Talkin' 'bout their generation

If the Spurs beat the Heat in tonight's decisive game 7, Tim Duncan will add another NBA title to his long-solidified Springfield credentials.  It will come 14 years removed from his first title back in 1999, tying Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the longest span between rings earned in league history.  And it will also, as you may have heard, tie him with another Laker great in another category.

Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant will have five championships apiece.

Chances are, you have some kind of an opinion about the potential significance of this last fact.  Depending on your perspective, a San Antonio win may represent the last résumé bullet point necessary for Duncan to leapfrog Kobe as The Greatest Player Of His Generation.  Or it may represent the last résumé bullet point necessary to convince doubters that, while Kobe is close behind, Timmy has always been The Greatest Player Of His Generation.  Or maybe you're a Laker fan, and you're clenching your fists right now to keep from screaming into your computer screen at the top of your lungs.  It doesn't matter what happens tonight!  Kobe is still the best!!  Did Duncan ever score 81 points in a game!?

Regardless of your exact take on it, however, you're probably aware of the Duncan-Kobe narrative thread to these NBA Finals – one of many that have provided a rich tapestry of context to an already-exciting series on the court – and you probably agree that the Big Fundamental and the Black Mamba are, in fact, the cream of their era's crop, in some order.  It's an underlying assumption with which all basketball fans now seem pretty comfortable: Duncan and Kobe are the best of Their Time.  The only question is which guy you have 1A and 1B.

A more interesting question to ask, then, may be: Who are the best of the rest?  As we watch the last of the stars who broke into the NBA in the mid-to-late 90s take their final stands, fade away and burn out, who else shined the brightest?

Defining a "generation" is always somewhat arbitrary, but, for the purposes of this piece, we'll define the Duncan ("born" into the league in '97) and Kobe ("born" in '96) "generation" as including all rookies from the '94-'95 through '99-'00 seasons.

Does a two-tiered Honorable Mention followed by a non-Duncan, non-Kobe Top Ten sound good?

Good.  Let's make like P!nk and get the party started...

Honorable Mention, Tier 2:  Abdur-Rahim, Shareef ('96).  Bibby, Mike ('98).  Howard, Juwan ('94).  Finley, Michael ('95).  Francis, Steve ('99).  Jones, Eddie ('94).  Lewis, Rashard ('98).  Maggette, Corey ('99).  Marbury, Stephon ('96).  Peace, Metta World ('99).  Robinson, Glenn ('94).  Rose, Jalen ('94).  Stackhouse, Jerry ('95).  Walker, Antoine ('96).  Williams, Jason ('98).

Honorable Mention, Tier 1:  Brand, Elton ('99).  Camby, Marcus ('96).  Davis, Baron ('99).  Hamilton, Richard  ('99).  Hill, Grant ('94).  Jamison, Antawn ('98).  Marion, Shawn ('99).  McDyess, Antonio ('95).  Miller, Andre ('99).  Odom, Lamar ('99).  O'Neal, Jermaine ('96).  Stojakovic, Peja ('98).  Terry, Jason ('99).  Wallace, Ben ('96).  Wallace, Rasheed ('95).

10.  Vincent Lamar Carter Jr. ("born" 1998):  At the stunning conclusion of an ESPN2 profile on rookie Vince available on YouTube, the venerable Dr. Jack Ramsay assures us that comparisons between the young Raptor and Michael Jordan are "not out of this world" – that Vince Carter might be a better prospect than Jordan had been at the same stage of his career.  That Vince's legacy would ultimately be defined by the Dunk Contest in 2000 is, in this context, disappointing.  Then again, those were some pretty sick dunks.

9.  Chauncey Ray Billups ("born" 1997):  Mr. Big Shot's career was, in a way, the inverse of Vinsanity.  Start slow, stay under the radar, but keep working.  Then make like cream and rise to the top.

8.  Tracy Lamar McGrady Jr. ("born" 1997):  These days, Tracy gets clowned on by Arby's on Twitter and nobody bats an eye, but the current Spurs bench warmer was once among the most electric scorers and complete all-around perimeter players the league ever saw.  It's too bad Grant Hill didn't protect his health with Derrick Rose-like ferocity, because Orlando-era T-Mac truly was something special; it's probably safe to say that he'd have lived to see a second round or two with the help of a proper running mate.

7.  Walter Ray Allen ("born" 1996):  Unparalleled longevity, unparalleled crunch-time chops (as on display Tuesday night).  The undisputed Greatest Shooter of All-Time.  If he hadn't left my Celtics for The Dark Side, I might still call him Jesus.

6.  Allen Ezail Iverson ("born" 1996):  One of the most frustrating misconceptions among casual hoops fans is that AI was "selfish" – that he was a "me first" kind of player.  Not true.  Allen Iverson wanted to win as much as any guy in the history of the game; he just genuinely believed that taking 25+ shots per game was the best way he could help his teams do so.  And he may have been right, as he never played with much in the line of complimentary offensive talent during his prime in Philly.  If Iverson had been matched up with a great pick-and-roll player (think: Amar'e Stoudemire) during those years, for example, the possibilities might have been scary.  No one had better ball control, body control, and toughness than the Answer; few players were ever more fun to watch.

5.  Paul Anthony Pierce ("born" 1998):  All those pump fakes, step backs, pivots... That Paul Pierce has been executing from his old-man-at-the-Y offensive bag of tricks at a high level for 15 years now is nothing short of legendary.  And that's the Truth.

4.  Stephen John Nash ("born" 1996):  Steve was a two-time MVP because he was as complete an offensive point guard as you could dream up, combining dead-eye shooting from anywhere on the court with dizzying court vision.  He's no. 4 on this list because, conversely, he had virtually nothing to offer on the defensive side of the ball and, of course, was never able to lead his team to the Finals.

3.  Jason Frederick Kidd ("born" 1994):  Ya'll wanna know what the Kidd did?  He worked hard, tried to get his family paid, took Nash's top-flight point guard pedigree, subtracted some shooting ability, added a whole lot of defensive prowess, and made three Finals, winning one, along the course of an astonishing 19-year career.  Whether Kidd should get much credit for coming out on top of the East in the early 2000s or riding my no. 2 pick to the 2011 title, of course, is very much up for debate – but we're splitting hairs at this point, any which way.

2.  Dirk Werner Nowitzki ("born" 1998):  Dirk's incredible alpha dog performance en route to the 2011 title cemented his spot as the second-best of the-best-of-the-rest of his generation (which is much more impressive than that sounds).

And finally...

1.  Kevin Maurice Garnett ("born" 1995):  Everyone always wonders whether KG's career could have been more like Tim Duncan's had he been given Duncan's circumstances and surroundings during his early years into his prime.  While anything is certainly possible, we should probably all stop speculating and appreciate the Ticket's career for what it has been.  After Magic and Larry and before LeBron, no one filled up a stat sheet quite like Kevin Garnett; no one besides Duncan turned in year-after-year of comparably high-impact defense; and no one, period, ever played the game with more passion, grit and balls®.


...Agree with my list?  Disagree?  Think anyone got overrated, jobbed with a low rank or honorable mention – or snubbed all together?

Leave it in the comments, and enjoy tonight's game!