Comments on: NY Times: Who Is the N.B.A.’s Best Point Guard?

By: huevonkiller

huevonkiller — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:14:52 +0000

No TITO, he's not. Don't come to basketball-reference if you're just going to ignore the mountain of evidence against you. Justin wrote an intelligent article, address his points.

By: TITO

TITO — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:19:38 +0000

Tony Parker is an underated player I believe he is second to Deron Williams, Parker is playing much better than Chris Paul and he is a clutch player who is averageing 19 points 7 assists 2 steals per game, the guy can play and the reason the Spurs are doing awesome Parker is capable of scoring 30 points a game if werent for Ginobli and Duncan basically he is just an Important role Player.

By: Fritz

Fritz — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 09:26:05 +0000

Dsong - West wasn't a pure point guard and Billups arguably wasn't the best player on his team. It was Also, Paul wins by conventional stats AND advanced stats. The only metric he doesn't win by is the success of his team and he can only do so much. I'm sure he'd trade teammates with Deron in about 0.8 seconds if he had the chance.

By: dsong

dsong — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:49:10 +0000

Chris Paul looks like Isiah Thomas in his heyday. Lightning-quick and a fabulous passer.

With that said, elite point guards don't necessarily lead to championships. The list of point guards who were the best player on championship squads is not that long:

Chauncey Billups
Isiah Thomas
Magic Johnson
Jerry West
Walt Frazier

I think that's it.

By: AYC

AYC — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 16:19:55 +0000

#24, did I say Williams was a better rebounder than Paul? One thing nobody has mentioned is the rule changes over the last few years getting rid of the hand-check. As the fastest, most skilled players on the court, PG's have benefited the most. I wonder how any of these PG's would have performed in the 90's....

By: Anon

Anon — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 21:43:05 +0000

"Anon, I never said Paul wasn't great. I just don't think he's "clearly" better than everybody else at the position, especially not DWill, who is a legit MVP candidate this year" You are free to believe whatever you want. Not a problem with me

By: huevonkiller

huevonkiller — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 16:46:07 +0000

Another interesting debate with Anon and AYC, but I side with Chris Paul on this one.

I think if he just played in a faster paced offense, it would be even more obvious to the public.

If he stays healthy I don't think this will be much of a debate. He's not Greg Oden I think he'll be fine.

By: taheati

taheati — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 14:31:22 +0000

Neil, the reasons I gave for preferring DWill relate to his size and durability ... "Size" is right. Williams should be sturdier with a higher BMI, 3 more inches and 35 more lbs (Williams BMI 26.3, 6-3, 210 v. Paul BMI 23.7, 6-0, 175). 3 and 35 aren't incidental. In football terms, 3 and 35 could be the difference between a linebacker and a cornerback. Yet Paul outrebounds Williams by almost 2 boards per game (1.5/g, 1.4/36m) at a TRB% rate of 7.5% to 5.3%. Plus, I'd imagine style + system also factor in durability. Both are aggressive, both get a lot of iso's. But Williams, unlike Paul, doesn't need or use much air to get his shots off going to the rack. Guys who fly (like Paul, cf. Wade) are predictably more injury prone. I also suspect Williams cuts more often (offball) and/or slips more screens in Sloan's offense, resulting in less full frontal contact when Williams attacks.

By: Neil Paine

Neil Paine — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 01:14:34 +0000

Sure, Paul may have reached his ceiling. That ceiling being one of the all-time greatest players in NBA history:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/tiny.cgi?id=J1ZG4

Williams is terrific, as are Rondo, Westbrook, Kidd, and all of the other names that get bandied about in this discussion. But Paul is light years ahead of all of them... It's not even a fair fight.

By: AYC

AYC — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:57:09 +0000

Anon, I never said Paul wasn't great. I just don't think he's "clearly" better than everybody else at the position, especially not DWill, who is a legit MVP candidate this year