Friday, February 26, 2010

A Golden Era of Point Guards in the NBA

I saw an article in RealGM explaining in detail how to deal with trades and lineups of lottery teams when all of a sudden the projected 2010 No. 1 NBA Draft Pick John Wall falls into their hands and I was excited about the prospect.

In this article, I'll write about the great deal of abundance of quality point guards that NBA is currently experiencing. Who knows, maybe the NBA won't be able to experience this kind of abundance of competitive on-the-floor generals.

We'll start of with the veteran point guards. While they've lost a lot of they're flashy penetrations and were way past their primes, they make it up with a richer NBA court vision experience.

1. Jason Kidd (9.8 PPG, 9.2 APG, 5.2 RPG, 1.9 SPG) - I'm a Mavericks fan and while it's tough to swallow the trade for giving up Devin Harris, I must say as seasons go by, Jason Kidd has become the much needed pass-first point guard of the team. He might not be an offensive force as he once was but his brilliant court vision has led them into proper execution of the Mavs' offense.

2. Steve Nash (17.6 PPG, 11.2 APG, 3.3 RPG, 0.5 SPG) - The run and gun Suns have been kind of rejuvenated this season with Steve Nash resigning for the Suns for three more years. It also benefitted Nash's stats as well. He was one of the reasons why Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson, Quentin Richardson, Leandro Barbosa, Boris Diaw, Raja Bell and even coach Mike D'Antoni became popular and received quite hefty contracts for themselves with his penetrate, pass and shoot offensive prowess. Although, most of the players mentioned above are now in their own different teams, it is clear to see that only Joe Johnson has been stellar and others struggled to find their rhythm because they miss the run and gun system that Nash runs in the Suns. This will also be a good reason to note that maybe Amar'e Stoudamire will also struggle if he ever leaves the Suns.

3. Chauncey Billups (20.2 PPG, 6.2 APG, 3.0 RPG, 1.2 SPG) - Despite the recent injury, his career revival in his hometown Denver has been amazing. He helped quickly transform the Nuggets into title contenders in just a couple of years. His instant offense and clutch shooting have been the biggest factors along with his transformation of Carmelo Anthony into a more mature franchise player.

4. Tony Parker (16.5 PPG, 5.8 APG, 2.4 RPG, 0.6 SPG) - Parker has been a key part of the Spurs Dynasty. He's torched other teams at the latter part of his career because of his improved jump shots. He is considered as one of the best point guards during their dynasty and underrated too although he has this season fading because of his recent injuries.

5. Mike Bibby (8.7 PPG, 4.3 APG, 2.3 RPG, 0.9 SPG) - It's worth noting that while his numbers are low, he has at least stabilized and help establish Atlanta as a key playoff contender in the Eastern Conference together with Joe Johnson.

6. Andre Miller (13.7 PPG, 5.5 APG, 3.3 RPG, 1.0 SPG) - With his recent acquisition by the Blazers, it is unclear why GM Kevin Pritchard chose him to spend the $10M of cap space given Steve Blake's (who was recently traded) effective chemistry on the floor with their franchise player Brandon Roy and burgeoning scoring point guard Jerryd Bayless. But as the injuries take a toll in the Blazers, he provided a cushion for the team with his offense judging from his 52 point career high performance against the Mavs.

Starting with Chris Paul, here are some of the steady point guards that NBA teams have come to rely on:

1. Chris Paul (20.4 PPG, 11.2 APG, 4.6 RPG, 1.2 SPG) - Playing only 38 games this year and still injured, Paul has helped transform the Hornets into playoff contenders. He also revived the career of Peja Stojakovic and David West. Despite the watered down lineup of New Orleans, he is still considered as the best point guard in the NBA today that every team wants to have.

2. Deron Williams (18.4 PPG, 10.0 APG, 4.2 RPG, 1.1 SPG) - While currently, Utah's lineup is better than Paul's Hornets. It's clear that Deron is what the Jazz needed - a big physical type of point guard. Besides, his numbers are clearly almost evenly matched with Paul's.

3. Rajon Rondo (14.1 PPG, 9.8 APG, 4.4 RPG, 2.5 SPG) - With the Big Three slowing down, he has blossomed into a legitimate franchise player for the Celtics. He peaked in last year's playoffs and averaged almost triple-doubles with Garnett's absence. His defensive awareness has led him to lead the point guards in steals. Despite all these, many still question his maturity off the court and his outside shooting.

4. Derrick Rose (20.0 PPG, 5.8 APG, 3.9 RPG, 0.8 SPG) - The 2008 NBA No. 1 Draft Pick and Chicago's starting point guard has definitely become a luring factor for Wade to return to his homeland should he leave the Heat.

5. Jameer Nelson (12.1 PPG, 5.1 APG, 2.7 RPG, 0.8 SPG) - The starting point guard of the Orlando Magic became quite a sensation even getting an All-Star consideration before getting injured during their championship run last season. Despite being small, he has been the Robin of the Batman tandem with Dwight Howard although he often gets injured which is why the Magic always relies heavily on veteran backup point guards.

6. Aaron Brooks (19.4 PPG, 5.1 APG, 2.6 RPG, 0.9 SPG) - Brooks has definitely reaped in the absence of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming on the floor for the Houston Rockets. Despite his size, his scoring instincts has made him his team's go to guy with only Luis Scola and Trevor Ariza as complementary scorers.

While Paul and the gang are definitely much more experienced on the NBA floor, these are the point guards of the future to watch out for:

1. Russell Westbrook (16.5 PPG, 7.7 APG, 5.1 RPG, 1.2 SPG) - Westbrook is following the footsteps of Paul who's following the footsteps of Kidd. Although he isn't the franchise player of their team, he is doing everything else as the complementary Robin for Durant. He is averaging almost triple doubles with only his sophomore year in the NBA. A highly underrated player especially in the competitive list of top-notch point guards in the West.

2. Tyreke Evans (20.3 PPG, 5.4 APG, 4.8 RPG, 1.5 SPG) - The top candidate to win, and almost guaranteed to, this year's Rookie of the Year award has proven to his team, the Sacramento Kings, that he is their franchise player and it was proven even more with Kevin Martin's shipping to the Rockets. What has gotten more interesting about this guy is he's a hybrid of a point guard and shooting guard and already even in his first year in the NBA, he has developed a killer instinct to close out games and still has the humility which is important during a player's early years in playing in the NBA.

3. Brandon Jennings (16.4 PPG, 6.1 APG, 3.6 RPG, 1.3 SPG) - His 55 point career high game in his early rookie career proved that he is definitely legit. Despite foregoing a year to stay and play in NCAA and instead play in the Euroleague where he can earn money, he proved that playing with real men instead of playing with ballers at his age is a valuable experience which carried over in the NBA. Since his dazzling performance, he settled down and probably has hit the rookie wall today with opponents already prepared for their game plan against him. Nevertheless, I still can see Allen Iverson in him and his somewhat erratic shots.

4. Stephen Curry (15.5 PPG, 5.3 APG, 4.2 RPG, 1.8 SPG) - Curry has been known as the scoring point guard even before coming to the NBA. His outside shooting is superb for a player who's in his first year in the NBA. Because of his small size, Monta Ellis has criticized the Golden State Warriors for picking him up and not picking a complementary player to play alongside him who is currently the franchise player of the team. But now, he's proven he can co-exist with Monta even averaging a whopping 35.2 MPG on the court which was expected of Don Nelson for his habit of overstaying quality players on the court evidenced by Monta.

5. Jonny Flynn (13.8 PPG, 4.3 APG, 2.5 RPG, 1.1 SPG) - The absence of Ricky Rubio has definitely earned him the starting point guard of the Wolves. While even he himself fancies on being together with Rubio on the court, he has been a sturdy point guard for them. Anyway, if Rubio will come in to join them, Flynn will slide on to the shooting guard spot which is quite intriguing since he also said he can do it himself.

6. Ty Lawson (9.2 PPG, 3.4 APG, 2.1 RPG, 0.8 SPG) - Despite only logging the fewest minutes, 22.0 MPG, in the top draft picks, he is almost surely to be the Nuggets' starting point guard as Billups gets ready for retirement. His speed has killed teams with older point guards in which he compensates to with his small size. He has proven to be a great backup point guard today who provides instant offense off the bench for the Nuggets which was proven when Billups got injured.

7. Darren Collison (9.8 PPG, 4.4 APG, 2.4 RPG, 0.9 SPG) - No one totally knew who he was until Chris Paul got injured. Don't be fooled by his stats here as he has proven to be a very good starting point guard for the Hornets while Paul is currently injured. Posting numbers of almost triple-doubles almost makes me disappointed that he should be starting for other teams like Indiana who badly needs an upgrade in the point guard slot.

While these players haven't played in the NBA, they're still worth mentioning here:

1. Ricky Rubio - Rubio is perhaps the most intriguing foreigh prospect to ever want to play in the NBA today. The young Spanish guard has torched players of his age with an astonishing quadruple double in the championship game of the FIBA Europe Under-16 Tournament. He is also a backup point guard in the official Spanish team and has already fought against Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Jason Kidd in the basketball championship of the Beijing Olympics 2008. Despite his very wide court vision and defensive prowess, he is still a question mark to scouts to the point of questioning whether he can fit in to the physical game that the NBA offers and handcheck fouling which is prohibited in the league in which he is very good at as an onball defender.

2. John Wall - Callipari, his head coach at University of Kentucky, has spoken glowingly of him. The projected and almost surely to be the No. 1 draft pick of the NBA 2010 Draft has even been told to not need instructions from his coach to run the offense of their team. He is often compared to Derrick Rose and what surprises me is that they say he's better than Rose.

The theory of every team getting topnotch quality point guards is coming closer to becoming true with the large number of guards more prepared to play in the NBA while centers are proving to be a rare gem these days as they often become injured or proven as not living up to their potential. The only problem for the GMs would be to find a perfect fit of core players to surround and complement them.

*Stats were take from Yahoo Sports from the 2009-10 NBA Season as of February 27, 2010.
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