Swishfm3 wrote:I think Wade is a great talent but he's not a max player.

Just look at the Heats

that is just crazy. if DWade isn't a max player then no1 other than Lebron is.

added Deron Williams. Can't believe I overlooked it.

Moonangie wrote:

Markji wrote:A max player in my book are the ones who can really make a difference game after game, and when the game is on the line, you give them the ball and they win it. In addition to great skill, the have great determination, and succeed under pressure. The only players I think are max quality now are:

Lebron
Wade
Kobe
Durant

Close to max:
Dwight Howard
Melo
Bosh
Joe Johnson
Dirk when younger

Huh? Howard and Melo are just close?

jazz74 wrote:

Elite wrote:Bosh is a max player? really?

24ppg and 11rpg? what else must he do to be a max player besides arguably being the top three frontcourt players in the league?

By that statement one would have David Lee on that list. You can't go by just the numbers.

Oh, and for what its worth, I've been watching alot of phoenix games. I would take Lee over what I've seen of Amare. The guy doesn't rebound (lee is a beast on the board) or play a lick of defense (like Lee). The only thing he has is he's a better scorer.

I think if you put Lee next to Nash he's stats would blow Amare's away. Just think, he's putting up Amare numbers while playing alongside crap 2nd and 3rd string point guard.

Forget Bosh and Amare (if anyone was thinking about him.) Put Lee next to a defensive big and we'd be looking at one of the best front lines in the league

Markji wrote:Tommy Dee must be reading this thread. Here is his latest blog:

First of all I’ll say it again. Max players are star end of game players. Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Carmelo, Pierce, KG, Dirk, a healthy T-Mac and Tim Duncan.

I may have missed one or two but I didn’t add Chris Bosh or Joe Johnson. To me, they are secondary players. Slightly under max players. The last thing I’d want to see is to have the Knicks dump max money on one if there isn’t a star on board. The Magic had a young Dwight Howard when they overspent for Rashard Lewis. Lewis is a fine player, just not at $19 mill. Johnson is a fine player too, but not at the max level.

Will he(Joe J) get max money? I’m sure that’s market value, but I wouldn’t be overly ecstatic if the Knicks built a team around him should they fail to land Lebron or D-Wade. We’ll see what happens, just my two cents.

http://www.theknicksblog.com/2010/03/09/keeping-johnson-may-cost-hawks-in-long-run/

So he is adding Melo which is OK. The others are former max players, but, IMO, now too old or injured to warrant a max contract signed now. (Pierce, KG, Dirk, a healthy T-Mac and Tim Duncan.)

I think Tommy Dee was thinking the same thing a lot of us were during this last game..Hawks in a close game against the Knicks..if JJ thinks he's worth the max (he turned down a 5 year max extension last season to go for 6 this offseason) then there is no way this game is this close.

Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Durant (which we saw first hand), Melo, Dirk do NOT let their team lose against the Knicks.

I don't see Lee as max but, if someone is just throwing numbers out there as proof then Lee would have to be in the equation.

did that make sense?

Chris Paul, Deron Williams
Dewayne Wade, Kobe Byrant
Lebron james, Carmelo Anthony
Chris Bosh, Dirk No
Dwight Howard

A couple of up and comers would be Brandon Roy, Derrick Rose, and Kevin Durant
Nash and big shot bob are really really close to me.......

Anji wrote:There are about 15-20 Max players not considering age. Elite players that produce wins should be the thing that matters if you are paying a player the max. Bosh is both an elite power forward and he has taken his team to the playoffs more that once.

Chris Paul, Deron Williams
Dewayne Wade, Kobe Byrant
Lebron james, Carmelo Anthony
Chris Bosh, Dirk No
Dwight Howard

A couple of up and comers would be Brandon Roy, Derrick Rose, and Kevin Durant
Nash and big shot bob are really really close to me.......

Durant is most def a max.. No doubt. Young, tall, athletic, skilled.. I suspect that it'll be him and LeBron as the top cats in 2-3 years

skeng wrote:

MS wrote:A max player is someone that should almost be able to get his team into the playoffs with marginal talent around him. Lebron is the only guy in the entire league with Wade a close second.

Kobe can not. That's fact he couldn't when Shaq was moved. Having Artest, Odom, Bynum and Gasol is a pretty impressive team one that could make the playoffs without him.

So a max player should be able to win a playoff series with another All-Star.

Dirk, Wade, Lebron, Kobe, Durant, Melo, Paul, Dwight are the only max players in the league right now.

that's fact? So he didn't hit gamewinners galore against Phoenix in the first round to nearly beat them in 7 games while having a shytty supporting cast?

kobe was fully capable of carrying a mediocre team. He carried a team of odom, butler, mihm, smush to the 7th seed in the Western Conference. The first season w/o shaq they finished 11th; which easily could've been a playoff spot in the east.

Oh, and he averaged 35 ppg in that second season without shaq

are you saying the Cleveland of past years (not this year) could make it to the playoffs in the Western Conference. When you mention what Kobe DID NOT DO, you might want to take that into account.