Top 100 NBA Players: #48 - Rajon Rondo

Rajon Rondo

Teams

Boston Celtics - 2006-14

Dallas Mavericks - 2014-15

Sacramento Kings - 2015-16

Chicago Bulls - 2016-17

New Orleans Pelicans - 2017-18

Los Angeles Lakers - 2018-20, present

Atlanta Hawks - 2020-21

Los Angeles Clippers - 2021

Playoffs

Appearances - 10 (2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2015,2017,2018,2020,2021)

Conference Finals - 5 (2008,2010,2012,2020,2021)

NBA Finals - 3 (2008,2010,2020)

Championships - 2 (2008,2020)

Awards and Honors

All-NBA First Team - 0 (2010,2012)

All-NBA Second Team - 0 (2009,2011)

All-NBA Third Team - 1 (2012,2016)

*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)

All-Time Ranks

Assists Per Game - #13

Total Assists - #14

Total Steals - #50

Steals Per Game - #61

League Leads

Assists Per Game (#1-2012,2013,2016, #2-2011, #4-2010,2018, #5-2015)

Total Assists (#1-2016, #2-2012, #3-2010,2011, #5-2009)

Total Steals (#1-2010, #4-2011, #5-2009)

Steals Per Game (#1-2010, #2-2011, #5-2009)

After averaging 11.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 2 steals per game as a sophomore at Kentucky, Rajon Rondo entered the NBA Draft, where he was selected by the Phoenix Suns with the 21st overall pick, and then he was immediately traded to the Boston Celtics for a future draft pick.

Rondo averaged only 6.4 points as a rookie on a bad Celtics team, but the team traded for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett after that year, and Rondo was suddenly on the best team in the league. He averaged 10.6 points and 5.1 assists as the starting point guard that year, then played better in the playoffs. In the Finals against the Lakers, Rondo had 16 assists in Game 2, then 6 steals in the deciding Game 6, and ended up with his first championship.

Rondo got better and better over the next several years. He averaged 11.9 points and 8.2 assists the next year, but the Celtics struggled in the playoffs because Kevin Garnett was injured, and fell in the second round, with Rondo averaging 16.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 9.8 assists in the playoffs, just short of a triple double.

The next year he finished #4 in the league in assists and led the league with 2.3 steals per game, and also set a career high with 13.7 points per game, and the fully healthy roster was able to make a return trip to the NBA Finals, where they faced the Lakers again, but this time they fell just short, losing in 7 games to Los Angeles. 

The next year, Rondo raised his assists to 11.2 per game, which made him the runner-up in the league, then led the league in each of the next 2 years. Injuries had started to cause him to miss games, missing 14 games in 2011 and 13 in 2012 with various foot and ankle issues. He tore his ACL about halfway into the 2012-13 season, but he had already recorded enough assists to qualify for the full-season leaderboard, which allowed him to win the assist title with only 38 games played.

He missed an entire year of action, returning halfway through the next year, but after about a year of him playing at a slightly reduced level, Boston traded away their long-time point guard to the Dallas Mavericks. He did not get along well with Dallas' coach, and was left on the bench for the final 3 playoff games as the Mavericks fell in the first round, at which time they released Rondo.

He signed as a free agent with the Sacramento Kings, where he showed that he still had something left in the tank, averaging 11.9 points and 11.7 assists per game, the latter of which led the league, giving him his 3rd assist title. After the season, he was again a free agent, and he decided to sign with the Chicago Bulls. 

He helped the Bulls reach the playoffs that year, but broke his thumb in Game 2, and the Bulls lost 4 straight games with him on the bench, then released him after the season. He went to New Orleans, where he was able to help the Pelicans reach the second round, but they fell to the Warriors, and he was once again a free agent.

He signed with the Lakers in 2018, and after battling through injuries in 2 seasons with the team, he was able to win his second championship, and though he didn't contribute as much to this title as his first, he still put up 9 points and 6.5 assists per game during the team's playoff run.

He signed with the Hawks last year, where he played less than 15 minutes per game through the first half of the season before being traded to the Clippers, where he was given a little more playing time and helped the team reach the Conference Finals for the first time in their history. Last month, he was traded to the Grizzlies, who released him, leaving him free to resign with the Lakers 2 weeks ago to chase a 3rd championship.

Rondo has been overshadowed by teammates who were bigger stars throughout his career, but he was one of the top point guards in the league for a long time, recognized or not. He led the league in assists 3 times and finished in the top 5 four other times, and was the steals leader once as well. He is known for playing his best in the playoffs, and has earned his spot on this list of the top players of all time.

Top 100 NBA Players: #33 - Paul Pierce

Paul Pierce

Paul Pierce is best known today as a member of Boston's "Big Three," the three superstars that were brought together in 2007 and brought a championship to Boston in 2008, and he's also known as the one chosen from among those three to win the Finals MVP Award that season, which leads many to believe that before the arrival of Garnett and Allen that Pierce and the Celtics couldn't win, but that isn't exactly true.

Pierce hit his peak as a player from 2001-2003, back when Antoine Walker was also playing in Boston, and the Celtics were actually a pretty good team. They won playoff series in both of those seasons, and even reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002, with Pierce as the team leader. Here are his combined stats from those two seasons:

Pierce - 26.0 pts, 7.1 reb, 3.8 ast, 1.8 stl, 0.9 blk, .429 FG%, .360 3P%, .805 FT%

Other than the field goal percentage, which was pretty low even for a guard, Pierce was great all-around. He did manage to improve his shooting over the course of the next 11 seasons, and he kept most of the other numbers relatively close to that level for as long as he stayed in Boston.

He remained one of the better players in the league for the next few seasons, but the Celtics started to slide, so they picked up a couple of stars to help share the load, and the result was their first title in two decades. Pierce was named the MVP of the Finals, but Kevin Garnett should have won it, as the numbers from that year's playoffs show:

Garnett - 20.4 pts, 10.5 reb, 3.3 ast, 1.3 stl, 1.1 blk, .495 FG%, .810 FT%
Pierce - 19.7 pts, 5.0 reb, 4.6 ast, 1.1 stl, 0.3 blk, .441 FG%, .802 FT%

A quick glance at those numbers shows that Garnett was by far the better player, performing better in every key category but one, assists, and that one was pretty close. I believe the reason Pierce won was his "comeback" from a "major injury" in game 1, which exhibited worse acting than a lot of reality shows. He couldn't even get up and walk off the court, but just minutes later he was back and scored 15 points in the third quarter to lead them to victory.

In 2010 Boston made another trip to the Finals, and people once again talked as if Pierce was the star of that team and the driving force behind it, but I showed earlier in my article about Rajon Rondo (#58) that the star power of the team had shifted to the point guard position. That's not to say the Pierce wasn't important on those Finals teams, because any team needs at least two stars to get to the Finals in today's league, and Pierce was one of them on both of those teams.

Top 100 NBA Players: #58 - Rajon Rondo

Rajon Rondo

Rondo is one of the youngest player to appear on this list so far, and you may wonder if he has done enough in his short career to merit his placement among the all-time greats, especially with his performance over the past few seasons. He may not have a huge list of career accomplishments, but what he did in Boston was pretty impressive.

First of all, he has already won a championship as a starting point guard in 2008. During that season he may have been overshadowed by the "Big Three" of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, but he wasn't far behind them in playoff production. He had more steals and assists than any other player to appear in the playoffs that year, and it quickly became clear that the Celtics were more than just 3 players.

The following season, despite only making it to the second round, he once again had the most playoff assists of any player. That season he was the best player on the Celtics in the postseason, boosting his averages to 16.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, 9.8 assists, and 2.5 steals. In 2010, he was the best playoff player for the Celtics once again, and he led them all the way back to the NBA Finals. Look at the playoff numbers for the four Celtics stars that year.

Rondo - 15.8 pts, 5.6 reb, 9.3 ast, 1.9 stl
Garnett - 15.0 pts, 7.4 reb, 2.5 ast, 1.1 stl
Pierce - 18.8 pts, 6.0 reb, 3.4 ast, 1.0 stl
Allen - 16.1 pts, 3.3 reb, 2.6 ast, 0.9 stl

Rondo was scoring and rebounding just as much as his bigger teammates, had more steals than any of them, and had more assists than all three of them combined. During the regular season he was named to the All-Defensive First Team and should have been named to the All-NBA Second Team. 

Two years later he led the Celtics back to the Eastern Conference Finals one more time, despite Garnett and Pierce continuing to get more accolades. They went clear to game 7 that year in the conference finals, but LeBron James and the Heat kept them from making another Finals appearance. If you doubt that Rondo was the best player on the team that postseason, here are the stats from that year's playoffs:

Rondo - 17.3 pts, 6.7 reb, 11.9 ast, 2.4 stl
Garnett - 19.2 pts, 10.3 reb, 1.5 ast, 1.2 stl
Pierce - 18.9 pts, 6.1 reb, 3.1 ast, 1.5 stl

As you can see, Rondo was a major reason that the Celtics were able to be so good for those 5 seasons, even performing better than the so-called Big 3 for most of that time. Even though he hasn't been the same player since the Celtics broke up the team, he did lead the league in assists again this past season, and maybe a fresh start in Chicago will help get his career back on track.

Top 100 NBA Players: 2012 Update

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I finished my countdown of the top 100 NBA players of all time, but since then another season has ended, and I've spent some time adding in the new set of statistics to determine new spots in the rankings for current players. Here is how that list looks now, with previous ranking in parentheses. Current players are in bold.

1. (1) Michael Jordan
2. (2) Wilt Chamberlain
3. (3) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
4. (5) Kobe Bryant
5. (4) Karl Malone
6. (6) Shaquille O'Neal
7. (7) Magic Johnson
8. (8) Larry Bird
9. (12) LeBron James
10. (9) Tim Duncan

11. (10) Jerry West
12. (11) Hakeem Olajuwon
13. (13) Elgin Baylor
14. (19) Kevin Garnett
15. (17) Dirk Nowitzki
16. (14) Bill Russell
17. (15) Clyde Drexler
18. (16) Oscar Robertson
19. (18) Scottie Pippen
20. (20) Charles Barkley

21. (27) Dwyane Wade
22. (21) Bob Pettit
23. (22) David Robinson
24. (23) George Mikan
25. (24) John Havlicek
26. (25) Julius Erving
27. (26) Moses Malone
28. (33) Paul Pierce
29. (28) Elvin Hayes
30. (29) Jason Kidd

31. (30) Patrick Ewing
32. (31) Rick Barry
33. (32) Allen Iverson
34. (34) George Gervin
35. (35) Gary Payton
36. (36) Bob Cousy
37. (40) Pau Gasol
38. (37) James Worthy
39. (38) Vince Carter
40. (39) Walt Frazier

41. (41) Alex English
42. (68) Kevin Durant
43. (42) Ray Allen
44. (43) Isiah Thomas
45. (44) Dolph Schayes
46. (45) Dennis Johnson
47. (46) Kevin McHale
48. (47) Dave Cowens
49. (48) Dominique Wilkins
50. (49) Reggie Miller

51. (50) Shawn Marion
52. (51) Chris Webber
53. (52) Bob McAdoo
54. (53) Tracy McGrady
55. (54) Steve Nash
56. (55) Richard Hamilton
57. (56) Dwight Howard
58. (57) Gus Williams
59. (84) Rajon Rondo
60. (58) Amare Stoudemire

61. (NR) Russell Westbrook
62. (59) Adrian Dantley
63. (60) John Stockton
64. (61) Robert Parish
65. (62) Shawn Kemp
66. (63) Chauncey Billups
67. (66) Carmelo Anthony
68. (64) Sam Jones
69. (65) Michael Finley
70. (87) Tony Parker

71. (67) Sidney Moncrief
72. (69) Elton Brand
73. (70) Kevin Johnson
74. (71) Latrell Sprewell
75. (72) Horace Grant
76. (73) Anfernee Hardaway
77. (74) Antoine Walker
78. (75) Grant Hill
79. (86) Chris Bosh
80. (76) Hal Greer

81. (77) Jo Jo White
82. (78) Walt Bellamy
83. (79) Joe Fulks
84. (80) Bob Lanier
85. (81) Mark Aguirre
86. (82) Chris Mullin
87. (83) Neil Johnston
88. (91) Carlos Boozer
89. (NR) Chris Paul
90. (85) Max Zaslofsky

91. (88) Jerry Lucas
92. (89) Manu Ginobili
93. (90) Bill Sharman
94. (92) Tom Chambers
95. (93) Terry Porter
96. (94) Fat Lever
97. (95) Jeff Hornacek
98. (NR) Joe Johnson
99. (96) Walter Davis
100. (97) Bob Dandridge

Dropped Out

(98) Jerome Kersey
(99) Lamar Odom
(100) Cliff Hagan

Of the 30 active players among the top 100, 15 moved upward in the overall rankings at the conclusion of the season, and three of them entered the top 100 for the first time. Several who are still in their prime years still found themselves dropping this season, like Manu Ginobili, Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwight Howard, while others are still active but peaked long ago and won't be moving up again, such as Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, and Grant Hill.

LeBron James cemented his status as one of the top 10 players of all time at age 27 by winning his first NBA Championship, with the regular season and Finals MVP awards to go along with it. Another good year should vault him to #6, while another great year like this one could get him to #5, or even #4 if something happens to Kobe Bryant.

Kevin Durant made one of the biggest jumps with his third straight season leading the league in scoring, and getting his team to the NBA Finals for the first time helped his cause even more. Very few players have led the league in scoring 3 straight seasons, the others being Bob McAdoo, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, George Mikan, Neil Johnston, and George Gervin. Of those, only Jordan and Wilt ever went for more than 3 in a row, which the 23-year-old will be trying to accomplish next season.

Rajon Rondo also moved up big following his amazing playoff performance, in which he recorded four triple-doubles, which gives him 10 for his career in the playoffs, tying him for third all time at age 25. He recorded one of them in game 7 of the second round, which allowed him to join Larry Bird as the only Celtics to post a triple-double in a game 7, then he did it again in the Eastern Conference Finals. He's still ranked behind his "Big 3" teammates on the all-time list, but by the time he retires he may be the greatest of the four.

Russell Westbrook debuted at #61 after being one of the top players all season long, then helping to lead the Thunder to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1996, when they were still the Seattle Supersonics. With him and fellow 23-year-old Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City has a great foundation laid for a decade of dominance.

Tony Parker established himself as San Antonio's star this year, leading them to the league's best record and 10 straight wins to open the playoffs before his team collapsed against the much younger Thunder. Parker still has several good seasons in front of him, and could end up inside the top 25 if he can keep the Spurs near the top of the league for the remainder of his prime years.

Chris Paul had yet another strong season, and this time he matched his longest playoff run by reaching the second round of the playoffs with his new team, the Los Angeles Clippers. He also led the league in steals for the fourth time, and was among the top 4 in assists for the sixth straight season. All he needs is a deep playoff run to make a real move up the rankings.

It took 11 seasons, 7 playing at an All-Star level, for Joe Johnson to make his way into the top 100, but he still hasn't seen a win in the second round of the playoffs, which is the main thing holding him back from becoming a top-50 caliber player. Maybe his trade to Brooklyn will give him the supporting cast he needs to take the next step, although it could decrease his numbers enough that it won't be all that helpful.

Top 100 NBA Players: #33

Paul Pierce

(Simmons: #54, BBR: #43)

Paul Pierce is best known today as a member of Boston's "Big Three," the three superstars that were brought together in 2007 and brought a championship to Boston in 2008, and he's also known as the one chosen from among those three to win the Finals MVP Award that season, which leads many to believe that before the arrival of Garnett and Allen that Pierce and the Celtics couldn't win, but that isn't exactly true.

Pierce hit his peak as a player from 2001-2003, back when Antoine Walker was also playing in Boston, and the Celtics were actually a pretty good team. They won playoff series in both of those seasons, and even reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002, with Pierce as the team leader. Here are his combined stats from those two seasons:

Pierce - 26.0 pts, 7.1 reb, 3.8 ast, 1.8 stl, 0.9 blk, .429 FG%, .360 3P%, .805 FT%

Other than the field goal percentage, which was pretty low even for a guard, Pierce was great all-around. He has managed to improve his shooting over the course of the past 8 seasons, and he has kept most of the other numbers relatively close to that level.

He remained one of the better players in the league for the next few seasons, but the Celtics started to slide, so they picked up a couple of stars to help share the load, and the result was their first title in two decades. Pierce was named the MVP of the Finals, but Kevin Garnett should have won it, as the numbers from that year's playoffs show:

Garnett - 20.4 pts, 10.5 reb, 3.3 ast, 1.3 stl, 1.1 blk, .495 FG%, .810 FT%
Pierce - 19.7 pts, 5.0 reb, 4.6 ast, 1.1 stl, 0.3 blk, .441 FG%, .802 FT%

A quick glance at those numbers shows that Garnett was by far the better player, performing better in every key category but one, assists, and that one was pretty close. I believe the reason Pierce won was his "comeback" from a "major injury" in game 1, which exhibited worse acting than a lot of reality shows. He couldn't even get up and walk off the court, but just minutes later he was back and scored 15 points in the third quarter to lead them to victory.

In 2010 Boston made another trip to the Finals, and people once again talked as if Pierce was the star of that team and the driving force behind it, but I showed earlier in my article about Rajon Rondo (#84) that the star power of the team had shifted to the point guard position. That's not to say the Pierce wasn't important on those Finals teams, because any team needs at least two stars to get to the Finals in today's league, and Pierce was one of them on both of those teams.

Pierce has a couple of real advantages over Gervin, the first being his ability to win in the playoffs, which Gervin didn't have, and the other being his longevity, which escaped the Spurs superstar, who left the NBA in his early 30's. Pierce was never the best player in the league, but he did make the top 5 in his fourth season, and he's remained a star in all but one of his seasons since, even playing at an All-Star level this season, at an age when Gervin was already gone.

Top 100 NBA Players: #83

Neil Johnston

(BBR: #241)

Neil Johnston is another of the forgotten greats from the early days of the NBA, overlooked because of the era in which he played and the shortness of his career. While he definitely doesn't have the longevity needed to be remembered as one of the very best players of all time, the peak period of his career was very impressive.

From 1952-1957, he enjoyed one of the most steady and productive periods of any player ever. During that time, his scoring average was always between 22 and 25 points per game, including 3 seasons in which he led the league. He also averaged between 11.1 and 15.1 rebounds per game, and also led the league in that category once. His shooting percentage was between .440 and .460 in each season, and he also led the league 3 times in shooting. The only category in which he experienced a major change was free throw shooting, which he improved each season, from .700 in 1953 to .826 in 1957.

While he was one of the best players during the regular season during that 5-year period, ranking among the top five players in the league in each of those seasons, his success did not translate over to the postseason. Only once did he experience any measure of playoff success, and that was 1956, when he, along with Paul Arizin and Tom Gola, led the Philadelphia Warriors to the NBA title. During the regular season, he had been the best player on the team, but Arizin was more impressive in the playoffs.

You can see from this chart that Johnston was a better overall player than Rondo, but his peak was relatively short and his playoff success was pretty scarce, while Rondo has already accomplished more in the playoffs in just 5 seasons than Johnston did in his eight years. Even without the playoff numbers, Johnston has to be ranked ahead of Rondo at this point in his career.

Top 100 NBA Players: #84

Rajon Rondo

(BBR: #147)

Rondo is easily the youngest player to appear on this list so far, and you may wonder if he has done enough in his short career to merit his placement among the all-time greats. He may not have a huge list of career accomplishments, but what he has done so far has been pretty impressive.

First of all, he has already won a championship as a starting point guard in 2008. During that season he may have been overshadowed by the "Big Three" of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, but he wasn't far behind them in playoff production. He had more steals and assists than any other player to appear in the playoffs that year, and it quickly became clear that the Celtics were more than just 3 players.

The following season, despite only making it to the second round, he once again had the most playoff assists of any player. That season he was the best player on the Celtics in the postseason, boosting his averages to 16.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, 9.8 assists, and 2.5 steals. In 2010, he was the best playoff player for the Celtics once again, and he led them all the way back to the NBA Finals. Look at the playoff numbers for the four Celtics stars that year.

Rondo - 15.8 pts, 5.6 reb, 9.3 ast, 1.9 stl
Garnett - 15.0 pts, 7.4 reb, 2.5 ast, 1.1 stl
Pierce - 18.8 pts, 6.0 reb, 3.4 ast, 1.0 stl
Allen - 16.1 pts, 3.3 reb, 2.6 ast, 0.9 stl

Rondo was scoring and rebounding just as much as his bigger teammates, had more steals than any of them, and had more assists than all three of them combined. During the regular season he was named to the All-Defensive First Team and should have been named to the All-NBA Second Team. He has very quickly become one of the best all-around players in the league, putting up big numbers in every category.

I've included Zaslofsky's adjusted value again here, but you can see that Rondo's peak was much more impressive than Zaslofsky's, and he has been a major contributor for four straight playoff teams, winning a title (which Max didn't), leading a team to the Finals, and putting up some very strong numbers on two other teams that lost in the second round. With just five seasons under his belt, there is a very good chance we haven't even seen his peak yet. He has the potential to end up being remembered as a better player than any of his current teammates.

Predictions - 23 Apr

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Bulls at Pacers - Bulls by 5

Mavericks at Trail Blazers - Blazers by 1

Spurs at Grizzlies - Grizz by 1

Thunder at Nuggets - Nuggets by 3

MLB

Dodgers at Cubs - Dodgers by 1.6

Rays at Blue Jays - Rays by 0.1

Diamondbacks at Mets - Mets by 1.6

Indians at Twins - Indians by 0.6

White Sox at Tigers - White Sox by 1.2

Reds at Cardinals - Cards by 1.8

Braves at Giants - Giants by 1.4

Yankees at Orioles - Yanks by 2.3

Nationals at Pirates - Nats by 0.8

Astros at Brewers - Brewers by 2.7

Rockies at Marlins - Rockies by 0.1

Royals at Rangers - Rangers by 1.2

Phillies at Padres - Phillies by 1.3

Red Sox at Angels - Angels by 1.7

Athletics at Mariners - A's by 1.7

NBA Player of the Day

Rajon Rondo - BOS - 15 pts, 11 reb, 20 ast, 2 stl, 5-13 FG, 5-6 FT

On a night when 3 Celtics had great performances, the best of all came from their point guard. He set a Boston franchise record for most assists in a playoff game, but I'm still not sure if that was more impressive than 11 rebounds from the smallest player on the floor. Boston's budding superstar has now led them to a 3-0 series lead and may have surpassed the Big 3 as the best player on the Celtics.

Prediction Results - 22 Apr

NBA Playoffs: 2-1 (.667) 19-4 overall (.826)

MLB: 6-6 (.500) 80-74 overall (.519)

Upsets: 3-1 (.750) 199-136 overall (.594)

NBA MVP Rankings - 1 Apr

After a short hiatus to focus more time on the NCAA Tournament, I've brought back my MVP rankings this week, but the faces haven't changed that much despite the time off. I'm still at odds with the majority of the world on my choice for MVP, but most seem to disagree with my choices for Most Improved and Sixth Man also. I'm just telling it like the numbers are telling me. Here are my updated rankings, with previous ranking in parentheses.

Most Valuable Player

1. LeBron James - MIA - 26.6 pts, 7.5 reb, 6.9 ast (1)

Since the last time I updated, the Heat have gone 8-2 and LeBron has averaged 28.9 points over that time. It is hard to dispute that he is the best player in the league, and his team is still in contention for the top seed in the East. The fact that he won the past 2 MVP awards is being held against him.

2. Dwyane Wade - MIA - 25.8 pts, 6.5 reb, 4.5 ast (3)

As good as LeBron's been lately, Wade has been keeping pace, averaging 27.4 points over the same 10-game span and putting Miami in position to pass the Celtics and Bulls to lock up the top seed. I believe that LeBron is a bigger part of the reason for Miami's success, but Wade is a very close second.

3. Derrick Rose - CHI - 25.0 pts, 4.2 reb, 7.9 ast (2)

The Bulls have also lost only twice in the past three weeks, and if they had won those two, I would have put Rose neck-and-neck with LeBron for the MVP lead, but what happened in their last loss was disturbing. Rose's turnover total (10) was greater than his combined assists and rebounds (9).

4. Kobe Bryant - LAL - 25.2 pts, 5.2 reb, 4.8 ast (4)

The Lakers have not lost in three weeks, and have only lost once to Miami since the All-Star break, and Kobe is the main reason why. He nearly recorded a huge triple-double against Phoenix, finishing with 42 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists in their closest game since Miami.

5. Pau Gasol - LAL - 19.0 pts, 10.2 reb, 3.4 ast (5)

Pau has scored at least 20 points in 6 of the last 7 games for Los Angeles, and they are undeniably the hottest team in the league today. If he keeps up this pace, who knows if the Lakers will lose again.

6. Kevin Durant - OKC - 27.8 pts, 6.8 reb, 2.8 ast (6)

Durant's scoring has dipped a little bit since last month, but his 3-point percentage is through the roof. He shot nearly 46% from long range in March, well above his season average of 36%, and that kind of marksmanship will come in handy in the playoffs.

7. Russell Westbrook - OKC - 22.0 pts, 4.6 reb, 8.3 ast (8)

Westbrook has the Thunder rolling, winning 11 of their past 12 games to take control of their division over the surging Nuggets and clinch a playoff berth again. Westbrook hit 4 3-pointers on Sunday against Portland, the first time he has made more than one in a game since mid-February.

8. Dirk Nowitzki - DAL - 23.3 pts, 7.0 reb, 2.5 ast (7)

Dirk has picked up every aspect of his game in March, even his free throw shooting, which was already great. His season average is 89%, but he hit 96% of his charity shots this month, with only 4 misses all month. If only the Mavs hadn't lost 6 games in March, they could have overtaken San Antonio for the best record in the league.

9. Dwight Howard - ORL - 23.1 pts, 14.2 reb, 2.4 blk (9)

Even though he is a little behind in both categories, it doesn't appear that Howard has given up on leading the league in rebounds or blocks this season, with averages of 16 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game in March. He seems like a safe bet to win another Defensive Player of the Year award.

10. LaMarcus Aldridge - POR - 21.9 pts, 8.6 reb, 2.1 ast (10)

Aldridge hasn't been able to keep up the pace that he set around the All-Star break, when he was making headlines almost daily for his exploits on the court around the time of his All-Star snub, but he has Portland in a pretty good position entering the final weeks of the season, and has still managed to remain healthy in the Bermuda Triangle of knee injuries.

Rookie of the Year

1. Blake Griffin - LAC - 22.4 pts, 12.1 reb, 3.7 ast (1)

Griffin has never been anywhere but #1 in these rankings all year, and even though he is coasting into the finish line somewhat, there is absolutely no doubt that he is the league's best rookie, and if the voting isn't unanimous it will be an outrage.

2. John Wall - WAS - 16.0 pts, 4.5 reb, 8.6 ast (2)

The rookie wall sure didn't affect Wall, who continued to improve each month of his rookie season. His only bad performance was when he scored only 2 points against Miami on Wednesday, and that's easily explained away by his early ejection for throwing a punch at Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

3. DeMarcus Cousins - SAC - 14.1 pts, 8.6 reb, 2.4 ast (3)

Just imagine where the Kentucky Wildcats would be this year if Wall and Cousins had stayed in school. Oh, yeah, they're in the Final Four without their freshman stars from last year.

4. Landry Fields - NYK - 9.9 pts, 6.5 reb, 1.9 ast (4)

Fields is just another in a long list of Knicks players whose production took a dive after Carmelo Anthony was acquired last month. His performance after being a second-round draft pick is still very impressive.

5. Greg Monroe - DET - 9.0 pts, 7.3 reb, 1.2 ast (5)

Monroe has been the most improved rookie this season, turning into a very solid player for the Pistons once he started getting playing time in January. He is setting himself up nicely to become a future star.

Sixth Man of the Year

1. Lamar Odom - LAL - 14.4 pts, 8.8 reb, 3.0 ast (1)

Some people may not vote for him because he started so many games this year, but he is eligible according to the rules, and he has been a force off the bench for the Lakers all season long, especially against Phoenix last week, when he scored 29 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in the victory.

2. Jason Terry - DAL - 16.1 pts, 1.9 reb, 4.2 ast (2)

The JET's production tailed off a little this week, when he scored a total of 11 points in two games in Los Angeles. If the award required that you start less than one-third of your team's games, he would run away with this award.

3. Shawn Marion - DAL - 12.0 pts, 6.8 reb, 1.3 ast (5)

After a disappointing start to the season, Marion has come roaring back lately, scoring over 20 points twice this month and grabbing more than 10 rebounds four times, all while playing fewer minutes than what he's used to.

4. Thaddeus Young - PHI - 12.5 pts, 5.4 reb, 1.1 ast (4)

Up until this week, Young had been having a down month, but consecutive games of 21 and 22 points showed that he is back at full strength and ready to help his team in the playoffs.

5. J.R. Smith - DEN - 12.2 pts, 4.1 reb, 2.2 ast (NR)

Smith has benefited greatly from Carmelo's departure, shooting nearly 47% from 3-point range during the month of March, which included his 9 for 16 performance against Detroit on the 12th, a game that he finished with 31 points, his new season high.

Most Improved Player

1. Dorell Wright - GSW - +9.4 pts, +2.0 reb, +1.7 ast (1)

Golden State had to play 18 games in March, but it didn't slow down Wright, who scored right at his season average for the month, and posted two games of more than 30 points for the Warriors, who weren't mathematically eliminated from playoff contention until a few days ago, a huge improvement over last year.

2. D.J. Augustin - CHA - +7.9 pts, +1.6 reb, +3.5 ast (3)

Augustin is slowly working his way back to January form, when he took over the reins when Paul Silas took over as coach and put the Bobcats in the playoff hunt. After a subpar February, Augustin has Charlotte right in the middle of the race for the final playoff spot with only two weeks left in the regular season.

3. Kevin Love - MIN - +6.3 pts, +4.3 reb, +0.2 ast (2)

After going for more than 3 months without missing a double-double, and setting a new record along the way, Love has had 3 games this month where he failed to record one, but the last two can be blamed on an injury that kept him out for four games.

4. Nick Young - WAS - +8.8 pts, +1.3 reb, +0.6 ast (4)

Nearly all of Young's averages are double what he recorded last season, despite the fact that his minutes have only increased by 65% this year. He has taken his talents to a whole new level this year, and the Wizards have a good young core to build around.

5. Jrue Holiday - PHI - +5.9 pts, +1.4 reb, +2.5 ast (5)

Holiday is finishing his sophomore season in strong fashion, scoring at least 24 points twice this week and reaching double-digit assists twice in the past 12 days. He'll be an important piece for the 76ers in the playoffs.

NBA Player of the Day

Rajon Rondo - BOS - 22 pts, 5 reb, 14 ast, 11-20 FG

Rondo finally had a good shooting game, and it couldn't have come at a better time for Boston, who was able to upset the league-leading San Antonio Spurs on the road last night thanks to the efforts of their point guard. If he can shoot like this in the playoffs, the Celtics will be very tough to beat.

Predictions - 1 Apr

Upset picks are in italics.

Possible upsets are underlined.

NBA

Bucks at Pacers - Pacers by 3

Bobcats at Magic - Magic by 12

Nets at 76ers - 76ers by 10

Cavaliers at Wizards - Wizards by 4

Bulls at Pistons - Bulls by 8

Celtics at Hawks - Celtics by 3

Grizzlies at Hornets - Hornets by 2

Heat at Timberwolves - Heat by 9

Spurs at Rockets - Spurs by 1

Thunder at Trail Blazers - Blazers by 1

Nuggets at Kings - Nuggets by 7

Clippers at Suns - Suns by 5

Lakers at Jazz - Lakers by 6

Prediction Results - 31 Mar

NBA: 1-1 (.500) 664-273 overall (.709)