My top 5, well the ones I just like more than any others would be
1. Chris Paul
2. Pau Gasol
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Jason Kidd
5. Manu Ginobili
As for who is actually the best in the game today?
5.Kobe Bryant, one of the alltime greats, probably the most diverse offensive player in the game, I feel he has become truly overrated the past couple of years. Championships will do that for a player, but everyone says he finally put it together by winning a Championship(on his own). I'd argue that the Lakers finally put it together and had Bynum, Ariza, and Gasol together with Kobe for a Finals run. Kobe imo, although still great, and still one of the best in the league, has obviously been on a downward path the past few seasons. He is not as athletic as he once was, he no longer gets to the hole with consistency, he seems to have lost the ability to make 3 pointers outside of the clutch, however he still does all those things better than most players, and more than anything, I'd say he is the most feared, demoralizing player in the league, which counts for everything. He makes the most difficult shots in the game, which to me is just as demoralizing as a blocked shot or a dunk.
4. Tim Duncan, I had a hard time putting him on this list because he's obviously now a step slow, but tbh, I think I'd still take TD over Dwight Howard on my team if I had the choice. Dwight Howard is obviously the 1 or 2 best body in the NBA, but the more that I watch him, the more I know he is mostly reliant on that body. He doesn't seem to have a very high IQ or any real feel for a post game. I'm not talking about developing a jumper, but he's 6 years in and still hasn't developed a reliable post game, and it doesn't really sem like he has it in him. Also, he could do so much more for his team if he just...saw the floor better. Too many times he gets caught not watching the ball and giving up easy baskets or in general not making things harder for the opposing team.
Back to TD, I think the only thing he doesn't have on Dwight is the body, but every aspect of his game is superior to Dwights. He has a better post-game, a spot-up game, a better passer with more ways to pass, more ambidextrous, a better more intelligent defender, and he's still putting up monstrous numbers at his age. Truly one of the greats, if he was half as popular as Kobe Bryant or Shaquille O'Neal he'd be a shoe in for Player of the Decade. Not to mention, the man hits clutch three's.
3. Dwyane Wade, people are saying he's having a down year this year, and if you go by the numbers he obviously is having a down year. But basically the Heat have already conceded this year and are waiting for next year to make that big free agency splash, so DWade is probably going along with that plan. But you can tell he still has it and is just avoiding injury at this point, because he basically turns it on whenever he want. That LA VS. MIA thriller DWade took over in a way that Kobe hasn't been able to in years, or anyone else has been able to currently(except for maybe 1 and 2 on this list). He does have a switch, and he's been playing with it on off for 75 percent of the season.
2. CP3, the man is amazing, he can do anything on the court, shoot from anywhere, rebounds exceptionally for his size, great and smart defender, and has dragged subpar teams farther than they had any business going. My personal favorite player in the league, before he got injured this year he was pulling off career numbers for a franchise thats done nothing for him. There is only one played I would draft ahead of him if I had to and that is
1. LeBron James, the biggest freak of nature I've ever seen play the game. If Magic could play all 5 positions then so can LeBron. He is above average in every aspect of the game, and really he could be the best at anything he wanted to. He could lead the league in assists, scoring, rebounding, probably blocked shots, probably steals, but he is probably the most well rounded player in the game so he settles for top 5 for every category(atleast at his position). Basically if ever there was a player built to play the game of Basketball LeBron James is him, I wish Jordan was still around so I could see if LeBron truly stacks up. Everybody talks about titles and all this nosense, but lets be real, Mo Williams is the best sidekick LeBron has ever had. I would trade Kobe for Lebron in a second and happily coast to the next 5 rings.
Wow, I put a lot of though into this post.