About a month ago I submitted a FanPost which included a discussion of the top 30 NBA players of the last 30 years. SLAM magazine has just put out an online list of The New Top 50 NBA players of all time. The last time that they prepared such a list was in 2003. Their one main stipulation was that they only rated players on their careers up until now (so that current players like Manu and TP wouldn't have a complete career to look at, though LeBron made the list at #42).

My initial thoughts: Shaq is too high at #4 (both Kareem and TD should be ahead of him), the Admiral is much too low at #25. Shouldn't Pistol Pete be on the list? Do Iverson and Nash deserve to be on it? What do y'all think?

I'm sure that many of you saw the recent Buck Harvey column in which he detailed the striking similarities between Dwight Howard and David Robinson. Both men came into the NBA as great physical specimens and as the overall #1 draft pick, both won an Olympic gold medal and the DPotY award, and both could put up big scoring numbers simply b/c of their athleticism (and despite their lack of great footwork and post-up moves). They're also strong Christians.

Then there is also the negative perception that the Manchild, like the Admiral before him, is too carefree and not nasty enough to win a championship. That perception surfaced again after game 1 of the Finals when Howard only got one field goal in his 35 minutes. A perception that he doesn't have Kobe-like intensity (complete with Kobe's 'Nowitzki' growl). It's the same kind of stuff that David heard pre-TD. But the fact is that Robinson was always passionate about winning, it's just that until 1999 he didn't have the surrounding talent to take him over the top (with the possible exception of 1995, when Dennis Rodman's bizarre behavior caused an excellent team to self-destruct against the Rockets in the WCF). And I believe that Dwight Howard has that same passion as well.

Dwight, like David before him, is very secure in who he is and is not trying to conform to what NBA insiders (or advertisers) want him to be. Dwight, like David before him, possesses an inner strength that fuels him and a quiet confidence that spurs him on, despite the expectations of others. At the team level, it's the same kind of confidence and inner strength that caused a small-market team from South Texas to turn the NBA (and its expectations) upside down when they became successful and won multiple championships with a star-threesome who came from foreign places.

I don't know how this Finals will end up for Howard. Maybe it will be the same kind of losing experience (i.e. LeBron 2007, among many others) that is so often necessary before a superstar can finally climb the victor's stand. Or maybe in the games that remain he will average 28/18 and win the MVP award. But no matter what, I think that he has the kind of inner strength and resolve to be a real difference-maker who will lead his team to a Championship.

I know that Bill Simmons is not highly regarded around these parts, but in his latest NBA playoffs mailbag he included a chart which catalogues all-time player winning percentages of 14 NBA greats (credit for data compilation actually goes to Steve Hirdt and the Elias Sports Bureau). I was greatly impressed with the position of our Big Three, and I guess no other measure reveals the consistent dominance of the Spurs and particularly the Big Three over the last decade.

Mr. Bill also notes that "nobody did more with less than Duncan, and his performance from 2001-03 becomes more remarkable with time; he won 203 games, two MVPs and an NBA title playing with role players, has-beens, castoffs and young guys who weren't quite ready." He also contends that Robert Horry's career will be studied decades from now, yet still be as inexplicable as ever. Incredibly, Manu ranks second all-time for the regular season (behind Bird) and tied for third all-time for the playoffs (behind Magic and Jordan).