by Morgan Rouleau

Created on: September 20, 2009   Last Updated: September 24, 2009

Rarely in the history of the game could you actually say that one player was going to be the best in the game during every single night of the season. Only a few players and situations can I think of that happening with: MJ, Shaq and that is it. LeBron James has the potential to reach that level, but he is not quite there yet to me.

The best players in the league last year were all perimeter threats which is a rather troubling trend for me and most other fans because we see the "bigman" dying.

The discussion for the best player in the NBA starts with "The King". When LeBron James left the building on May 30th 2009 it was after putting on an "average" by his standards game of 25/7/7 on 40% shooting, ending his playoff series with 38/8/8 on 49% shooting and the entire playoffs with 35/9/7 on 51% shooting, he was certainly and undoubtedly the best player in the league. Those numbers are legendary beyond measure because the last player who put up that many points in the conference finals was West, and with that combination of rebounds and assists I would like you to try and find someone who has done it. His regular season was no slouch either. He had the third highest PER ever with only Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain coming ahead of him. Did i mention that he was the MVP, and runner up for the defensive player of the year award? Well he certainly had an exceptional season while leading his team to the best record in basketball. Whilst most people were signing the Cavs off in the early part of the season, giving them the third or fourth seed in the East because the roster didn't have the most talent on it, but when you have the best basketball player in the game it helps you mask a lot of holes.

The next two slots are basically an interlocked battle between two players who play the same position, but I give it to the young guy because of his overall dominance rather than just being an inefficient scorer. Dwayne Wade had an exceptional season and broke a record for the only player 6'4" and under to average as many blocks as he did. He also won his first scoring title, and single-handedly drug a 15 win team plus Michael Beasley and Jermaine O'Neal to the fifth seed in the much improved Eastern Conference. Very impressive season considering the injury and surgery that this young man came off of.

Kobe Bryant, the least statistically impressive player on my top five list, but none the less it is hard to put him lower than three simply because of his team's success.

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>