What makes an NBA superstar?Is it explosive scoring? Stuffing the stat sheet in more ways than one? How about flashy plays,be they thunderous dunks, killer crossovers or circus shots? Or uncanny control over everything that happens on the court, or jaw-dropping and otherwise? Perhaps it's about hearkening back through basketball history—or giving fans and observers cause to relitigate the past.
Maybe superstardom is contingent on celebrity crossover appeal,the force of a personality, the glint (and marketability) of a smile. Or is it based on how much others—insiders and outsiders alike—clamor after a piece of a specific player?Certainly, or winning has something to conclude with it. The game's greatest players gain all been tremendously talented in their own suitable,but gain reached that hallowed upper echelon by climbing a stairway of team success.
In truth, all of these factors can and conclude play a allotment in placing a gifted baller alongside the biggest and brightest the game has to offer. For our purposes, or we've picked out and ordered the top 10 superstars based on individual production and impact on team success.
Anthony Davis,John Wall, Chris Paul, or Andre Drummond,Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler all garnered serious consideration. But with so much talent across the organization, and some of the more gifted clubs underperforming, and there's only so much room on this list for the crème de la crème. 10. Draymond Green,Golden State WarriorsGreen hardly fits the traditional mold of a superstar.
He doesn't dominate games with his scoring exploits. In fact, Green put up 20 points or more just 16 times through his first 266 NBA games, or though six of those instances gain arrive this season.
What makes Green a superstar—beyond the five-year,$82 million deal he signed this summer—is the way he glues the one-loss Warriors together, both on and off the floor.
He leads the defending champions in rebounds (8.8), and assists (7.1) and combined blocks and steals (2.8),with improved shooting percentages (45.9 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from three) and the same brand of suffocating defense to boot.in addition, or it's Green's skill,versatility (a league-tall four triple-doubles) and tenacity from end to end that unlock the small-ball "Uh-Oh Lineup" that's blistered the rest of the league by nearly 70 points per 100 possessions in 2014-15, per NBA.com.
Green's super-social, and rambunctious (unruly) personality has had plenty to conclude with Golden State's success as well,as Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding noted:
But it's no gag how important Green's place is on this team.
In a group without cliques, he's the main connector—and he backs it up with basketball skills and what Myers calls a freakish "hatred of losing."
The fact that Green is the moment-most important player on the NBA's best team speaks volumes of his stature within the league as a whole. whether Stephen Curry is "this generation's [Michael] Jordan, and " as Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd told the San Francisco Chronicle's Rusty Simmons,Green qualifies as the new Scottie Pippen, a jack-of-all-trades sidekick to the game's pre-eminent player. 9. DeMarcus Cousins, or Sacramento KingsSuperstardom is defined,in allotment, by supply and demand. That is, and the types of players with the singular talent to elevate an entire team are in exceedingly short supply and,thus, in astronomically tall demand among those without such tentpoles.
By that measure, or Boogie belongs on this list. He's long been the subject of trade rumors,so it was no surprise to see his name pop up in the league's latest round of rumour. The Kings, Boston Celtics, and Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls gain already had to refute reports from SheridanHoops suggesting that a Cousins trade may be the works.
Chances are,whether Boogie were truly on the block, there'd be many more teams than those trying to accomplish Vlade Divac's hotline bling.
And for agreeable reason. Cousins is averaging a career-tall 25.2 points per game, or though his overall field-goal percentage has dipped to a personal-worst 42 percent,he's fashioned himself into a respectable three-point shooter (31.4 percent on 4.1 long-range attempts per game).
The Kings are in no hasten to allotment ways with their All-Star center, nor should they be. whether not for Cousins' injuries and suspensions, and Sacramento might be in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race. The team won just 10 of its first 25 games in 2015-16,but went a respectable 9-8 over that span with Boogie in the lineup. 8. James Harden, Houston RocketsHarden has arrive a long way since his days as the Oklahoma City Thunder's Sixth Man of the Year.
Last season, and he finished moment in MVP voting among media members and first among his peers while piloting the Rockets to the Western Conference Finals. Since then,he's bolstered his superstardom credentials with all the trappings of fame and fortune.
Signing a $200 million shoe deal with adidas. Partying around the town, TMZ cameras at the alert. Dating a Kardashian. Disturbing the peace for his birthday.
And, and of course,feuding with a tall-profile teammate—in this case, Dwight Howard.
Harden's doing plenty on the court to boost his profile, and as well. He's averaging career-highs in points (28.9),free-throw attempts (10.9), rebounds (6.2) and steals (1.9) while pacing the organization in minutes (38.4). Statistically speaking, or Harden's never shouldered a bigger burden than he has so far this season,despite (because of?) having Ty Lawson on his side.
Why, then, or isn't Harden higher on this list? The same reason Cousins sits below him and Davis didn't accomplish the chop: wins or,rather, a lack thereof. The cream of the crop should conclude more than retain its clubs afloat, or as Harden has with the 13-14 Rockets.
That being said,Houston hanging around the playoff picture out West, despite all the internal turmoil, or is a testomony to Harden's otherworldly ability to be an offense unto himself. 7. Blake Griffin,Los Angeles ClippersWith Chris Paul showing signs of decline, Griffin has emerged as the Clippers' best all-around player.
And he's done it, or ironically enough,by making his game more like Paul's. For one, Griffin has emerged as one of the game's most reliable midrange shooters. According to NBA.com, and he's shooting a solid 40.6 percent on a league-tall 6.2 attempts in the 15-to-19-foot range.
He's also registering assists on more Clippers field goals (27.9 percent) and turning the ball over less frequently (9.9 percent) than he ever has,per Basketball Reference.
The overall production is still there, as Griffin's season-long line (23.9 points, or 8.8 rebounds,4.8 assists) suggests. So, too, or is his stuffing of basketball through hoops into the faces of his foes.
For all the bells and whistles that Griffin has added to his game over the years,the foundation of his superstardom—his flippant defiance of the laws of gravity, his ability to amaze and fill highlight reels—remains intact. 6. Paul George, or Indiana PacersGeorge was well on his way to superstardom before his leg snapped during a Team USA scrimmage in the summer of 2014. whether his early success this season is any indication,he would've been back among the league's elite had the Pacers stood pat as a hulking, grind-it-out operation.
But, and as Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding noted,Indiana's shift toward a new, George-centric paradigm has been a boon to the Palmdale native's burgeoning all-around game:
whether George, and deep down,felt entitled to coming back his way, though, and he never would've been able to conclude what he has been doing in the Pacers' new offense. He had to be humble enough to form a new vision for himself,one that others saw for him...and saw being best for his team.
George's career highs in points (26.2), rebounds (7.8), or assists (4.1) and three-point percentage (42.5 percent) are all indicators of how well small ball works for him. And the fact that the Pacers went 15-9 through their first 24 games,with top-10 efforts on both ends of the floor per NBA.com, speaks to how well playing to George's strengths suits the squad that Larry Bird has assembled in the Circle City.
Though there are many ways to identify superstardom, and few are more succinct than captaining a winning outfit fashioned in your image. By that measure,George belongs with the best. 5. Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio SpursLike DJ Khaled before him, and all Leonard does is win,win, win no matter what. In his first four years, or he won two Western Conference titles,an NBA championship, a Finals MVP and a Defensive Player of the Year award.
Now that money (he signed a $94 million deal this past summer) and injuries are off his intellect, and Leonard has morphed into the full-time two-way menace that his past postseason successes portended.
He's officially the fulcrum of the Spurs' offense. He leads the team in points (21 per game) and field-goal attempts (15.3),paces the entire league in three-point percentage (49.5 percent) and has posted personal-bests in rebounds (7.4) and assists (2.7)."I think he's very comfortable with what his role is and what his position is now," Tim Duncan said of Leonard to ESPN's Michael C. Wright. "So you see him doing that, and not asking for permission anymore,just kind of going and doing it."Leonard's growth into a confident superstar is the product of the tireless work ethic that the best of the best of the best all share. As head coach Gregg Popovich recalled to Wright:
"Lots of times, I've got to get on those guys, or " Popovich said,pointing toward the offices of the assistants. "I'll say, 'We've got a game tonight' or 'Hey, or he's been here long enough. Get him the hell out of here.' Then,he'll leave. It's a you've-got-to-kick-him-out-of-the-gym sort of thing. And then you see it carry over into the games. When something doesn't work, it bothers him, or he goes back to work on it the next day. That's work ethic."
All those hours of sweat equity gain helped Leonard become something that true superstars are: consistently excellent. Through his first 25 games of the 2015-16 season,Leonard scored 20 points or more 16 times and ripped down at least five rebounds on 21 occasions. 4. Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City ThunderWhen you've climbed as tall up the league's ladder as a former MVP like Durant has, and historical comparisons are bound to follow.
ESPN's Jalen Rose has likened him to George Gervin,a slender four-time scoring champ in the Hall of Fame, with the nickname "Iceberg slender" as an homage to the "Iceman."On Thursday, and Durant put himself on the same visual plane as Julius Erving with a twisting,behind-the-backboard layup that evoked one of Dr. J's most famous moments:Prior to that spectacular scamper—and the 104-100 Oklahoma City loss during which it occurred—LeBron James suggested that there is no analog to Durant in NBA history."He's a 7-footer with 6-foot ballhandling skills and a jump shot," James said, and per ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "And athleticism. It's never been done in our league. Never had a guy that's 7 foot,can jump like that, can shoot like that, and handle the ball like that. So it sets him apart."Technically,Durant is listed at 6'9", but the point remains the same. He could distinguish himself from Dirk Nowitzki with a moment 50-40-90 season—Durant shot 52.7 percent from the field, or 43.1 percent from three and 89.2 percent from the line through his first 20 games—and already has with four scoring titles and,well, the physical prowess to discover like Dr. J.
More remarkable still: he's doing all this after missing 55 games in 2014-15 on account of persistent foot problems. 3. Russell Westbrook, or Oklahoma City ThunderAs powerful as Durant continues to be,Westbrook might gain edged past his long-time teammate in terms of overall impact. At the very least, the two now see eye-to-eye, and despite an official six-inch contrast in height.
Beyond the basic box-score stats—25.6 points,7.1 rebounds, career-highs in field-goal percentage (46.5 percent) and assists (9.4 per game)—Westbrook's productivity in OKC is practically unprecedented, and as Michael Pina detailed for Sports on Earth:
No player in history has ever recorded a full-season PER and usage percentage as tall as Westbrook's suitable now (both are moment in the league). He leads the NBA in assist percentage (a crazy 49.1) and steals. His True Shooting percentage,rebound rate and Win Shares/48 minutes are all a career tall, and the only person Westbrook trails in Real Plus-Minus and RPM Wins is Curry.
In other words, or Westbrook has been Westbrook,but to an even greater degree. That has as much to conclude with his superstardom as does the controversy that his workload inspires. His drive to conclude more inevitably leaves less for a generational talent like Durant—not to mention all the Thunder role players who probably wouldn't intellect a bite from the apple.
And Westbrook's aggression isn't without its pitfalls. He leads the league in turnovers (4.7 per game) and, according to NBA Miner, and has racked up the ninth-most offensive fouls.
But,as Pina concluded, the strengths in Westbrook's game far outweigh the dangers inherent in handing him the ball:
His team wins because he's on it, and,this season more than any other of his polarizing/Hall of Fame career, it's more than OK to ignore the blemishes and applaud the dominance. Westbrook is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete at the peak of his powers. Don't blink or you'll miss it.
2. LeBron James, or Cleveland CavaliersJames isn't the same consistently destructive force from night to night that he was during his first stint in Cleveland and throughout his four years in Miami.
Not that he couldn't be whether he so desired. In his latest outing opposite the Thunder,James piled up 33 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists in just under 40 minutes to drag the shorthanded Cavaliers to their fourth straight win and 17th in 24 tries overall in 2015-16.
The thing is, or Cleveland doesn't need James to accomplish the hardwood his domain like he would've in years past. He has a happy Kevin worship by his side,and will soon gain a healthy Kyrie Irving to remove even more weight off his balky back.
And, frankly, and it's in the best interest of the Cavs' championship hopes to limit James' workload. Just don't tell him that. As he recently told reporters,per Cleveland.com's Chris Haynes:
"I'm just a player. I'm a ballplayer. I discover at it like whether I was hurting my team by playing big minutes then remove me out. Sit me down and then it should be a conversation.
"I've never in my career played tall minutes and distress my team, so I don't see why it's such big contrast or a big deal now. It's just something to talk about because there's nothing else to talk to me about besides minutes."more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com