To make it more clear, let's pretend that the league started over today and there was a draft drawn up for all the current NBA players. So the GMs making the pick would have to consider all the things there are to consider: talent, age, potential, leadership, box office draw, etc. Who are you going to build your team around? What would be the draft order of the top 12?
LeBron and Durant, one and two.
Dwight Howard is a very tough one with his back injury. That would probably scare me enough to leave him back a few slots. More around 10th place instead of top three.
I wouldn't select any of the older players like Duncan, Garnett, Dirk or Kobe. I prefer to build around bigs than guards. So I'd be inclined to take them early and PGs afterwards.
I will go with Anthony Davis at #3. Maybe Blake Griffin at #4. Oh, Carmelo #5. Then I'd have a run on guards. Only one high level two guard, James Harden. The rest are point guards. Kyrie Irving. Rajon Rondo. Chris Paul. Maybe Westbrook.
And Kevin Love in there somewhere. Probably behind the first four guards but ahead of Westbrook (decision making as PG). I don't like building around point guards so Harden is near the top of that grouping.
That leaves Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard competing for the final spot. Not sure who's injury scares me more right now. Maybe they're competing with Westbrook too. Final two slots up for grabs. Westbrook isn't really a player I'd like to build around. More of a number two than a number one due to his bad decision making and high usage at PG.
#1 - LeBron James
#2 - Kevin Durant
#3 - Anthony Davis
#4 - Blake Griffin
#5 - Carmelo Anthony
#6 - Kyrie Irving
#7 - James Harden
#8 - Chris Paul
#9 - Kevin Love
#10 - Rajon Rondo
#11 - Russell Westbrook
#12 - Derrick Rose