The Best Point Guard in the NBA by Lauren Beasley
Lately there has been a lot of controversy on who is the best point guard in the NBA. It started at the beginning of the season but has escalated over the course of the playoffs.
Now the controversy of this season has been genuinely between Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo, but towards the end of the regular season and during the playoffs, Chris Paul’s name has wondered back into the mix.
Now Wikipedia describes the point guard position in this way: “Point guard (PG), also called the play maker or "the ball-handler," is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game and is commonly abbreviated "PG." A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position – essentially, he is expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right players at the right time. Above all, the point guard must totally understand and accept his or her coach's game plan.”
Now personally I agree with that description for the most part. So I decided to break down each some of the great point guards to determine who the best point guard in the NBA is.
Derrick Rose
I will start with Derrick Rose, now in a lot of ways he is a play maker, but some would say he is only an individual play maker, meaning he doesn’t do the best job of getting his teammates involved or make them better.
Now I admit Derrick Rose is a score first point guard but there is no doubt he makes his team better, I mean since he has been drafted by the Bulls, he has help that team to become one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. If you want to go by stats, he has averages over six assists since entering the NBA. He is an explosive guard, who is quick and is probably the most athletic point guard. His jump shot has improved but it’s not fully consistent yet.
The only thing Rose is missing right now truly is a ring, but we all know if he had been able to stay healthy and had a few more pieces on his team, he might have received that ring this season.
Chris Paul
Now let’s discuss Chris Paul, now personally he is a great complete packaged point guard. He is a leader, he can score anywhere on the court, he has great court vision and gets his teammates involve and makes them better.
The main things that hurt Paul’s status is first he is injury prone and secondly he doesn’t have a championship under his belt yet. However let’s be real, Paul was drafted by the Hornets, we knew he wouldn’t win a championship with them.
It’s also safe to say he has a possibility to win one with the Clippers if they acquire a few more pieces to the team. If we go over the stats he averages over fifteen points since he entered the NBA and he also has averages between seven assists and eleven assists. For two straight seasons he averaged double digit assists.
He has once again clearly shown this season in the playoffs that he is the reason the Clippers are successful and has saved his team from a couple of close loses due to his clutch ability. As I said before the only things he has against him is his injury prone status and the fact that he doesn’t have a championship.
Rajon Rondo
Lastly we have Rajon Rondo, now Rondo is someone we have all watched grow since he entered the NBA. When he first entered the NBA, Rondo didn’t do much; he has truly evolved and become a great point guard due to the great cast around him that he has with the Celtics.
Rondo is a great and getting his teammates involved and is scorer who mainly scores through slashing. The main thing I love about Rondo is the fact that he is also a great defender. He has a championship ring that he earned with the Celtics. If we go by stats, he has averaged multiple triple doubles; he scores over fifteen points and between eight and eleven assists.
However there are some things that bother me about Rondo, first it seems that he does his best performances on national television which is something that an analyst pointed out. Rondo also has shown that his emotions are somewhat inconsistent; he has had some problems in the locker-room, which caused the Celtics GM Danny Aimes to consider trading him. Rondo also has made public outbursts like when he didn’t get selected for the All Star game.
Lastly the incident with the referee was uncalled for and he never truly apologized for his actions which bothered me as well. As far as on the court, Rondo h as yet to show the ability to score when it comes to shooting, now yes it’s true that Rondo has the ability to blow by defenders but eventually he will be forced to learn how to shoot. I also have to see Rondo show some clutch ability, the other day against the Hawks in game 5, he made a great steal but made a horrible offensive decision and couldn’t even get a shot off. I like Rondo, I really do, but he still has some growing up to on and off the court.
Let’s bring up the championship that he has, now while I feel he everybody plays their role & that’s what he did with the Celtics that year, let’s be real everybody isn’t lucky to have 3 of the best players in the NBA on one team and have them basically earn you a championship. Like I said Rondo certainly played his part on the team for the championship but he isn’t the real reason they won.
Now I just broke down the three point guards who have caused controversy for the best point guard position in the NBA. However there are some point guards who I feel have been overlooked due to their teams play or just because they are plain overlooked.
Steve Nash
Now Steve Nash is a great point guard who has two MVPs under his belt. He is also ranked as one of the top players in NBA league history for three-point shooting, free-throw shooting, total assists and assists per game. He has had multiple seasons where he averaged double digit assists and definitely knows how to score from slashing or shooting. But unfortunately for him he has no championship under his belt and he is also getting older which causes people to doubt him as the best point guard in the NBA.
Tony Parker
Now Tony Parker is an interesting prospect that has never seemed to be considered to be the top point guard. Now let’s review his resume’, he has three championships under his belt and finals MVP as well. He can score, has good court vision and gets his teammates involved and makes his team better and certainly a leader. So I question why he has never been in this conversation but that it would be a good argument to have.
Russell Westbrook
Of course we can’t forget Westbrook. He has become a great point guard which surprised a lot of people due to him being a shooting guard in college. He is one of the most explosive guards other than Derrick Rose. He is the second part of the puzzle that makes the Thunder elite. He however is still more of a score first point guard who has developed a jump shot to go along with his great slashing ability. However as far as stats, when it comes to assists, his numbers have gone down since last year. He has also shown some selfishness when it comes to trying to be the playmaker in clutch situations, mainly last year in the playoffs. He still has some things to improve on; however it is safe to say that if he is able to win a championship this season, he could become in some people’s eyes the best point guard.
Deron Williams
Lastly we have Deron Williams. Now not too long ago, everybody was saying Deron Williams was the best point guard in the NBA, mainly while he was on the Utah Jazz. I mean Williams is the great all around packaged point guard. He can score anywhere on the court, has great size and strength, good court vision, gets his teammates involved and is leader to his team. He isn’t injury prone; unfortunately he just hasn’t been on the right team whether it was the Jazz or the Nets, so he doesn’t have a championship yet. But there is no doubt that this guy is a candidate as well.
That being said there will always be controversy on his the best point guard in the NBA, just like there is controversy on who is the best player in the NBA because everyone has their own opinions and look for different things. The question is, who do you believe the best point guard in the NBA is?
Now the controversy of this season has been genuinely between Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo, but towards the end of the regular season and during the playoffs, Chris Paul’s name has wondered back into the mix.
Now Wikipedia describes the point guard position in this way: “Point guard (PG), also called the play maker or "the ball-handler," is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game and is commonly abbreviated "PG." A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position – essentially, he is expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right players at the right time. Above all, the point guard must totally understand and accept his or her coach's game plan.”
Now personally I agree with that description for the most part. So I decided to break down each some of the great point guards to determine who the best point guard in the NBA is.
Derrick Rose
I will start with Derrick Rose, now in a lot of ways he is a play maker, but some would say he is only an individual play maker, meaning he doesn’t do the best job of getting his teammates involved or make them better.
Now I admit Derrick Rose is a score first point guard but there is no doubt he makes his team better, I mean since he has been drafted by the Bulls, he has help that team to become one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. If you want to go by stats, he has averages over six assists since entering the NBA. He is an explosive guard, who is quick and is probably the most athletic point guard. His jump shot has improved but it’s not fully consistent yet.
The only thing Rose is missing right now truly is a ring, but we all know if he had been able to stay healthy and had a few more pieces on his team, he might have received that ring this season.
Chris Paul
Now let’s discuss Chris Paul, now personally he is a great complete packaged point guard. He is a leader, he can score anywhere on the court, he has great court vision and gets his teammates involve and makes them better.
The main things that hurt Paul’s status is first he is injury prone and secondly he doesn’t have a championship under his belt yet. However let’s be real, Paul was drafted by the Hornets, we knew he wouldn’t win a championship with them.
It’s also safe to say he has a possibility to win one with the Clippers if they acquire a few more pieces to the team. If we go over the stats he averages over fifteen points since he entered the NBA and he also has averages between seven assists and eleven assists. For two straight seasons he averaged double digit assists.
He has once again clearly shown this season in the playoffs that he is the reason the Clippers are successful and has saved his team from a couple of close loses due to his clutch ability. As I said before the only things he has against him is his injury prone status and the fact that he doesn’t have a championship.
Rajon Rondo
Lastly we have Rajon Rondo, now Rondo is someone we have all watched grow since he entered the NBA. When he first entered the NBA, Rondo didn’t do much; he has truly evolved and become a great point guard due to the great cast around him that he has with the Celtics.
Rondo is a great and getting his teammates involved and is scorer who mainly scores through slashing. The main thing I love about Rondo is the fact that he is also a great defender. He has a championship ring that he earned with the Celtics. If we go by stats, he has averaged multiple triple doubles; he scores over fifteen points and between eight and eleven assists.
However there are some things that bother me about Rondo, first it seems that he does his best performances on national television which is something that an analyst pointed out. Rondo also has shown that his emotions are somewhat inconsistent; he has had some problems in the locker-room, which caused the Celtics GM Danny Aimes to consider trading him. Rondo also has made public outbursts like when he didn’t get selected for the All Star game.
Lastly the incident with the referee was uncalled for and he never truly apologized for his actions which bothered me as well. As far as on the court, Rondo h as yet to show the ability to score when it comes to shooting, now yes it’s true that Rondo has the ability to blow by defenders but eventually he will be forced to learn how to shoot. I also have to see Rondo show some clutch ability, the other day against the Hawks in game 5, he made a great steal but made a horrible offensive decision and couldn’t even get a shot off. I like Rondo, I really do, but he still has some growing up to on and off the court.
Let’s bring up the championship that he has, now while I feel he everybody plays their role & that’s what he did with the Celtics that year, let’s be real everybody isn’t lucky to have 3 of the best players in the NBA on one team and have them basically earn you a championship. Like I said Rondo certainly played his part on the team for the championship but he isn’t the real reason they won.
Now I just broke down the three point guards who have caused controversy for the best point guard position in the NBA. However there are some point guards who I feel have been overlooked due to their teams play or just because they are plain overlooked.
Steve Nash
Now Steve Nash is a great point guard who has two MVPs under his belt. He is also ranked as one of the top players in NBA league history for three-point shooting, free-throw shooting, total assists and assists per game. He has had multiple seasons where he averaged double digit assists and definitely knows how to score from slashing or shooting. But unfortunately for him he has no championship under his belt and he is also getting older which causes people to doubt him as the best point guard in the NBA.
Tony Parker
Now Tony Parker is an interesting prospect that has never seemed to be considered to be the top point guard. Now let’s review his resume’, he has three championships under his belt and finals MVP as well. He can score, has good court vision and gets his teammates involved and makes his team better and certainly a leader. So I question why he has never been in this conversation but that it would be a good argument to have.
Russell Westbrook
Of course we can’t forget Westbrook. He has become a great point guard which surprised a lot of people due to him being a shooting guard in college. He is one of the most explosive guards other than Derrick Rose. He is the second part of the puzzle that makes the Thunder elite. He however is still more of a score first point guard who has developed a jump shot to go along with his great slashing ability. However as far as stats, when it comes to assists, his numbers have gone down since last year. He has also shown some selfishness when it comes to trying to be the playmaker in clutch situations, mainly last year in the playoffs. He still has some things to improve on; however it is safe to say that if he is able to win a championship this season, he could become in some people’s eyes the best point guard.
Deron Williams
Lastly we have Deron Williams. Now not too long ago, everybody was saying Deron Williams was the best point guard in the NBA, mainly while he was on the Utah Jazz. I mean Williams is the great all around packaged point guard. He can score anywhere on the court, has great size and strength, good court vision, gets his teammates involved and is leader to his team. He isn’t injury prone; unfortunately he just hasn’t been on the right team whether it was the Jazz or the Nets, so he doesn’t have a championship yet. But there is no doubt that this guy is a candidate as well.
That being said there will always be controversy on his the best point guard in the NBA, just like there is controversy on who is the best player in the NBA because everyone has their own opinions and look for different things. The question is, who do you believe the best point guard in the NBA is?