The best PG in the NBA - Big3Heat631's Blog

Big3Heat631's Blog

The best PG in the NBA

Posted on November 14, 2010 at 01:13 AM.

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For a few years, this debate has been purely Deron Williams against Chris Paul.
Not anymore.
Now, we can throw in Rajon Rondo to make it three premier PGs duking it out for the title of league's best.

Let's study the stats: Rondo leads the league in assists, and it's not even close. 14.9 assists, with Deron and Paul averaging 10.2 and 9.9 respectively. However, keep in mind Rajon has better teammates to pass to and both him and Deron average five more minutes than Chris.

Scoring wise, Deron averages the most, beating CP3 by 3 points and Rondo by 11. Again, Paul averages five minutes less. On a related note to scoring, Chris is shooting .517 from the floor, .455 from downtown, and .882 from the line. Deron is going with .455-.353-.839. Rondo, who is famous for his lack of shooting prowess both from 3-point land and the line, is averaging .462-.400-.524. With Rondo, keep in mind he's only attempted five so far.

Defensively, both Paul and Rondo are in the top 5 league wide for steals per game. Rondo was on the All-Defensive 1st Team last year and is arguably the best point guard defensively. Deron is far, far down on the steals list, tied for 63rd with the likes of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, T.J. Ford, and believe it or not, Kobe Bryant. Rondo is also the better rebounder - he almost averaged ten a game during the 2008-9 playoffs. Right now, Paul leads all three in rebounding, though it's very close. He's at 5.4, Rondo is at 5.2 and Deron at 5.0, all three in the top 5 for point guards. Rondo is much, much better on the offensive glass though. He's at 2.0, Deron at 1.0 and Paul at 0.7. That leaves them reversed in that order for defensive rebounds: Paul's got 4.7, Deron's got 2.0 and Rajon has 3.2.

Outside of the stat sheet, Rondo is well known for his flashy passing. Honestly, his dimes SHINE. Deron and Paul can regularly assist in style, but they are no Rajon Rondo, that's clear. On the fast break, Rondo is so much better than the other two you would've thought he dunks more often than he actually does. However, he doesn't and he doesn't need to. Behind the back ball fakes, no look passes, he can do it all. Rondo clearly gets all the flavor points. Paul and Deron though, are more developed. They aren't as turnover prone, and they are also superior in their fundamentals.

Chris Paul is the clear captain of a surprisingly undefeated New Orleans Hornets team, while Deron has drawn comparisons from many to the legendary John Stockton and is also the captain of his team. As for Rondo, he is being trusted with the reins of the legendary trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen - and he's been a huge success. All three have great personalities and work ethic, obviously not the type of people to draw technicals or get fined or that sort of thing. As you can see, all of these players have had great careers in the NBA, all of them being All-Stars and potential Hall of Famers. But which one is the best?

Rondo has got most of the style in this equation, but lacks the ever important jump shot. Since you can only score inside at 6'1'' for so long without being blocked, I'm deciding to boot him first, leaving him in third. However he has great, great potential and shows signs of developing both his free throws and outside shooting. In a few years, he could easily be the best.

Now, back to the original Paul vs. Deron question. I have Paul over Deron, simply because a) Paul puts up better numbers per 48 minutes and b) Paul is the leader of an undefeated Hornets team despite a rookie head coach and all the trade rumors surrounding him this offseason. It's very close, but in the end, Chris Paul is the best point guard un the NBA.

NOTE: Taken from my NBA blog at http://www.talkball.posterous.com, please visit!

Comments

# 1 BaylorBearBryant @ Nov 14

I'd take DWill, but maybe that's just me. I trust him to take the last shot. Derrick Rose, John Wall, and Steph Curry are the up-and-comers.

# 2 bms715 @ Nov 14

I think Rondo is the best all-around PG...Deron and CP3 are the best scoring PG's

# 3 hirajohn @ Nov 15

Paul, Williams and Nash, so yes there IS N ashy Nashy!
STEVEN Nash is still the best PG in the league right now
Drining Gloves Manufacturer

# 4 tril @ Nov 15

Here's the question I think everyone has about Rondo?

Is Rondo this good because of the players around him. If you put him on teams like Utah, The Hornets, The Bulls, the Suns, even the Bucks (note:all teams with stud pgs)would his stats diminish.

I say they would diminish. Put any of these pgs on the Celts and that team would probably average 10 more points per game. and there defensive numbers would probably increase also.

# 5 xHostile818x @ Nov 16

Chris Paul off top. He's had better statistics, and his team has one more than the other 2 (excluding rondo in wins, simply because rondo has 3 hall of famers to guide him earlier). Unfortunately rondo will never be the best pg in the league because he CAN NOT shoot. he's never led the league in assist or steals. So the arguement is rlly D.Will vs CP3 and ALL Statistics point towards CP3