Ideal Player to Build Around
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by Craigbwolf
Since the 1990-91 season, there have been six different teams that have won the NBA championship. Each one of these teams had a star player, who was the leader of that team: San Antonio Spurs (Tim Duncan), Miami Heat (Dwyane Wade), Detroit Pistons (Chauncey Billups), Los Angeles Lakers (Shaquille O'Neal), Chicago Bulls (Michael Jordan), and Houston Rockets (Hakeem Olajuwon).
With that being said, if I were looking to start a team or acquire a star, here are the traits that player would need to have:
-Good chemistry guy -A warrior on the court -Strong in the community -Consistency -Double-double or near double-double each night -Entering into prime or in prime of his career
If you take a look at the most one-sided trades over recent history, each time the team trading the star got the short end of the deal because they traded that player for a reason that had nothing to do with talent.
Some examples over the last decade or so: Lakers traded O'Neal because of his situation with Kobe Bryant, Philadelphia traded Charles Barkley after his request because of decreasing talent, Washington traded Chris Webber traded after an arrest, Phoenix traded Jason Kidd after an arrest for spousal abuse, Orlando traded Tracy McGrady in an effort to bring in more talent, Toronto traded Vince Carter because of a trade request, Charlotte traded Alonzo Mourning over a contract dispute, Philadelphia traded Moses Malone in order to cut payroll, just to name a few. Some of these players (Kidd and Webber for "community", Carter for "warrior" while in Toronto) may not fit each trait, but nevertheless, they were still traded for reasons that did not have to do with talent.
It is yet to be seen if Minnesota and Seattle will regret trading Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, respectively. However, both of thse players fit my five traits, especially Garnett.
After going through the requirements and the history, here are a list of other players that I would build around today with all of these traits: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng, Jermaine O'Neal, Dwight Howard, Amare Stoudamire, Elton Brand, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Yao Ming, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Kevin Garnett, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Kobe Bryant.
I clearly left off a handful of great players. Here are those players and the reasons for why I left them off: Jason Kidd (age), Vince Carter (age/chemistry), Eddy Curry (chemistry), Ray Allen (age), Paul Pierce (age), Rasheed Wallace (chemistry), Chauncey Billups (age), Michael Redd (warrior), Shaquille O'Neal (age), Gilbert Arenas (chemistry), Rashard Lewis (consistency), Steve Nash (age), Shawn Marion (consistency/chemistry), Baron Davis (age/consistency), Ron Artest (chemistry), Greg Oden (age), Kevin Durant (age), Allen Iverson (age), Carmelo Anthony (chemistry), Pau Gasol (warrior).
