It is nearly impossible to ignore the single biggest storyline of the upcoming NBA season – The New Big Three in Boston. With two savvy off-season trades, the Boston Celtics have managed to flank career-Celtic Paul Pierce with the wildly competitive Kevin Garnett and the long-distance assassin Ray Allen.

They dealt a bevy of youthful players and draft picks for the opportunity to put these three superstars in the same lineup that now resembles that of a video game fantasy team. The Celtics will look to restore this fabled franchise back to the forefront of the league by entering the season equipped with arguably the best long-range shooter, the best power forward, and one of the best scorers from the wing in the entire league.

Each leg of this superstar triangle has had similar careers. They have all been All-Star game fixtures for the past decade, are all just over 30 years of age, have all reached the Conference Finals but never the NBA Finals, and are all incredibly competitive and often wear their hearts on their sleeves. You could throw Kevin Federline at the point, and they’ll still probably win 50 games.

This assemblage of superior talent hasn’t been seen in the league for a long time – or has it? This column ranks the top 10 current triumvirates in the league, and prepares casual NBA fans for “The Other Big Threes” that this new Celtic trio must overcome in order to steal the title of “The Big Three.”

1. San Antonio Spurs – Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili

How could it be any other group? This Spurs team has been together since the beginning of the millennium. They have already won three titles together and don’t appear to be slowing down. Tim Duncan might be the best all-around player in the league, Tony Parker was the NBA Finals MVP this past season, and Manu Ginobili was the frontrunner for the Sixth Man of the Year award before moving back into the starting lineup. These Spurs aren’t just good, they are great, and they are all under contract in San Antonio together until the 2009-10 season. Yikes.

2. Phoenix Suns – Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudemire

This group has been amazing since its creation. Once the Suns were able to reacquire Steve Nash, it rejuvenated this sagging franchise. His excellent court vision has prompted the turnaround in the desert, but could not have been done without the two monsters patrolling the paint in Phoenix. This trio had the highest Lenovo +/- Stat amongst three-player combinations, scoring +497 more points than the opposition throughout the season.

3. Boston Celtics – Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen

Wow, it just feels weird writing those three names in succession when describing the Boston Celtics. In reality, we have never really seen three athletes of this stature coming together at this point in their careers from three different franchises that were mired in mediocrity and incessant irrelevance. Allen was shooting the lights out in Seattle while a new ownership group is already looking to have the franchise relocated within the next two years. Garnett was stuck in Minnesota as the icon of not only the franchise, but also the city, and continually surrounded by a terrible supporting cast. And Pierce was a career-long Celtic forward, who was once so close to beating the Nets and advancing into the NBA Finals. Last year, his Celtics were one of the worst three teams in the league with no foreseeable future in sight.

That is, until Danny Ainge granted his wish and delivered two of the most Earth-shattering trades in NBA history. The only reason this grouping of greatness is ranked this low on this list is because they have yet to play a regular-season game together. Note that come summertime, if the Celts are polishing off the Spurs in Game 6 at the TD Banknorth Garden, with Tom Brady sitting courtside holding new baby Peyton Moynihan in his lap – I think it’ll be safe to say that this collection of stardom will properly be enshrined in NBA history as “The (All-Time) Big Three.” Until then…

4. Washington Wizards – Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison

Since dealing troubled center Kwame Brown to the Los Angeles Lakers for Caron Butler, these Wizards have never looked back. Despite wobbling out of the gate last year with a 4-9 record, they soon after turned it on – going 23-8 over their next 31 games to lead the Eastern Conference at the break and send Coach Eddie Jordan to Las Vegas to coach the Eastern Conference All-Star team. Soon after the break, the Wizards lost Jamison to injury and immediately started to fall apart. They would also lose Butler and Arenas to injuries at the end of the season, and without two-thirds of their impeccable trio, they were quickly bounced from the playoffs in the first round.

5. Denver Nuggets – Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby

This Denver Nuggets team has the potential to be quite scary this year, now with a full year of Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony sharing the rock. The component that is most often overlooked when assessing this Nugget team is the key to their defensive success – reining Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Camby. His presence in the paint and playoff experience should be enough to help the Nuggets regain the Northwest Division crown and hopefully avoid the San Antonio Spurs in the first round. 

6. New Jersey Nets – Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson

Well, the Big Three in New Jersey used to be Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson, and Kenyon Martin. But for the past three seasons, it has been the addition of Vince Carter that has propelled them to the upper echelon of the Atlantic Division. This unit has continually made the playoffs and is perhaps the best backcourt in the league. But are they even recognized as the best triumvirate in the Atlantic Division?  Injuries played a factor, but they finished second in the division to the surprising Toronto Raptors. Many say this trio is no longer in the top tier, but let’s give J-Kidd a chance to prove to the league who runs the Atlantic.

7. Utah Jazz – Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur

The Utah Jazz have done a great job assembling this trio of fringe All-Stars using free agency (Boozer from Cleveland and Okur from Detroit) and the draft (Deron Williams). What is most interesting about this trio is that none of these three are the highest paid player on the roster. That honor belongs to “franchise player” Andrei Kirilenko. Williams evolved into one of the top point guards in the league last year and Boozer was an unstoppable force down low, averaging nearly 21 points and 12 rebounds per game. Okur compliments the others well by nailing open three-point shots and playing solid in the paint.

8. Detroit Pistons – Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace

These Pistons are the one team in the past two decades to win a championship without a single standout star player. The Bulls always had Michael Jordan, the Rockets had Hakeem Olajuwon, the Lakers had Shaq and Kobe, the Spurs had Tim Duncan and David Robinson, and the Heat had Shaq and Dwyane Wade. However, the one gleaming difference is that the Detroit Pistons won the 2004 title with a team-oriented concept. Imagine that. Often remembered in 2004 as “The Starting Five,” the Pistons have since lost their anchor, Ben Wallace, but still have perhaps the greatest “Quad” in the league. Billups, Hamilton, Sheed, and Tayshaun Prince are as solid an 80-percent of a starting five as you will ever find. Following in the footsteps of Anne Josephine Robinson while creating these triumvirate rankings, I decided that Tayshaun Prince was, in fact…the weakest link.

9. Houston Rockets – Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Shane Battier

Based purely on talent, this group would almost have to be ranked higher than ninth on this list. However, they have still never made it past the first round of the playoffs. I know, I know, Shane Battier has only been with the T-Mac and Yao Show for one season, but they still blew opportunities to close out Utah last year and ultimately this Rockets team has failed to live up to the hype that comes with their two oft-injured superstars.  Will Rick Adelman be the one to get this trio over the hump?

10. Dallas Mavericks – Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Devin Harris

The Dallas Mavericks are similar to the Detroit Pistons in that they have more of a quad thing going than a trio of talents. With Dirk and Howard being the clear-cut primary players on the roster, its often the two-headed backcourt dragon of Harris and Jason Terry who could be mentioned as the third leg of the Dallas triangle. I selected Harris because his all-around game is giving the Mavs options to potentially use Terry as trade bait to upgrade their post game.

Honorable Mention:

New York Knicks – Stephon Marbury, Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph
Sacramento Kings – Mike Bibby, Ron Artest, Kevin Martin
Orlando Magic – Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, Jameer Nelson
Memphis Grizzlies– Pau Gasol, Mike Miller, Rudy Gay
Chicago Bulls – Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich

Feel free to contact Jason M. Williams for questions or comments. He can be reached at jason.m.williams@atomicsportsmedia.com.