The Best Point Guard Behind Nash

There are many great point guards in the NBA, but Steve Nash is probably the consensus number one point guard. The real question concerning the top point guards is who is number two? There are many great guards in the league today but one of them is better than the others.      There are many great point guards in the NBA today, some are young superstars while others are aging veterans, but who is currently the best? Because Steve Nash has had a tremendous run over the last three seasons, including two MVP’s and three assist titles he is probably unanimously the top choice for the current best point in the league, so the debate is who comes in second? There are many deserving floor generals in this league, including Jason Kidd (who is better than Nash career wise), Chauncey Billups, Tony Parker, Baron Davis, Andre Miller, Mike Bibby, Deron Williams and Chris Paul round out the best of the best. Only one can be number two.

     What determines a great point guard? That is a simple question answered by history. The best point guards of all time, including, Magic Johnson, John Stockton, Bob Cousy, and Oscar Robertson to name a few, all maid their teammates better by passing the ball and getting assists. A point guard’s job is not to score but to get the going; this is done by setting up teammates for easy baskets. From the previous list established each player can distribute the ball, but some of them aren’t good and others are great. Jason Kidd, Andre Miller, Deron Williams, and Chris Paul are excellent passers and create an abundance of scoring opportunities for their teammates. Kidd will probably end his career as third or fourth on the all time career assists list and his continently averaged more than nine assists a game.   Miller has spent the majority of his career dishing out dimes at a rate close to eight a game, many seasons over nine a game. Williams and Paul are two young players who have only played two years so far, but both averaged over nine assist a game last season, with Williams being second in the league at a rate of about 9.5 assists per game. Mike Bibby and Chauncey Billups can distribute the ball as well; they are just not as efficient as other players. Baron Davis is a scorer, a shoot first player who pounds the ball; though he does compile some high assist games he doesn’t make players around him better. Tony Parker is a great player, but only because he is so fast and can blow by guys and get to the hoop, but he is a horrible passer. Parker plays with an excellent big man and is surrounded by many great shooters and he barely gets more than six assists a game, with the talent he plays with he should at least average 8 or 9 assists a game.

     Another quality that great point guards have is leadership; can you drive your teammates to be better and step it up in the clutch to get the win? Kidd does this better then any other point guard in the league, including Steve Nash. Kidd has led teams to the NBA finals twice and has taken his team deep into the playoffs multiple times. Billups and Parker are also great leaders; both have won titles and have made numerous finals appearances. Miller and Bibby have never led their teams to wins and deep into the playoffs, with the excerption of one or two good yours for Bibby. Davis and Williams have both recently had success in this department, but Davis hasn’t done it consistently throughout his career; Williams, on the other hand, led the Jazz to the Western Conference finals in only his second season and looks like he will lead the Jazz to deep playoff runs in the future. Paul, like Williams, is only in his second year and hasn’t quite made to the top level of leading his team to wins, but he is still young so he will have plenty of opportunities over the next ten to fifteen years to do so.

     In order to be a great point guard you must also be able to score when needed to. Every player in the NBA can score in most leagues, but in the NBA only the best can turn it on when they need to. The point guards who can do this best are Davis and Parker; both scored many points in the playoffs and have been scorers throughout their careers. They can both also be the primary scorers on their teams if they have to.  Billups and Bibby are two other guards who shoot the ball a lot, but they score on a level slightly lower then Parker and a step behind Davis. Billups still scores at a high level, but Bibby has dropped off a little over the years. Kidd has never been a scorer, but the last three or four years his points and shooting percentage have started to fall off a little bit. Miller has never been a scorer, he’s not a shooter and he will rarely take the game winning shot, he is a player who sets the shot up for someone else. Williams and Paul are both proving they can score with the best, especially Williams who went on a tear in the playoffs where he kept up with Davis and Parker. Paul hasn’t showed what he can do yet, so we don’t know if he can dominate in a big game setting.

     This is just some of the attributes that a point guard needs to be possess in ordered to be considered great. Following these guidelines, passer/distributor, leader, scorer, there is one player that excelled in all of these categories, and that player is Deron Williams. He was the second player in the league in assists averaging 9.3 per game. He also proved his leadership abilities as he led the Jazz to playoffs and the fourth seed in the Western Conference and also a division title. While playing in the playoffs he led the Jazz on a comeback against Houston down 2-0 to take the series to a game seven and a win on the road. Against the Warriors in the second round he hit a game tying shot at the end of regulation to force overtime in game two, his team went on to win that game. He has also shown that he can score; in the regular season he averaged 16.2 points per game and was on fire in the playoffs, compiling numerous thirty point outings against the Warriors and the Spurs. With a look at each category Williams seems to be the best point guard in the NBA not named Steve Nash. Will he be consistent and put up nig numbers every year and continue to get better? Only time will tell, but he for now is on his way to soon surpassing Nash (as Nash ages) and  becoming the best point guard in the NBA.