NBA's Greatest Positional Players

Despite the faulty logic in a cross-generational ranking system, ESPN recently decided to take a stab at ranking the all-time "Top 10" players at every NBA position. I mean, really, how does one pick one's accomplishments over another's in a game that's constantly evolving and changing?

For instance, Stephen Curry's three-point shooting ability is off-the-charts amazing, but just on the basis of that, how can you rank him ahead of all the players that played before Magic and Larry's 1979 rookie season when there was no three-point shot yet?

Another example, LeBron has some amazing stats, but are you going to rank him ahead of Larry Bird on the sheer fact that he has more points per game, when so many ticky-tack fouls exist nowadays that didn't exist in Larry's hard-nosed '80s heyday? With those extra fouls, I'm sure their PPG differentials would've been made up real quick, no? Taking that into consideration, as well as the fact that Larry won three rings in five tries with McHale and Parish as his teammates, whereas LeBron has so far won two in six tries, four of those attempts with Wade and Bosh as his teammates, and one with Irving and Love, tells me Larry's actually got more of that killer instinct that makes an NBA champion. The rest of their stat lines are essentially the same: Larry has a big edge in rebounding (10.0 vs. 7.1), LeBron has a slight edge in assisting (6.9 vs. 6.3), and both are tied in steals and blocks with 1.7 SPG and 0.8 BPG. So I'm basically still giving Larry the edge here, but with half a career left to go, I fully expect LeBron to be able to pass him within the next few seasons, if he can keep up this kind of production.

So really, what is the criteria for such a ranking? That's as subjective a question as I'll ever pose. For me, the truth comes by measuring the players' respective stat lines against my subjective eye test, and since I've lived long enough now to have seen most of the NBA greats play, and I've watched enough YouTube videos to have scoped out the rest, why not attempt to do so myself?

But first, in case you missed them, here were ESPN's rankings...

Point Guard (PG)

01. Magic Johnson
02. Oscar Robertson
03. John Stockton
04. Stephen Curry
05. Isiah Thomas
06. Chris Paul
07. Steve Nash
08. Jason Kidd
09. Walt Frazier
10. Bob Cousy

Shooting Guard (SG)

01. Michael Jordan
02. Kobe Bryant
03. Jerry West
04. Dwyane Wade
05. Clyde Drexler
06. Allen Iverson
07. George Gervin
08. Ray Allen
09. Reggie Miller
10. Earl Monroe

Small Forward (SF)

01. LeBron James
02. Larry Bird
03. Julius Erving
04. Kevin Durant
05. Elgin Baylor
06. Scottie Pippen
07. John Havlicek
08. Rick Barry
09. James Worthy
10. Dominique Wilkins

Power Forward (PF)

01. Tim Duncan
02. Karl Malone
03. Dirk Nowitzki
04. Charles Barkley
05. Kevin Garnett
06. Kevin McHale
07. Bob Pettit
08. Elvin Hayes
09. Pau Gasol
10. Dennis Rodman

Center (C)

01. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
02. Wilt Chamberlain
03. Bill Russell
04. Shaquille O’Neal
05. Hakeem Olajuwon
06. Moses Malone
07. David Robinson
08. Patrick Ewing
09. George Mikan
10. Bill Walton

I have a handful of problems with these lists.

First and foremost, Pau Gasol doesn't belong anywhere near any "Top 10" list, as he has rarely ever in his life been the best player in an NBA game, and he has thus far played 1,022 of them, so it's not for lack of chances. Heck, I'm not even sure he's the best NBA player in his own family, as Marc is definitely giving him a run for his money these days. However, he especially doesn't belong on a greatest power forwards list that's missing Dolph Schayes, the guy who essentially created the position. C'mon, ESPN, hire some writers over the age of 15!

Secondly, Chris Paul, who has never even appeared in a Finals game, let alone won one, is ranked on the greatest point guards of all-time list?! On what merit -- for being LeBron's friend? Get out of here with that nonsense, ESPECIALLY when Gary Payton, "The Glove," who is arguably the greatest defensive point guard of all-time, ain't yet listed! Sure, he's a good player, but no way in heck is Chris Paul better than Gary Payton!!

The third major affront to basketball that I see on this list is listing Bob Pettit as the SEVENTH best power forward of all-time, when his stats and anybody who ever watched him play would tell you otherwise. I can understand wanting to put Timmy at the No. 1 spot because he's a very likeable and unselfish player on this century's most consistent basketball squad, but at least have enough respect for Bob to list him at No. 2, if you're going to go that route. However, I can't go that route, since Bob owns Timmy in just about every per-game stat that was recorded back when Bob played: points (Pettit's 26.4 vs. Duncan's 19.2), rebounds (Pettit's 16.2 vs. Duncan's 10.9) and assists (both had 3.0). Watching him on YouTube clips, it wouldn't surprise me if Bob stole the ball way more often, too, considering that he was clearly quicker than Timmy. It should also be noted that Bob was a two-time league scoring champion and a one-time league rebounding champion, neither being a distinction that Timmy has yet to ascertain in his longer career. For those reasons, and also the fact that Timmy played "Center" for three of his 19 seasons, as opposed to Bob playing "Power Forward" his entire career, I've got to give the "best power forward ever" nod to Mr. Robert Lee Pettit, Jr. But like I said, if you'd rather give that title to Timmy, I'd be fine with Bob being No. 2, but definitely don't drop Bob all the way down to No. 7. ESPN's just wrong for that!

Lastly, before I reveal my own rankings, I'll just state that, despite how amazing they may appear to be today, I have a hard time ranking modern players who've only played a few seasons ahead of guys that have already finished their careers or are nearing the end of them because of something I like to call "The TM/GH/DR Factor" (named after Tracy McGrady, Grant Hill and Derrick Rose), wherein a player starts off putting up amazing numbers before getting injured and never being the same again. So even though I'm sure Kevin Durant will someday bump down Paul Pierce, James Worthy and maybe some others on my greatest small forwards of all-time list, for now he's still essentially in waiting as only an honorable mention. Same with Stephen Curry, whom I fully expect will claw his way up to about No. 3 or 4 on the point guard's list by career's end, as he really does have the greatest jump shot that I've ever seen (sorry Ray, Larry & Reggie!). On this point, I'll actually give ESPN some props for having more guts than me in pulling that trigger. I'd rather hold off a few more years until I can get a better sample size.

So without further ado, as it stands right now, this is how I'd rank everybody...

Point Guard (PG)

01. Magic Johnson
02. Oscar Robertson
03. Isiah Thomas
04. Bob Cousy
05. Walt Frazier
06. Jason Kidd
07. John Stockton
08. Gary Payton
09. Maurice Cheeks
10. Kevin Johnson
Honorable Mentions: Tiny Archibald, Lenny Wilkens, Steve Nash & Stephen Curry.

Shooting Guard (SG)

01. Michael Jordan
02. Kobe Bryant
03. Jerry West
04. Dwyane Wade
05. Allen Iverson
06. Clyde Drexler
07. Pete Maravich
08. George Gervin
09. Earl Monroe
10. Reggie Miller
Honorable Mentions: Ray Allen, Joe Dumars, Bill Sharman, Hal Greer, Sam Jones & Mitch Richmond.

Small Forward (SF)

01. Larry Bird
02. LeBron James
03. Julius Erving
04. Elgin Baylor
05. Scottie Pippen
06. Rick Barry
07. Dominique Wilkins
08. John Havlicek
09. Paul Pierce
10. James Worthy
Honorable Mentions: Adrian Dantley, Bernard King, Alex English, Chris Mullin & Kevin Durant.

Power Forward (PF)

01. Bob Pettit
02. Tim Duncan
03. Charles Barkley
04. Karl Malone
05. Elvin Hayes
06. Kevin Garnett
07. Jerry Lucas
08. Dolph Schayes
09. Dirk Nowitzki
10. Kevin McHale
Honorable Mentions: Dennis Rodman, Chris Webber, Dave DeBusschere & Vern Mikkelsen.

Center (C)

01. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
02. Bill Russell
03. Wilt Chamberlain
04. Hakeem Olajuwon
05. Shaquille O’Neal
06. Moses Malone
07. George Mikan
08. David Robinson
09. Patrick Ewing
10. Willis Reed
Honorable Mentions: Bill Walton, Nate Thurmond & Alonzo Mourning.

KCRW's "The Guest DJ Project"

I remember going to Los Angeles in Early 2010 and hearing this segment on KCRW radio called "The Guest DJ Project," which I thought was pretty cool because what they do is they bring one celebrity into their studio -- on the day I was listening, it was Rashida Jones, the beautiful daughter of music mogul Quincy Jones -- and they have them hand-pick five songs to play on the air. I guess this is easy for most of them, but with my musical preferences running the gamut from punk rock, grunge and old-school hip-hop, to outlaw country, classic rock and the delta blues, with some jazz and swing music also mixed in, you can see why I'd have a little bit of a harder time choosing just five songs to reflect my love of music. Nevertheless, I've decided to give it a go.

So if you'd be nice enough to let me Guest DJ your evening, these would be the five original songs I'd play for you, as they pretty well touch on most chambers of my musical heart...

** The Dutchess & The Duke - "Reservoir Park" **

** Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - "S.O.B." **

** 600 LBS. OF SIN! - "Twenty Nine" **

** Jon Brion - "Here We Go" **

** Esthero - "Wikked Lil' GRRRLS" **

Hope you've enjoyed my all-over-the-place musical tastes by clicking on every song, and if not, oh well, I still got to be a Guest DJ for a night. LOL!

Take care, everybody!

Powerball

The Powerball lottery has reached a record $1.4 billion. If you take the lump sum, you'll be receiving somewhere in the vicinity of $650 million (after taxes). If you take the annuity payments, which I most certainly will when I win tomorrow night, you'll be receiving slightly more than $1 billion in the next 30 years of your life at an AVERAGE clip of $35 million per year.

If you're anything like me, you've already planned out where you want to build your vacation country home (confidential for security purposes), how many horses you want to have on your ranch (four; and I already know all their names), what kind of pick-up truck you'll be driving soon (Gray 2016 Ford Super Duty F-450 Platinum), what kind of car you want to get your currently-no-working-car-having fiancée (Blue BMW 135i Convertible -- doesn't cost a lot, but my gal seems to really enjoy it), how many hundreds of guests will be invited to your dream wedding (I wanted a private ceremony with no guests, but the fiancée wants her whole GINORMOUS family there, so I'll top it off at at about 150 guests, so that she's happy), where you'll be spending your honeymoon (it's got to be Europe for about a month, no?!), how much your main home will cost (got to keep it under $1 million, so as to not draw the attention of your local thieves; $700K sounds good to me!), how you're going to hire a large brass band to play Johnny Paycheck's "Take This Job and Shove It" outside your former employer's main office (I swear that I don't have this dream. LOL!), etc., but have you thought about which financial adviser you're going to hire (*blank stare*)? If you haven't, you really should soon, because even with 292.2 million to 1 odds, somebody's going to win this darn thing... and it could very well be you!!

Billionaire Mark Cuban has some idea of what it's like to be very rich, and here's the advice that he shared with us via Business Insider, all of which I think is right on the money -- yes, that pun was intended, and I totally apologize for it:

• [The first thing you should do is] hire a tax attorney.

• Don't take the lump sum. You don't want to blow it all in one spot.

• If you weren't happy yesterday, you won't be happy tomorrow. It's money. It's not happiness.

• If you were happy yesterday, you are going to be a lot happier tomorrow. It's money. Life gets easier when you don't have to worry about the bills.

• Tell all your friends and relatives no. They will ask. Tell them no. If you are close to them, you already know who needs help and what they need. Feel free to help SOME, but talk to your accountant before you do anything, and remember this, no one needs $1 million for anything. No one needs $100,000 for anything. Anyone who asks is not your friend.

• You don't become a smart investor when you win the lottery. Don't make investments. You can put it in the bank and live comfortably. Forever. You will sleep a lot better knowing you won't lose money.

He also shared one last bonus tip with Business Insider: "Be nice. No one likes a mean billionaire. :)"

Giordano's

I don't mean to brag, but will you look at what my fiancée got me as my last gift for Christmas 2015?

(Yes, it took a long time to arrive, but still it's sooo worth it!)

She got me that one (stuffed pepperoni) and a second one (cheese), making it two pies in total.

Translation: I very gladly won't be able to fit through my doorframe soon. LOL!

Median Salary, by Age and Sex

These updated median salaries are just sad to see, if you're a woman. Thankfully, I'm not... and I'm making slightly more than the average for my age group. The little things in life, right? :)

Happy New Year!

Leave all your worries in the waves, and let them wash away... it's a brand new year, and a brand new start...