The One Where He Announces a New Project.

So, for the last month or so, I've been staving off boredom in my down time by scouring the depths of Basketball Reference in an attempt to discern the 12 best players on every current NBA team since the NBA/ABA Merger.

Then, earlier this week, negotiations broke down and we all were treated to the horrible reality that is the 2011 NBA Lockout. Suddenly, the parameters of my search seemed...less topical.

So, instead of scrapping the whole thing and being depressed, I decided to refine my terms to be the 12 best players on every NBA team from lockout to lockout. There are but two rules I used to compile these teams.

1. Each player can only be on one roster. Which team each player ends up with is determined by my own discretion. That discretion is namely which team I feel like the player's best years happened on.
2. Each player's career with their team has to have at least as many years after the 98-99 Lockout as they had before.

Every week I'll be profiling each current NBA division, team by team. Surely, doing this will save the future of the NBA and possibly save the entire known universe. We can only hope.

The first division profile starts...now!