The Greatest Basketball Player Alive?!

Lil' Wayne may be seen as the greatest rapper alive; others think he's complete garbage & that honor should go to 50 Cent or Jay-Z. But when it comes to who is the greatest basketball player alive in the NBA, the results can be downright equivocal in their own right.

Michael Jordan was, is & always will be my favorite NBA great, no questions asked. Others will say Bill Walton or Charles Barkley. Yet others are going to say that Isiah Thomas is the shizz. OK. Others 'll say, "Oh, Shaq is the greatest player in all of the NBA." There are plenty of players out there & as many folks out there voicing their opinions as to whom is the greatest.

And then we've got Kobe Bryant, a Renaissance Man for the 2008 season. Tim Duncan. Tony Parker. Lebron James. Dirk Nowitzki. Go ahead, throw Mr. Chamberlain, Larry Bird & Magic Johnson in there while you're at it.

Back in the day up to now, anyone could go on a tear as to whom is the greatest basketball player alive ever to roam around in a Bulls/Lakers/Spurs uniform. Kobe might be one of the best players around (& having a pretty stellar season as well BTW) but don't compare him to Michael Jordan or Charles Barkley; he is his own flipping self & that has always been the case. Same with #23: no one could pull off some of the shots he made to put teams to sleep, much less match his athleticism & versatility. Comparing today's stars to the stars of yesteryear seems like a major stretch: sure, their talents, selflessness & commitment to the sport in general may be similar but how the times have changed in styles & this is where their paths diverge considerably.

In the same way, using an analogy in the world of rap music, Lil' Wayne sounds nothing like 50 Cent just as 50 Cent sounds nothing like Ludacris or Kanye. Lil' Wayne is Lil' Wayne; whether or not he is the greatest rapper in existence is a moot point which will raise plenty of eyebrows & contention for sure. Back to the topic at hand: along similar lines, comparing the Mailman (aka Karl Malone) to Pau Gasol is not only comparing apples to oranges; it's also downright wrong, trying to put an upstart on the same page as a seasoned veteran & saying that they've got a lot in common when they don't. And when it comes to determining who is the all-time shizz in the NBA, drawing comparisons which don't need to be made - now that's a recipe for disaster.

When it comes to finding out whom the greatest basketball player alive is, we've got our work cut out for us in a major way. And plenty of detractors, having decided already, saying that Lebron is the best, that #23 is the best, that Kobe is the best, & all the rest are beat down.

One question, lots of loaded answers guaranteed to get you going in no time.