The NBA’s Best Point Guard: If Not Chris Paul, Then Who?…

By: D.K. Wilson

My “Chris Paul, the NBA, and the Flop Factor” article attracted scads of attention around the Internet… oops!

For those who do not regularly read my writing and even for one person who does, the mention of “Louis Skola” went, understandably over people’s heads; it was a purposeful Americanization of his name. Even after I added that explanation at the end of the article I still received emails asking me, “who is Louis Skola,” telling me I “know nothing about basketball” because I cannot spell his name, and that I am “obviously a Houston Rockets and New Orleans Hornets hater who knows nothing about basketball.”

To all those people, thanks for failing to read the entire piece (and my apologies to Luis Scola).

Now, onto Chris Paul…

My thoughts about Paul’s status arose from two “NBA Playoff Chatter” writings. In the first, from April 19, I wrote of Paul:

Chris Paul must have watched countless hours of Steve Nash at work. Every time Paul ran into a screen or was touched in a manner that might impede his progress down the court or to the basket he acted as if he was the recipient of something untoward in a prison shower. And since Paul was hopelessly mismatched defensively against Jason Kidd, Paul reverted to constant Detroit Bad Boys-style hand-checking and not-so-subtle pushes whenever Kidd attempted to turn the corner on the diminutive Hornets point guard.

Paul has admitted that he has watched countless hours of Nash and uses his game as a template for his own play. The hand-checking tactic Paul employed unabated was abhorrent - but no more so than that of the Utah players matched against Tracy McGrady. It’s what defenders do when they are mismatched against a quicker or stronger, or both, player.

The second “Chatter” piece was written the following day, April 20. In it I noticed some aspects of Allen Iverson’s - one of my favorite players to watch - game:

And Allen Iverson just got himself tossed from the game - after getting his playoff average 30th point. I know what I’m about to write is sacrilegious but…. I’m not sure what AI is crying about… it was Ken Mauer who tossed Iverson as he was complaining about what he felt was a foul. Interesting because thanks to all the slo-mo replays it is apparent that Iverson creates most of the contact and then flops and yells, “Oh!” in the hopes of getting a call, pushes his defender away just before his crossover-fadeaway jumper, and then turns to the ref and complain that it has he who was fouled. Now I wonder how many of those falls and the resultant bruises from those falls Iverson has incurred over his career are self-inflicted.

Nash, Paul, and Iverson are three diminutive guards who are said to fearlessly attack the basket. However, other than Iverson, who when he was called “Deuce” (before “AI” and “The Answer”) played football at Bethel High School in Hampton, Virginia and was one of the nation’s best quarterbacks, Nash and Paul are not accustomed to violent contact.

Before he was fitted into Mike D’Antoni’s basketball version of the spread-option in Phoenix, Nash was a better-than-average point guard in Dallas. Though he played in Don Nelson’s basketball version of the run-and-shoot Nash was nothing close to what he became in the Land of the Sun. D’Antoni’s offense is designed to spread the floor with 3-point shooters and leave Little Stevie Fingertips with at least six on the fly options every trip up the floor. Nelson’s Mavericks did not have the personnel to spread the court like he does with Golden State and found floor space much more constricted. And as he is now with Shaquille O’Neal was much less creative.

Now, as you know, Mr. Paul is being touted as the best point guard in the NBA. Against the now Avery Johnson-coached Dallas, 22-year old is torching the Mavs to the tune of 33.5 points per game and 14.5 assists per game with only four turnovers total. The statistics seem staggering. Yet when taken in the context of playing against a team with an average age of over 29 with a 35-year old starting point guard who was acquired at the expense of a young point guard - Devin Harris, who could actually defend Paul - they are better understood.

During the regular season against Harris, Paul had a great game against the Mavericks at home and a sub-par game in Dallas. In the game in New Orleans, a 112-108 Hornets win, Paul scored 33 points (11-25), grabbed nine rebounds, dished out 12 assists, and committed only two turnovers. In the game at Dallas, an 89-80 loss, Harris stymied Paul. The Hornets point guard scored 22 points (9-21), dropped only three dimes and committed two turnovers.

Yet Paul might well not be the best point guard in his own conference. That award could easily go to Utah’s Deron Williams. Sure Williams’ playoff stats are not as gaudy as are Paul’s. The Jazz point is “only” averaging 21 ppg, 7.5 apg (including a 10 assist Game 1), and has committed 4 turnovers per game.

However, Williams is playing against one of the NBA’s best defensive teams in Houston, which finished the regular season allowing nearly four points per game fewer (95.9-92.0) than Dallas. In the playoffs Dallas’ defense has been putrid, giving up 115.5 per game in New Orleans, while Houston has been getting torched allowing 108 per game. But that is still 7.5 per game points less than that of Dallas and Utah has blazed Houston in Houston.

During the first 82 games of the season Paul averaged 21.1ppg (7.9 fgm-16.1 fga) to Williams’ 18.8 (6.9 fgm-13.6 fga), 11.6 apg to 10.5, shot 48.8% from the floor to 50.7%, and committed 2.5 turnovers per game to 3.4 per game. Paul played on a perimeter-oriented team led by Paul, David West (20.6 ppg) and Peja Stojakovic (16.4 ppg). Center Tyson Chandler averaged only 11.8 ppg but had no plays in the Hornets offense set for him.

Williams, on the other hand, played on an inside-out Jazz team led by power forward-center Carlos Boozer and his 21.1ppg. After Williams’ 18.8, Mehmet Okur (14.5 ppg), for all the bluster that he is a 3-point shooting center-forward, averaged only 1.6 3-point make per game but grabbed 7.7 boards a game. Forward Ronnie Brewer averaged 12.0 ppg and Andrei Kirilenko averaged11.0 ppg and four assists per game. Neither had plays run for them and both were largely the beneficiaries of Williams dishes.

Paul played in a Byron Scott-created sets where the next three team assist men averaged only 2.1 dimes per game between them; Jannero Pargo averages 2.4 apg and David West averages 2.3 apg. Williams, on the other hand, runs Jerry Sloan’s motion-oriented attack and must give up his own stats for Kirilenko’s 4 apg and the excellent-passing big man Boozer’s 2.9 apg Paul loses only 6.4 assists to other top team assist men, while Williams gives up just shot of nine a game (8.9).

So Williams takes three fewer shots a game and gives up three assists a game to teammates to Paul. Add those attempts and dimes to Williams’ stats and he and Paul look almost identical; the points would be 21.1 for Paul to 21.3 for Williams and the assists extrapolate to 11.6 for Paul and 13.4 for Williams. As close as they are what then can separate the two?

Head-to-head battles. And here we see the disparity between Chris Paul and Deron Williams.

11.23.07 - at Utah: Paul 15 points (5-12), 6 assists, 4 TOs, 99-71 loss; Williams 12 points (6-9), 7 assists, 4 TOs, 99-71 win.

2.04.08 - at Utah: Paul 6 points (3-11), 6 assists, 5 TOs, Loss 110-88; Williams 29 points (11-13), 11 assists, 3 TOs, 110-88 win.

4.08.08 - vs. Utah: Paul 4 points (2-11), 9 assists, 3 TOs, Loss 77-66; Williams 4 points (2-11), 16 assists, 6TOs, 77-66 win.

Quibble if you’d like, but the matchups speak for themselves. Williams had the only monster scoring game between the two, shot better from the floor, had more total assists and but one more turnover than did Paul. And most importantly, Utah won each game by double-digits. Seeing that New Orleans lost the first two meetings by over 20 points at Utah, Scott attempted to slow the game in New Orleans to a crawl. The Williams-led Jazz still won by 11.

And Williams can’t get a sniff at an MVP vote.

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D.K. Wilson is a freelance sports writer. He is better known on the internet as "DWil," and writes for Sports On My Mind.

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