All-Decade Teams: Best NBA players of the 2010s

[action781]

First Team
Curry
Lebron
Kawhi
Durant
Dwight Howard

The first four are locks, they have dominated the league for this decade.  To get a big man on the team, Dwight gets the slightest of nods over Anthony Davis.  This decade Dwight has an 8-6 advantage in all-star appearances, 5-5 tie in all-league appearances (both with 3 first team), and Dwight has stronger MVP finishes.

Second Team
Harden
Westbrook
Wade
Klay
Ant Davis

Harden and Westbrook have put up mind boggling stats all decade, but only one finals trip each.  Wade and Klay were central parts of the two most dominant teams of the decade.  Ant Davis is the best big man left.

Third Team
CP3
Kobe
Giannis
Draymond
Dirk Nowitzki

Dame feels like he's getting snubbed, but his status in the league has never been close to where CP3 and Kobe have been at in this decade.  Draymond I think has been a very underrated player who for example could have vaulted any of the past 3 Celtics teams into serious title contention.  Giannis has come on strong enough in the past 3 years to squeak by guys like PG13 who have never been even in the conversation for a top 5 player in the league at any moment.  LMA's decade-long consistency (7x all-star, 5x all-league) wins a close race against bigs like Marc Gasol, Dirk (3x all-league), and DeAndre Jordan.  Dirk especially has a very strong case for that last spot.  Actually, I'm putting Dirk over LMA.  A player who is the best player on a title team (there are only 6 of those in this decade) cannot be left off this list.

[Jvalin]

@bdm860, Moranis, Who

If we're going by accolades, Kobe had 4 all-NBA first team selections, 3 all-defensive team selections (2 firsts, 1 second), 1 championship + 1 Finals MVP, yet most of the posters aren't including him in the all-decade teams.

At the end of the day, we are all biased. We love the C's, we hate the Fakers. Not the worst thing that can happen to an NBA fan, if you want my opinion.

[Moranis]

@bdm860, Moranis, Who

If we're going by accolades, Kobe had 4 all-NBA first team selections, 3 all-defensive team selections (2 firsts, 1 second), 1 championship + 1 Finals MVP, yet most of the posters aren't including him in the all-decade teams.

At the end of the day, we are all biased. We love the C's, we hate the Fakers. Not the worst thing that can happen to an NBA fan, if you want my opinion.

For me it has nothing to do with bias, it has to do with the simple fact that Kobe didn't play the last 3 seasons of the decade and had another season of 6 games.  I just don't think he played enough or a high enough level to make an All Decade Team.  I know I had Giannis on there with 6 seasons, but forward isn't as deep as guard and he is the reigning league MVP, Kobe didn't have that this decade.  Kobe was clearly on the 1st team from the 00's All Decade Team though. 

[Who]

@bdm860, Moranis, Who

If we're going by accolades, Kobe had 4 all-NBA first team selections, 3 all-defensive team selections (2 firsts, 1 second), 1 championship + 1 Finals MVP, yet most of the posters aren't including him in the all-decade teams.

At the end of the day, we are all biased. We love the C's, we hate the Fakers. Not the worst thing that can happen to an NBA fan, if you want my opinion.

I rated Kobe as:

2014 = injured
2015 + 2016 = net negative, actively made his worse.

So that left Kobe with a four year window between 2010-13 -- 4 years being the absolute minimum break-off point for me to put a player on an All-Decade team.

2010 + 2011 = top ten player in league, led to title (and Finals MVP) & 2nd round loss
2012 + 2013 = All-Star level player but his greed and selfishness on the court disrupted team chemistry. Refused to age gracefully and hurt his team because of it (which detracted quite a lot from his positive contributions in my eyes).

So two high level years and two somewhat good years but not the type I like to reward / highlight in that 4 year stretch. Plus his one missed year with injury and two terrible years to finish.

Not enough for me.