, but I’m fine with this.
11. YAO – Seemed high at first, but he’s justifying it with his play.
12. Elton Brand
13. Gilbert Arenas
14. Shaquille O’Neal – some of you thought this was too low. It might not even be low enough.
15. Dwight Howard
16. Andrei Kirilenko – this was a little crazy. My bad!
17. Tracy McGrady – A little bit low. I would still have Yao higher than him though.
18. Paul Pierce – Should have been higher.
19. Vince Carter
20. Chris Bosh – Should have been higher.
21. Pau Gasol – Who is Pau Gasol?
22. Ron Artest
23. Jermaine O’Neal
24. Amare Stoudemire
25. Tony Parker – Probably too high.
26. Ray Allen
27. Shawn Marion – Probably too low. I guess.
28. Chauncey Billups – Too high.
29. Joe Johnson – Too low.
30. Kirk Hinrich – Way too high. I accept the blame for this.
31. Manu Ginobili
32. Ben Wallace
33. Michael Redd – Too low.
34. JASONKIDD! – Way too low, but still an injury/breakdown risk.
35. Rip Hamilton
36. Jason Richardson – should be lower and Baron Davis should be on the list.
37. Jason Terry
38. Sam Cassell – Should be higher.
39. Stephon Marbury – Uh… and we thought we had him pretty low.
40. Antawn Jamison
41. Andrew Bogut
42. Mike Bibby
43. Josh Howard
44. Zach Randolph – Should be way higher, but that’s cause he’s living up to potential. Who knew?
45. Adam Morrison
46. Andrea Bargnani – Okay. This was goofy. Our bad. This upset people.
47. Josh Smith
48. Chris Kaman – should be a little bit higher.
49. Darko Milicic – Yeah, that was dumb.
50. Boris Diaw – Oh, where’s everyone that was so mad now?

My top 10 regrets for being on the list at all or coming in way too high/low low are:

1. Bargnani
2. Darko
3. Hinrich
4. Kidd
5. Kirilenko
6. Pierce
7. Bosh
8. Marion
9. KG
10. T-Mac

Guys I wish we included:

1. Baron Davis
2. Lamar Odom
3. Caron Butler
4. Emeka Okafor
5. Ben Gordon
6. Rasheed Wallace
7. Carlos Boozer
8. Deron Williams
9. Richard Jefferson (sort of)
10. Peja (sort of)

And there you have it. Enjoy that “mea culpa” as they say, on Thanksgiving.

Feel free to comment down below or to head over to our message boards and keep this timeless debate going.