Top 10 "Holy Crap--That's Amazing!" NBA Players I've Ever Witnessed

10. Westbrook. Russell Westbrook, for the length of his career, has played each quarter of each game with the intensity of a thousand burning suns. Every time I hear his name, I close my eyes and picture him hurtling down the court at an unsettling speed and slamming down over some pour soul. Or, if there's not a rim-throttling dunk, there's a seemingly off-balance pull-up jumpers from 29 feet that effortlessly sinks through the net. Westbrook comes to my mind when I think of players that I have watched thinking to myself, "holy crap, this guy plays with an effort that's unreal*," probably not unlike how viewers in the late 80s and 90s watched Rodman.

9. Shaq. I am a massive Shaquille O'Neal fan. The infatuation covers several different realms: he was drafted by the Orlando Magic the year I was born just outside Orlando, my dad wrote a book on him, he had so many goofy names (Big Diesel, Big Cactus, Big Artistotle, Big Shamrock, etc.), he inexplicably starred in what has to be one of the worst films ever created--yet can laugh about it now (I nominate this film for the category of Well, It Was a Good Idea at the Time), he cameo-d on GoodBurger, he's the original Superman (sorry not sorry, Dwight), he's hilarious on Inside the NBA on TNT, and finally, I enjoy his podcast. But none of that matters here. What matters here, is that Shaq was an animal in the post. Unfortunately, much of my viewing and remembrance of Shaq's career came at the later end (I was 9 when he was abusing sorry chaps in the post for the Lakers) and I had to settle primarily on memories of bigger Shaq co-carrying Miami to a championship with D-Wade and then wasting away in Phoenix, Cleveland, and Boston. But what prompts Shaq to qualify for this category is the fact that Shaq is a monstrosity of a man, aiding him in acting as a monster down low. You don't mess with Shaq in the post. He's literally a force to be reckoned with. A defender choosing to defend Shaq in the post calls to mind the time in high school when my friend Allan slammed over my friend Devin's face-sphere. Devin choosing to jump mid-Allan's movement to the rim, immediately regretting the decision, then not being able to do anything as Allan dunked home Devin's whole basketball career with the rest of us oogling from afar, had to be how Shaq defenders felt when they stuck their forearm on his back as he set up on the post. Three sequences: 1) Alright, lemme see what I got 2) oh boy... 3) mild tears. Shaq definitely fits this category for me.

8. Iverson. The first guy I can remember watching who I would have described as being a wizard with the ball. I watched Iverson and was reminded of one of those annoying guys you hate to play with because of the way that he hides the ball and can maneuver to the basket with what looks like such difficulty but to him is ease. He was always so annoying as a defender and pesky and irritating and racked up steals like it was his job (to be fair, in a sense that was his job). On the other hand, you'd enjoy having Iverson on your team simply so he wasn't on the team you were facing. And good grief, he was good on NBA Street Vol. 2.

7. Nash. Any modern hoops fan who enjoys Steph Curry has to appreciate the skill-set of Steve Nash--he was Steph before Steph. Nash had Westbrook's aforementioned pull-up game from anywhere on the floor but excelled at it to a ridiculous degree. Nash was also magic with the ball in his hands. Watching Nash for me was probably like how a previous generation viewed Stockton, or two decades before that how fans viewed Pistol Pete. It always seemed to me like Nash had the ball on a yo-yo string yet the rest of the league wasn't quite aware. And while he didn't have the most electrifying assists, he certainly had the guts to delight with the perfectly timed dime. Oh, Canada, thank you for Steve Nash.

6. Giannis. The nickname Freak sums it up. Giannis gets to the rim with 4 steps from half-court. continually reminds me of MJ stretching his arms out at the end of Space Jam (spoiler alert--but if you haven't seen space jam you're a turd anyway) to stave off humankind's enslavement to the aliens. He's that long and lean just to begin with, without "looney-tooning his body'. But he's also still quite punishing at the basket, and can dunk over anyone with his height and increasing bulkiness! The scariest part of Giannis is that he might only be getting better.

5. Durant. I like to think of Durant as this current NBA's version of Kobe in the way he takes over games by divvying up his time attacking the rim or dumping shots in from anywhere on the court. I'dd have to check with a historian on whether there's ever been a player of his stature combined with his abilities. The man's 7-foot but shoots like a well-refined shooting guard. He'll go down as one of the all-time greats for sure, and probably is already there.

4. Ray Allen. I could only dream of having that picturesque of a release and being that effective with it. I remember being younger and trying to modify my game slightly to mold my shot into more a copycat version of Allen's. Such a perfect shooter from anywhere around the perimeter, whether spotting up straight up or falling away or with a guy right in his face. I like to think of Ray-Ray as Klay Thompson's prototype when they were creating sharpshooters in a lab somewhere.

3. Steph Curry. Unbelievable at times. Literally, unbelievable. Steph can shoot from pretty much anywhere on the court and after he releases it, you wouldn't expect it to be too far off the mark, if not make it in period. Even full court heaves are must watch TV with Chef Steph. He's ridiculous handling the ball as if it's on a string. Then there's that quick release. Kids can practice in their driveways all they want, but that spot-on quick release is a marvel of nature. I believe it's been timed at 0.7 seconds. That's like, really fast. It's like the basketball gods saw Nash and decided to add a touch of flair, and we got Steph Curry. Thank you, basketball gods.

2. Lebron. When I think of how Lebron has impressed me, I think back to the game when he took over the Pistons by himself in 2007, scoring 29 of his team's final 30 points. As Chauncey Billups said at the time, "We threw everything we had at him. We just couldn't stop him."That's the guy that's making my "Holy Crap--That's Amazing!" list. When you literally cannot be stopped no matter what the other team does, that's freaking impressive. The thing I go back to with Lebron is not that he is a selfish player dominating these games (no matter how contradictory 29 of 30 points might seem). He just knows exactly when to take over and carry his team on his back. Otherwise, in my opinion he's almost as unselfish a player as there as been in the history of the league. He's so efficient at getting his teammates the ball when the moment calls for it. He's a tremendously smart player but with the improvement of his outside game, he's only becoming that much tougher for opponents to guard. He already is an absolute force getting to the rim, and has been that way since he was 22 years old. I debated making Lebron 1b on this list. He's been that spectacular to witness.

1. Kobe. If I debated Lebron as 1b, it would have been to Kobe's 1a. I can recall so many instances of sitting there and just marveling at Kobe's ability to do the things that he did. I wasn't cognizant enough to enjoy Michael Jordan's career, but I have to imagine there are parallels to how people of Mike's generation watched him to how folks in my generation watched Kobe. The way he took over games both by his outside shooting (primarily) and getting to the rim (secondary) was uncanny. I hated him for a while and loved rooting against him, but it came to a point where I had to get over that premonition and simply admire his skill and drive from a strictly basketball viewpoint. I had to overcome my inclinations and enjoy what I was beholding. He torched other teams! And he did it with such a grim, resolute face that you just knew he would tear your muscles from your body (if he had possessed that magical capability) and step on them before hitting a fallaway jumper in your face. Also, there was that time he didn't blink which confirmed he was a basketball playing being from another world.

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Honorable Mention:

Tim Duncan. I would be neglectful if I did not mention one of my NBA idols in Timmy, in my mind a modern day blend of Bill Russell (just win, baby, win), Wilt Chamberlain (dominating big man in a league where there are a lot of big men whom this player makes seem inferior), and Kevin McHale (another of my NBA idols, both with their awesome moves around the post and to the rim). I actually almost cried with the Clippers beat the Spurs in the 2015 playoffs because I thought Timmy was done. His career was a majesty to behold, and often had me watching and chortling (what a great word!) to myself when he duped defenders on the block.

*I will never condone Russ's taking stats away from his teammates in an effort to record as many triple-doubles as he could this past season.