D-Wade and Butler criticised the younger parts of the roster for not competing hard enough night to night. The younger players responded with charges that the 13-year veteran should practice more to help lead t

After spending last season with the Shandong Golden Stars in China, Cole signed a contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder in March. He is now averaging 2.3 points and 1.1 assists in limited action as the team's third-string point gu

A few weeks ago, it would have been impossible to see Chicago as a .500 win team, much less a playoff contender. They’ve already climbed above that marker and look to carry their current momentum all the way through the rest of the sea

Westbrook and Harden have broken records this year and it's possible that they may never have better individual campaigns for the rest of their careers, so this could be their best shot at hoisting the MVP tro

Coached by Erik Spoelstra, who is still in charge of the Heat, the 2011-12 squad delivered the first of the back-to-back titles of the Big Three era. Here's where the starting five and key contributors from that year's team are

With Russell Westbrook and James Harden battling it out for one of the most hotly contested MVP duels in recent years, it will be a shame to see one of these players miss out on the award after both enjoying incredible seas

Now back with the Cleveland Cavaliers, James is back to his title-winning ways. He led the Cavs to their first-ever title last year and is gearing up to make a run at his seventh-straight NBA Finals this y

Like Kidd, Hall of Famer Thomas is firmly in the conversation when discussing the best point guards in history, he was a magician with the ball in his hands. However, unlike Kidd, Thomas at least had some rings to show for

The 5’9" Thomas is in the midst of a spectacular, career-best campaign, averaging 28.9 points and 5.9 assists. If you’ve watched the Celtics play this year, you know that their entire offense runs through him and he’s what makes them tick. Further, he's been the best fourth quarter scorer in the league, providing important points down the stretch of most ga

That will only be the case, however, if coach Fred Hoiberg doesn’t derail what’s working in the hopes of appeasing his future Hall of Famer’s desire to have the rock in his hands as much as he did earlier in the sea

He was a walking triple-double during his outstanding 19-year career in the NBA. J.Kidd made it to 11 All-Star games with five First Team All-NBA selections, but the MVP award never came his way as a result of tough competition and talent in the league at the t

In 2k12, the only players who had better ratings were LeBron James of Miami (98), Dwyane Wade of Miami (96), Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers (94), Dwight Howard of Orlando (93) and Chris Paul of New Orleans (93). Rose's 92 was equaled by Kevin Durant of Oklahoma C

West finished second in the MVP voting four different times, losing out to Wilt Chamberlain in 1966, Willis Reed in '70, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in '71 and again in '72. In the '65 ballot, West finished third, behind only Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson. It's certainly no shame losing out to those na

The Boston Celtics legend won an NBA championship with the franchise in 2008 after they acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, but unfortunately for him, his prime years saw him playing for some bad Celtics teams which worked against

"Point guard Rajon Rondo, demoted to the second unit earlier in the season, has the ball back in his hands and has averaged 8.4 assists, compared to 6.4 before Wade’s exit. He is averaging 10.9 points on 47 percent shooting (up from 7.2 on 39.4 percent). And defensively he has been energized, giving hard times most recently to Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving and Atlanta’s Dennis Schrod

In the four contests against the Bulls this year, Thomas put up 24.8 points and 5.8 assists per game. However, he shot the ball very well against Chicago, going 53.8 percent from the field along with 48.4 percent from three-point ra

Listed at 6’7", Butler is a full 10 inches taller than Thomas, but has the physical gifts that it takes to stick with him for a long period of the game. Despite the major height difference, Butler respects Thomas’ versatile g

While taking Thomas out of the game with his swarming defense would be wonderful for the Bulls, Butler knows that the Celtics still would have other pieces on their roster that his teammates would need to be ready

Injuries have been the main cause for the derailment of such a promising career, one which looked like it could deliver his hometown Chicago Bulls its first NBA championship since the Michael Jordan d

"He's been that height for a long time now, so he's mastered it," Butler said . "He's really good at what he does. Coming off, pulling up, shooting shots. Getting to the rim, getting to the free throw line. 5[-foot-]8, 6-8, nbaactioninsight.com whatever it is, the guy knows how to put the ball in the bask