All-NBA Decade Team: 2000-2009

Believe it or not, but the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Championship back in June was the last one of the decade. The next NBA Champion will be crowned in 2010, when a whole new decade is upon us. With that in mind, why don't we look back at the best players of this decade and draft the NBA's All-Decade First Team.

At Center, we have Shaquille O'Neal. I don't think there is any question that Shaquille O'Neal is the best center of his generation. It has been a long time since we have seen a player as dominant as him. From 2000 to 2004, there wasn't a player on the planet who could get in Shaq's way. He won 3 championships in that span, and he won a 4^th in 2006. Among his NBA contemporaries, he is one of just 3 superstars to have 4 NBA Championships. During this decade, Shaq has won an MVP award, 3 Finals MVP awards, 3 All-Star Game MVPs, and he has been named to the All-NBA First Team 7 times this decade. Not to mention, at the ripe old age of 36, Shaq was named to the All-NBA 3^rd team just last season.

At Power Forward, how can you not have Tim Duncan? In fact, Tim Duncan may not be just the best power forward of this decade, but he might be the best power forward of all time. Tim has 4 championship rings, 3 of which came during this decade. He has had to contend in a dominant Western Conference, and yet his Spurs have won the division 7 times this decade, with only 3 second-place finishes, and of course he has made the playoffs every year. Duncan also has 2 MVP awards to his name, as well as 2 Finals MVP awards this decade. Duncan's greatest achievements may be on the defensive end, where Duncan has made the All-NBA Defensive team every year of this decade (and of his career), including 6 first-team designations.

At Small Forward, this was a tough decision, but I have to give it to LeBron James. Yes, he didn't enter the league until 2003, but he's been on 5 All-Star teams this decade, including 4 in which he has started, which is something that no other small forward of this decade can say. The other options were Paul Pierce, who has never started an All-Star Game, Tracy McGrady, who has never won a playoff series, and Dirk Nowitzki, who may have the best argument, but in reality, LeBron has done everything Dirk has, and Dirk is kind of a tweener. Thus, I picked LeBron, who is currently the leading active points per game scorer in the league, at 27.53ppg. Add that to last year's MVP, a trip to the Finals in '07, and some of his unbelievable playoff performances, and you have to give this spot to LeBron.

At Shooting Guard, there's no doubt that Kobe Bryant is the best. The torch from Jordan to Kobe went through a few hands, but there's no question that Kobe has been the next closest thing to Jordan since MJ's retirement. Kobe came out the gate winning championships-in fact, he won 3 in a row this decade, all by the age of 23. He is 3^rd on the list of active leading scorers, and he finally got his lifetime achievement MVP award in 2008, only to follow it up by leading Team USA to Gold in China. So say what you will about the whole LeBron-Kobe debate, but there's no doubt that there is room for both of them on this team.

At first, I thought selecting a point guard would be hard, because there are so many good ones to choose from. We're talking Baron Davis, Chauncey Billups, Steve Nash, Andre Miller and maybe you even have to throw in the current 2-time reigning assist leader, Chris Paul. But at the end of the day, with 4 assist-leading titles, the active assist leader, and the 2^nd active APG leader (despite having turned 30 in 2003), Jason Kidd still comes out as the best point guard of the decade. J-Kidd has been to the NBA Finals twice this decade, and has been on the All-Defensive team 8 times. He has been disrespected with only 5 All-NBA designations, but his 103 triple-doubles have been a thrill to watch, and everyone respects him for that kind of all-around ability.