There are 50 days left 'til the NBA Season gets under way, and you can bet I'm counting the days down. To make the process go a little faster, with each waning day I'm throwing up my list of (likely) top 50 NBA players for this season. We'll get to the logistics in a sec, but let's let the Birdman fly first.
The Skinny: Chris Andersen came back from (an undisclosed) drug rehab suspension last season to take part in the Nuggets resurgence. In only 20 minutes a game, Birdman went for 6 points, 6 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game, which was good for second in the league. Single game case studies are even more revealing. Andersen went for 8 whopping blocks on April 2 against the Jazz. The Nuggets won by 10 points. In the playoffs, Birdman opened up his block party on the Mavericks in game 1 of the conference semis. Remember, Denver swept Dallas in that series.
Why he's #50: Quite simply, Chris Andersen had to make this list. Re-signing him was the most important thing the Nugs did this off season, and it went very smoothly. Things bode well on this horizon. Plus, word is he's grown a full beard to complement the killer 'hawk. Andersen is 31 this season, but with that bounce-off-the-wall temperament, age is just one more number for Birdman to swat out of the building. If you look up pogo-stick in the dictionary...well, you get the point. Birdman gets bonus points for the excellent fan following, exemplified by Birdzilla.com, dedicated to a "mythical NBA monster."
- Irreplaceability: The easiest way to think about this is in terms of one-for-one trades. Does the number fifty guy on this list get traded for number forty? Only if forty's GM has been hanging out with Josh Howard too much. However...
- Salaries don't matter: For the purposes of this ranking, salaries are disregarded as corollary to a player's value. In other words, just because Vince Carter gets paid more per square iota of talent, effort, and skill than does Courtney Lee doesn't mean he's less valuable. He may be less economically feasible, but that's a distinction for would be GMs (Bill Simmons), not blogosphere Joes. Thus, when considering a player's irreplaceability or replaceability against another, regard all salary restrictions as equal.
- Age does matter: Duh. Put it this way, the Lakers would laugh you right out of the building if you suggested they trade Andrew Bynum for Shaq. Sure, Shaq might be more talented and skilled than Bynum at this point, and they may even put in a similar amount of effort, but there's no way Shaq would be considered more valuable right now, in 2009.
- The Ineffables: This is the real OtB factor here. Different from the intangibles, which can kind of be measured by effort, this instead measures a player's socio-spiritual impact on a team and fanbase. Are there players not on this list who are better than the Birdman? Arguably. But none of them bring more energy and good karma into the season. None of them bring the same kind of heat.
