Time for Part 2 of my annual "Top 40 NBA Players With The Highest
Trade Value" column ...


Group E: "Borderline franchise guys"
No. 22. Lamar Odom -- Wow.



21. Steve Francis -- Assuming he ends up in Orlando, that
certainly fulfills his destiny of becoming a Franchise Guy on a
30-win team, doesn't it? The entire Steve Borderline Franchise
experience was on display in the playoffs, when he couldn't quite take
advantage of the fact that nobody on the Lakers could guard him. Story
of his career. And yes, he turns 28 in February.


(Put it this way:
If you were playing pickup hoops, would YOU want to play with him? You
can only imagine how poor Yao felt. You can almost hear him
complaining to his translator, "My diminutive teammate has been
dribbling too much, like a stray dog who won't stop digging for a hole.
"


20. Stephon Marbury -- If you want to get swept in the first round
every year, here's your guy. He's on the books for $77 million over
the next five years. Gulp.


(Speaking of gulps, what were the Vegas
odds of an Olsen twin seeking treatment for anorexia 24 hours after
the Clippers made an inexplicably horrendous trade that defied all
boundaries of logic? Would you have even been able to get 2-to-1 from
any casino? Probably not.)



19. Baron Davis -- Two years younger than Marbury and Francis. Won major
points for playing on a bum knee during the Miami series. And he held
his own with Barkley and Kenny on a TNT cameo this spring, and
finished a surprising third as well in the Chompers Challenge on MTV
(behind Omarosa and Brooke Burns). We just need to figure out why his
body keeps breaking down ... you knew his knees were a problem when
the Detroit Shock accidentally drafted him last spring.


18. Kenyon Martin -- He was 15th on this list as recently as 10 minutes ago.
With the exception of Game 4, he was pretty quiet in that Pistons series ...
and his numbers against Duncan and KG are always subpar. So I don't
know. Seems like he's headed for a Rasheed-type career -- extremely
useful, unquestionably valuable, unable to dominate unless he's
playing an inferior team. Along with Heather Graham and The Strokes,
I've cooled on him a little. Just a little.


17. Ben Wallace -- This seems about right.


(By the way, has Big Ben let go of the championship
trophy yet? He's like a dog with a new bone -- during the post-Game 5
ceremonies, I kept waiting for him to start growling at teammates that
came up to him. Can't you picture him standing in a nightclub with Rip
and Tayshaun, clinging to the trophy with one hand as the guys keep
asking him, "Come on, let us hold it for a little while." And Wallace
gruffly responds, "No." We should have a webcam on him at all times.
)


Group D: "Franchise guys"
16. Vince Carter -- You can check out
his career stats right here on the Worldwide Leader. Seriously, go
ahead. I'll be right here. Just click on the link. I'm not going
anywhere. Look at the numbers in '99-'00 and '00-01, then look at the
numbers in the last two seasons. See if you notice anything.



OK, you're back. So here's my
question: Did you notice anything that made it seem like Vince is as
good as he was three years ago? I mean, anything? I'm beginning to think
that Vince's decision to attend his UNC graduation, followed by that
last-second miss in Game 7 of the Philly series, was the defining day of
his career. He just didn't want it bad enough.


15. Paul Pierce --
This is a tough one. I hated watching him last season. With the
exception of maybe 10 games, I thought he mailed it in. Stuck a big
fat stamp on the season. Then again, it wasn't his fault that management
destroyed a team that came within two wins of the 2002 Finals. He
wasn't the one who pushed Rogers and Strickland out the door, traded for
Baker and LaFrentz and whiffed on the 10-11-21 picks in the 2001
Draft.



It's tough to accomplish much when you don't have much of
a supporting cast.
Put yourself in his shoes. You're 26. You tasted
playoff hoops ... now it's been taken away. You had the Fleet Center
rocking ... now the place is dead. You've been tripled-teamed for two
straight years. You haven't played with an above-average point guard
your entire career. There isn't a single guy on your team who can create
an easy shot for you. There isn't a single guy on your team who
protects you when you get hammered on a drive. Your team just plain
sucks. And worst of all, you have to play with me-first guys like
Ricky Davis and Mark Blount, guys who are just looking out for
themselves.


So here's the question: Would your play suffer a little?
Would you go into a little funk? Would you hate coming to work? Yes, yes
and yes.


They better not trade him. That's all I'm saying.


14. Jason Kidd -- Between the bad knee and all those miles he's carrying
on the odometer ... I mean, he could go GP on us at any time, couldn't
he?


(That reminds me ... we should change the phrase "jump the
shark" to "go GP on us." For instance, when my mom's using "jump the
shark," you know it's gone GP on us. See? Works just fine. Somebody
launch the Web site.)


Group C: "Practically untouchable"
13. Andrei Kirilenko -- He's only 23 ... made $955,000 last season ... already
the second-best defensive player alive (behind Ben Wallace, ahead of Ron
Artest) ... perfectly capable of creating his own offense, although
he's too unselfish to do it ... put up roto lines of "19-5-7-8-5" and
"10-12-6-6-5" in the span of eight days last December ... grabbed a
starting spot on the annual "Guys Who Would Just Be Plain Fun To Play
With" team, along with Yao, Luke Walton, Brent Barry and 11-time MVP
Jason Kidd ... and he looks like a cross between Fred Roberts and Ivan
Drago.


So what's not to love? More importantly, how has Anna
Kournikova not made a move on this guy yet?


12. Carmelo Anthony --
Averaged 24.3 points per game after the All-Star break, carried his team
to the playoffs and made nearly every big shot along the way. If you
think 'Melo isn't getting significantly better over the next five
years -- and by significant, I'm talking about 30-plus a game, easy --
you're crazy. Compare his resume to Pierce, Carter, McGrady, even Kobe
... he's ahead of everyone. Only an inexplicable, Britney-like
freefall could sidetrack what's about to happen.


(Of course, if he
ever hosts another show with Bill Walton on SpikeTV, I'm resigning as
president of the 'Melo Fan Club. But that's another story.)


11. Amare Stoudemire -- Remember, I'm a proud of owner of 10,000 shares in
"This Guy Is The Logical Successor to Moses Malone and Roy Tarpley"
stock. So why couldn't he crack the Top 10? Check last year's column for
the section about Amare and "The Other Shoe Theory." That still
stands.


10. Dwyane Wade -- That's right. Dwyane Effing Wade. You heard
me.


9. Jermaine O'Neal -- A level below KG and Duncan. I don't see
that changing, either.



Jermaine may not be the best at his
position, but plenty of teams would like to have him.
Which raises an
intriguing question: Would you rather have someone who will never be
more than the third-best guy at his position? Or would you rather have
someone poised to become the best pure guard in the league, as well as
one of the few guys in the last 25 years with a sense of The Moment, a
budding assassin, the guy about whom Bob McAdoo said (and I'm
paraphrasing), "I played with Magic and Kareem, I played against Bird,
this kid has the same special qualities."?


8. Dirk Nowitzki -- I'm tired of
hearing everyone say that Dallas would trade everyone but Nowitzki for
Shaq. Am I losing my mind here? Has anyone ever won the title with a big
guy who couldn't play defense or control the boards? Check out McAdoo's
stats some time; just as fun to watch as Nowitzki, his numbers were
better and he never made the Finals until he was a reserve with the
Lakers.


Forget about every other Shaq rumor -- Dallas is the only team
that makes sense. Nobody else can give back a top 10 guy and make the
salaries match in a palatable way. Whether it's a package of Nowitzki,
Antoine Walker and Josh Howard, or just Nowitzki and Antwan Jamison,
or whatever else it might take, the Mavs would be locking up the title
for two years, at least. Who's beating a motivated, ticked-off Shaq with
a quality supporting cast? Absolutely no one.


It has to be Dallas. It
has to be Dallas. That's always been the team. Kobe gets the West. Shaq
takes the South. LeBron has the Midwest. And ... well, we're working on
the East. But this is a good start.


(One more thing: Who would love
Dallas more than Shaq? He could become a bigger local hero than Emmitt
Smith and J.R. Ewing combined. He could wear goofy cowboy hats and giant
belt buckles, purchase some huge $50 million ranch, force his posse
members to steer bulls, bust The Benefactor's chops whenever possible,
dunk on Shawn Bradley in practice every day ... you're telling me he
wouldn't be happy as hell out there? He might shoot 70 percent on that
team. And having Kobe, Shaq, T-Mac, KG and Duncan on contenders next
season -- along with LeBron, Carmelo and Dwyane -- could lead to the
league's most exciting season since 1993. I'm giddy.)


Group B: "Only because they asked"
7. Tracy McGrady -- Yao and T-Mac together? Isn't
that like Christina Aguilera touring with three of the guys from
Phish? Here's Yao, the best passing big man in 25 years, someone who
should have the offense running through him at all times ... and he
has to stand around and watch T-Mac play one-on-three for 25 possessions
a game. A colossal waste of talent for everyone involved. If this
deal goes through, I say McGrady is back on the block within 18 months.
Either that, or Yao jumps in front of the Light Rail.



Rocket fans must be excited at the prospect of watching Tracy McGrady every
night.

(Couldn't they do everyone a favor and trade him to the
Clippers for Maggette, Wilcox and the No. 4 pick? Or to Indiana for
Artest, Harrington and Bender? Why haven't the Wizards thrown their hats
into the ring with Arenas, Hayes and the No. 5? Where are the Grizzlies
with Miller, Battier and Swift? Or the Mavs with Jamison, Daniels and
Howard for T-Mac and Hill? You can't tell me that Francis, Mobley and
Cato was the best they could do for the leading scorer in the league.
Please. Tell me that's not true.)


6. Mark Madsen -- Just wanted to make sure you were still awake.


6. Shaq -- This needs to be mentioned ...


Next year will be Shaq's 13th season. Just about every
Hall of Fame center started declining between seasons 12 to 14 --
Kareem, Wilt, Hakeem, Ewing, Robinson, Mokeski. Russell saw the
writing on the wall and retired. Only Moses and Parish kept chugging
along, but neither of them was nearly as good in his mid-30s. Even
Shaq watched his scoring average drop six points last year. Nowadays,
when Shaq submits monster games like that 36-20 in Game 4, you say
things like, "Wow, Shaq really has his legs tonight," and his coach says
stuff like, "We wasted one of the all-time great efforts by Shaq
tonight." Back in his prime, a 36-20 wasn't a cause for celebration. You
expected him to repeat the performance 48 hours later.


He's wearing
down. Slowly. Subtly. That's the real reason L.A. chose Kobe. But by
dissing Shaq in the decision process, they opened the door for a
Clemens-like revival over the next 3 to 4 years -- something that
never would have happened had he remained a Laker. Now he's about to
pull an Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill." Again, why wouldn't Dallas want to
be involved?


Group A: "Untouchable"

5. Kobe Bryant -- The parallels
between this Kobe-Shaq thing and "Survivor All-Stars" are uncanny.
There's Kobe working feverishly behind the scenes, trying to form an
alliance against Phil Jackson and Shaq. He was like Boston Rob. Mitch
Kupchak was Amber. Karl Malone was like Rupert. Shaq was Big Tom. Phil
Jackson was Lex. GP was Susan Hawk. Jerry Buss was Jeff Probst -- trying
to stay out of the way, always inadvertently starting trouble. And Shaq
and Phil saw the plotting coming -- from miles away, for God's sake
-- but they couldn't stop it from happening.


So here's the question:
When Kobe finally voted Shaq off, do you think he drew a smiley face
in the "Q" on the voting card? Or did he just write "SHAQ" in capital
letters? I think he went with just the capital letters. And stared
straight ahead when Shaq was putting out his torch. But that's just me.



(And yes, it feels weird seeing Kobe on the "Untouchable" list when,
six months from now, there's an outside chance he could be sharing a
bunk-bed in Colorado with a guy named Rufus. I'm trying not to think
about it.)



4. Yao Ming -- Drops two notches from last year. How do you
say "Step it up, big guy" in Chinese?


3. Kevin Garnett -- Here's the
best argument of the column ...


2. Tim Duncan -- And we could argue
this one for 10 paragraphs, or we could settle it with four words:
"Two rings to zero."


I'm going with the four words. If that's OK. I
almost went with the Kelly Taylor approach and said, "I choose me,"
but that would have been weird. So we'll go with Duncan and the rings.



(Ric Bucher made an interesting point here: Duncan played 18 more
playoff games than KG in 2003 -- six extra weeks of hoops at the most
intense level possible, followed by a tour of duty representing the U.S.
in last summer's Olympic qualifying tournament. Of course, KG
declined to play in that one. So KG basically rested for five straight
months -- unlike Duncan -- then returned fresh for the season with a
superior supporting cast. Well, guess who ended up getting injured?
And guess who looked fresh all season and won the MVP award? Exactly.
)


1. LeBron James -- Come on ... you were expecting someone else?
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