With Kobe Bryant's 33rd birthday on tap Tuesday, here's a question:
Who are the NBA's top 20 players at least 30 years old? Here's our list of players whom Father Time won't forget but who won't hate the lockout as much as their young-gun counterparts if the work stoppage steams through the winter.
1. Kobe Bryant, Lakers . Watch the highlights of Bryant's Drew League game Tuesday, and take note of the one-legged Dirk-style post-up fadeaways that gently dropped through the net. That's Kobe – always plugging holes and building new bridges to take his game to the title. (And the shot doesn't ask anything of his troublesome right knee except to raise up and give him some space from the defender.) The bigger issue will be melding that passion into teamwork that works well for Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, too, but Bryant, who turns 33 Tuesday, will return to NBA play – whenever that is – with even more motivation than usual.
2. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas. As tempting as it was to slide Kevin Durant into that spot on my NBA MVP ballot and All-NBA first-team list, I stuck with Dirk Nowitzki because there was just something special about his season – and it sure wound up that way. Nowitzki, 33, had a brilliant postseason and is now renowned as the fighter he has always been. As far as next season goes, he'll still have the brilliant post play and sweet shot – but there's no way he gets the same perfect help from all those title-starved teammates.
3. Pau Gasol, Lakers. The topic of discussion not that long ago in the Lakers' locker room before an exhibition game was who is the best international player in the game, and the conclusion by most was that Spain's Gasol had the advantage over Germany's Dirk Nowitzki. Gasol kept that train rolling by following up two NBA titles with impeccable play early last season while Andrew Bynum was out. But after Gasol, 31, averaged 13 points on 42 percent shooting in the recent playoffs ruled by Nowitzki, Gasol has more to prove again.
4. Kevin Garnett, Boston. Who knows how much longer Garnett, 35, will be able to burn his fire, but the bottom line is that he remains right now a great team defense all by himself. He will also have a little more bounce next season, actually, when you bear in mind that he didn't get to train last summer because of offseason knee surgery.
5. Paul Pierce, Boston. He's the youngest of Boston's “Big Three” and remains the top scorer and alpha dog even as Rajon Rondo sets all the tones. Yet it's not hard to imagine slippage in Pierce, 33 – particularly as he becomes less of a first-step threat on the perimeter at both ends.
6. Zach Randolph, Memphis. Randolph, 30, had a better NBA.com efficiency rating than Dirk Nowitzki in the regular season last season, for what it's worth. He used to be a flat-out dog, but his defense has improved and he definitely matured. It has become fun to watch him go through his vast array of ground-bound moves in the post.
7. Joe Johnson, Atlanta. There's so much more Johnson, 30, could be – and the hope is that he realizes now that he's hit his milestone birthday in June. It's time to make the most of his awesome talents instead of settling for jumpers, accepting losses because of teammate apathy and taking more easy ways out.
8. Manu Ginobili, San Antonio. Ginobili, 34, is cutting his hair shorter as that bald spot keeps getting bigger and is telling Argentine reporters he might retire in two years. He's going to be more reliant on that 3-point shot as he ages, but he still has the burst for now. It was Ginobili, San Antonio's emotional leader, whom I had as an All-NBA third-teamer last season – not teammates Tim Duncan and Tony Parker.
9. Tim Duncan, San Antonio. Duncan, 35, has one really bad knee – but he really, really knows how to operate in the post and he really, really, really knows how to protect the paint on defense.
10. Lamar Odom, Lakers. Because it's pretty logical to expect much less from Odom next season after he poured so much into last season and proved so much – and Andrew Bynum is ready to assume more responsibility – I went into this exercise expecting to rank Odom lower than one might expect. Except Odom, 31, remains a valuable, versatile player – giving the Lakers three of the top 10 NBAers of 30-something age.
11. Steve Nash, Phoenix. It's easy to think that Nash, 37, is still flat-out performing, even if Phoenix is now on a clear downswing: Nash's adjusted plus-minus rating at Basketballvalue.com last season was better than anyone's but Chris Paul's. (Unfortunately there remain concerns about the dependability of such stat metrics. Kobe Bryant's adjusted plus-minus was among the league's worst last season; Pau Gasol's was also bad the year before.) Nash remains a bulldog to admire, but you know he's a nonfactor on defense and he has a bad back. Here's where the alarm really sounds: His 3-point percentage has dropped each of the past three seasons – and last season was actually worse than Derek Fisher's.
12. Luis Scola, Houston. Scola, 31, isn't a dominant player and won't anchor a defense, but he's good at most everything else. He's also the type of tenacious player who protects his teammates and sets them up to look better.
13. David West, New Orleans. West, who turns 31 later this month, is rehabbing a torn ACL, but he still figures to sit pretty as the top free agent in the current class. Personally, I have my doubts whether he will ever be as good without Chris Paul's help – and naturally guys aren't immediately the same the next season after an ACL tear.
14. Caron Butler, Dallas. That's three Mavericks on this list already, and some might say Shawn Marion, 33, should be in there, too. Many would say Butler, 31, should rank behind Marion, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry. It's easy to forget that Butler and Dirk Nowitzki drove Dallas to its 24-5 start before Butler's knee gave out on Jan. 1. He's a fantastic competitor at both ends and has improved his conditioning and 3-point shooting as his career has gone on. Mark Cuban would be wise to find a way to re-sign Butler to keep Dallas on top.
15. Ray Allen, Boston. Allen, 36, is mainly known as the NBA's all-time 3-point-shot maker, but he continues to defend adequately and find a way to the rim. Worth noting as we look ahead is that both Allen and Kevin Garnett are entering the final years of their contracts, so the Celtics as we know them (and maybe you hate them) might not be around for long.
16. Jason Kidd, Dallas. Although he doesn't try to finish at the rim anymore, Kidd, 38, can still gets it done at both ends, which few players of any age in this league can do. It remains to be seen, however, if he will be sated by his first NBA title in a 17-year career.
17. Chauncey Billups, New York. Billups, 34, has always thought he is better than he really is – although he was quite good for long stretches of his career. Now, he makes way too many bad plays to offset his good and won't possibly be as good as Steve Nash at this age as Mike D'Antoni's latest creaky point guard.
18. Jason Terry, Dallas. As important as Terry, 33, was in Dallas' title run – and Dirk Nowitzki and Terry were such clutch shot-makers that the Mavericks were stellar in fourth quarters all season – Nowitzki and the depth of talent around Terry cover up his considerable weaknesses.
19. Stephen Jackson, Milwaukee. You have to take the inefficiency of this unabashed gunner with the fact that his feeble teams have needed him to create shots. Jackson, 33, might not be able to do everything someone like Jason Richardson, who is now 30, can do – but Richardson doesn't have the same fire.
20. Elton Brand, Philadelphia. Brand, 32, has been quite decent the past two seasons for the 76ers, averaging more than a block and a steal per game despite dropping anchor at 275 pounds. Not real sure how long it will last, though.
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