For those interested
10. Paul Pierce
He didn't have the blow-up years players like McGrady, Vince Carter or Gilbert Arenas did, but he was phenomenally consistent and durable. Pierce kept his PER in the 20 range all decade, was a much better defender than most high-scoring wings and, of course, was the MVP of the 2008 NBA Finals.
He never made first-team All-NBA and never should have, but his body of work across the entire decade puts him on this list.
Wade
9. Dwayne Wade
You can make a strong argument for ranking Wade higher given his two historic performances, the first coming in the 2006 Finals (which I've argued was the best Finals effort in history) and the second coming with his brilliant play in 2008-09. But major gaps litter his record: a pair of 51-game seasons due to injuries and a brief résumé before 2006.
On a 2005-2014 All-Decade team five years from now he'd probably crack the top three or four, but on this list his body of work is too limited to rate higher than ninth.
Billups
8. Chauncey Billups
The only player on this list to make seven straight conference finals, Billups wasn't a bit player on any of those teams; he consistently posted PERs in the low 20s and added solid defense at the point. In terms of hardware, he won the 2004 Finals MVP, and would have taken home a second if Detroit had hung on to a second-half lead in Game 7 of the 2005 Finals against San Antonio.
Billups also started for eight straight 50-win teams, including one in Minnesota. While he failed to garner the same appreciation his contemporaries did this decade -- just four All-Star teams and three All-NBA teams -- only one player has a stronger case as point guard of the decade.
Nash
7. Steve Nash
While I'm dubious about Nash's two MVP awards, one can't deny he's one of the best offensive players in history. He never won the big prize this decade, but his teams went to three conference finals in a difficult Western Conference. And despite his perceived frailty he also proved durable, playing at least 70 games in every full season this decade.
Nash's strongest case, however, lies in the dazzling offensive efficiency numbers his teams posted. While he never lacked for help, his teams led the league an amazing eight times. Most notably, his 2003-04 Dallas team was the best offense in history.
James
6. Lebron James
LeBron has two principal shortcomings that keep him out of the top five on this list. The first, the lack of a championship ring, is likely to be remedied at some point in the next several years. The second, however, is that his track record is half a decade shorter than the other guys'.
While James' 2008-09 regular season included the best PER ever by a player not named Jordan and marked his second straight season leading the league, he had only three MVP-contender seasons and two others that were All-NBA worthy. That pales beside the players above him on this list, so he'll have to settle for sixth.