A) Kobe. The clear favorite. LA’s the No. 2 TV market, Kobe’s No. 1 in jersey sales, and it is widely thought that Kobe and LeBron are the two best players in the game. TV ratings would be astronomical. As far as individual matchups go, the Finals hasn’t had anything this strong since Olajuwon vs. Ewing/O’Neal in back-to-back years in the mid-90s.

B) Yao. If David Stern cares about one billion eyes on the NBA, and he obviously does, then this is the one Stern secretly covets. On a worldwide scale, this would enormous for the NBA. And since Stern seems to care more about marketing the game overseas ($$$), we actually think he’d like to see the Rockets reach the Finals. Throw in Artest on LeBron as dessert. And the columnists would pile on Tracy McGardy even more than they already have.

C) Carmelo Anthony. A longshot in this argument, and not just because several Nuggets have their entire bodies covered in tattoos. The Nuggets might play the most exciting brand of basketball of any team left and there are storylines galore: George Karl getting back to the Finals; Billups returns home in a trade and takes his team to the Finals; the reuniting of 2003 draft stars Anthony and LeBron (remember, Anthony owns him head-to-head); and the theme of redemption for JR Smith (car accident; feuding with coach), and Chris Anderson (drugs). Plus, it’d give columnists another chance to take shots at Allen Iverson.

The mere fact that the Nuggets are even in this discussion is rather incredible – remember in the offseason when they gave away defensive player of the year Marcus Camby for nothing?