State of the NBA – Point Guard
by Mike Ducey

Over the past few NBA seasons defense has reigned supreme. The message that winning teams such as the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs have sent to the rest of the NBA is that defensive prowess wins championships. Sure, offense led to the Lakers’ success in the early 2000s, not their ability to stop anybody. But that was thanks to the 2-headed Shaq/Kobe monster, not to a superior offensive game plan. When you have two of the top 5 offensive players in the league you SHOULD win with regularity, plain and simple.

But times they are a changin’. The slowed-down, grind-it-out “defensive rules” mindset may be in the best interest of a coach’s blood pressure but your average fan wants to be rewarded with well-executed fast breaks and high-flying dunks when they tune into a game.

The fans want this.

This past season more teams put an emphasis on running the ball to create easier, and more frequent, baskets. We finally began to see superior athletes of the NBA in a position where they can use their gifts to their utmost advantage.

Some coaches are slow to embrace a fast-paced style of offense because pushing the ball with regularity can lead to sloppier play and more turnovers. In most scenarios a team’s point guard has the responsibility of initiating the offense, no matter what the game plan is. Any team that employs a point guard who is prone to making mistakes or is not the best decision maker is likely to shoot themselves in the foot all too often, particularly on a team that stresses the fast break.

And more and more teams are making the fast break the norm largely because the NBA has gotten younger and more athletic overall. However superior athletic talent does not always translate into wins, particularly if a team does not have a reliable player manning the point guard position.

The number of quality point guards in the NBA is rising these days. There are a handful of reliable veterans running teams but a group of young point guards is finally starting to shine, and there’s another wave of quality young point guards right behind them who are nearly ready to take over the reigns on their respective teams as well.

Below is a breakdown of NBA Point Guards by “style” of play. Keep in mind that most players are not one-dimensional and exhibit a variety of strengths and weaknesses, but for the purpose of this analysis the tendencies of any player is the key.

The “Classic” Point Guard

These point guards understand it is their responsibility to set up plays and find the best available shot for their teams. Most of the time they are looking up the floor as soon as they get the ball, hoping for an easy bucket. However each is smart enough to slow it down and get their team into a half-court offensive set if nothing is there. Most are not a liability shooting the ball; they’re talented enough offensively in their own right.

You want one of these guys on your team when you go shoot hoops at the Y, plain and simple.

The best examples of these players are wily veterans, such as New Jersey’s Jason Kidd and Phoenix’s MVP Steve “Graham” Nash. Both can put the ball in the basket but their greatest assets are their court vision and passing ability. Kidd and Nash mentally pick apart defenses. They know where their teammates are at all times. They also know where and when their teammates like to receive the ball. Both are very quick and can beat a defensive player off the dribble for 2 or to kick it back out to a teammate for an open look. Nash has the more consistent jump shot of the two, but if you play Kidd for the pass only he can hurt you by scoring the ball as well.

When Healthy, Jason Kidd remains the best point guard in the NBA.

Over the last few seasons there have only been a handful of reliable “old-school” style point guards, but that number is growing. Some, such as Denver’s Andre Miller and Boston’s Gary Payton, fly under the radar because they’re not all that flashy, but they get the job done night in night out.

To be fair to the “Glove” there was a time when he was one of the flashier players in the league on both offense and defense, but those days are behind him. Nowadays GP’s best games are not necessarily reflected in the box scores because decision-making can’t always be quantified.

The key for the Celtics is that GP is an excellent mentor for young hopefuls Marcus Banks and Delonte West. If Banks and West could be combined into one player you’d have a pretty solid point guard on your hands. Unfortunately on their own each has pretty glaring weaknesses. Banks is one of the fastest players in the league, an attribute which actually hurts him at times. Banks lets his speed get the best of him and often plays out of control. He can beat nearly anyone off the dribble but has trouble finishing at the basket as well as kicking the ball out to teammates. Conversely West is mature beyond his years. While he has not shown superior passing skills he is a good decision maker and gets the ball to where it needs to be. West's jumpshot is deadly when he is left open. However West is not as fast or athletic a Banks. When opposing teams are familiarized with his game they will get right up in his face to take away his jumper because nobody will be afraid of getting beaten off the dribble by him.

Payton’s place on this roster is paramount to the development of these kids. The difference between watching GP run the point compared to the last few excuses for point guards the Celtics have trotted out there is night and day (except for Chauncey Billups of course, but thinking about the fact that we let him walk for no apparent reason makes my eye twitch. Thanks Rick Pitino. Now Chauncey Billups and Joe Johnson aren’t “walking through that door” either. Can we talk about something else?).

Tony Parker has molded his game to fit in with his team, and in doing so has become one of the better players at the position. Parker and backcourt mate Manu Ginoboli would love nothing more than to get out and run at every possible opportunity but both understand that their team’s success is contingent upon running the offense through Tim Duncan in the post. Parker is still very young and early on in his career it appeared that his game could suffer because of San Antonio’s slow-paced half-court offensive style. But this season Parker has showed that his offensive traits can mesh nicely with Duncan’s, rather than hindering them.

I feel obliged to include Brevin Knight here, who finished the season 2nd in the NBA in assists per game behind the aforementioned Nash. Knight has done a very solid job serving as a leader on a young expansion team, but other than setting up his teammates Knight doesn’t bring much to the table. He is a stop-gap for a young, inexperienced team, nothing more.

The “I” in “Team”

And then you have your anti-Brevin Knights. Unfortunately there are a large number of point guards whose first instinct is to put the ball in the air. Some of these guys get a lot of hype because they have the ability to drop 30 points on a team on any given night, but most of the time it is to the detriment of their team.

Take the Knicks’ Stephon Marbury for example. Marbury is actually a pretty adept passer when he wants to be, as evidenced by the high number of assists he racks up (Marbury finished 4th in the NBA in assists per game at 8.1). However that statistic is misleading; it’s important to delve a little deeper when evaluating Starbury. Remember, tendency is the key here. Stephon looks for his own shot first nearly every time down the floor, and only passes the ball after he’s convinced that he can’t get a shot off. In game back on March 23 the Knicks soundly beat the Boston Celtics, and they did it with a balanced offensive attack (8 Knick players took between 6-12 shots in that game, and nobody took more than 12). Marbury had only 10 shot attempts and finished with a modest 12 points and 7 assists. That game serves as an example that teamwork, not individual statistics, wins ballgames. This is the lesson Marbury must take to heart.

Stephon Marbury loves the look of his own shot

The Knicks are a bad team, and while most of that has to do with Isiah Thomas’ ineptness as a General Manager, Marbury has to shoulder some of the blame. When a team’s best player is a selfish point guard it is destined for failure more often than not. Now, Marbury’s ability to score is certainly a major strength but his primary concern should be creating baskets for others. Of course, it would help if Isiah surrounded him with more talent instead of a roster full of under-sized power forwards, but that’s another column altogether.

Likewise, Golden State’s Baron Von Davis drives me crazy. The Baron is one of the better passers in the league…When he wants to be. Baron’s best games are when his own offense takes a backseat and he looks to push the ball and set up his teammates. Nobody throws a highlight-reel pass like the Baron, but for some reason most of the time he feels the need to jack 20 shots per game. After being traded to the Golden State Warriors Davis attempted 5 three-pointers or more in 15 of his 18 games. How many ill-advised 3’s will be flying through the air in Golden State once he becomes more comfortable on his new team?

It’s all too easy to rip Allen Iverson for his tendency to shoot first and pass second as well. However there’s no denying that Iverson is one of the best pure scorers in the league, and he averaged a career-high 7.9 assists per game to boot this season. In order to maximize his output AI must dominate the basketball, and while Philly didn’t exactly have a stellar season it’s hard to point the finger at Iverson, as he’s doing all that he can, as usual.

Steve Francis: Elegance!

Steve Francis is another example of a guy who plays a lot of minutes at the point but whose primary strength is scoring. Francis is not the best passer and does not possess the greatest court vision or decision-making skills. He drives coaches crazy because he’s too small to defend opposing shooting guards but offensively he’s best served at that position. Toward the end of the season the Orlando Magic experimented with Francis at the 2-guard, starting rookie point guard Jameer Nelson as his backcourt mate. But Nelson is also a better scorer than passer, so that is not going to resolve the problem. To get the most out of the “Franchise” the Magic need to bring a more conservative point guard into the mix, and build an offensive game plan around Francis.

There are plenty of other point guards who tend to shoot too much unnecessarily. Washington’s Gilbert Arenas has turned into a top tier point guard but he falls in love with his own jump shot all too regularly. The same can be said about Dallas’ Jason Terry, Portland’s Damon Stoudamire, Minnesota’s Troy Hudson and even Sacramento’s Mike Bibby (albeit to a lesser extent). All of these players have the ability to drop assists left and right but for one reason or another try to score on their own on too many possessions.

This is particularly frustrating on teams that have a number of quality offensive options that are neglected because of these poor decision makers. Jason Terry started the season backing up an untested rookie (Devin Harris) mainly because Terry had trouble at the point early on. When you’re on the floor with Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley passing needs to take precedence.

Troy Hudson has been a backup guard for most of his career, and in that role, as an offensive spark off the bench, he has flourished. But after being pressed into a starting role due to injuries he’s fizzled because he’s been exposed as nothing more than a glorified jump shooter.

It may be unfair to include Bibby in this group, for he is a heady player and makes good decisions. Also, during most of Bibby’s tenure with Sacramento the Kings have had a number of quality passers at other positions, such as bigmen Chris Webber and Brad Miller. With very good passing big men on the floor the Kings haven’t needed Bibby to be a “pass first” player. With Webber now battling Iverson for touches in Philly it will be interesting to see if Bibby can take on a more traditional point guard role in the future.

Part 2 of the State of the NBA will appear Friday, May 13th