Triple Double and for good reason: hes fourth all-time in triple-doubles with 107. Rondo may not be big, but he doesnt know that. Not to mention that he is an elite finisher around the rim, shooting 61.5 per cent on 5-foot attempts. -- Adande, The only players in NBA history with more games with 20 points and 10 assists are Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson. You also can follow along @ESPNNBA and on Facebook. In the MVP vote for the 1967-1968 season, he finished second behind the unstoppable Wilt Chamberlain. 1. As a Golden State Warrior and Miami Heat legend, Tim Hardaway may have the best crossover in basketball history. Its interesting that when he plays against elite point guards, or when he plays angrily, he plays much more of a physical game. Conley looked away from Billups and was pointing vehemently to Paul, trying to tell Allen to get over there and cover him. That said, hes 61st all-time in steals with 1392 and he had six seasons in the top-20 in steals. He affected the paradigm for overseas guards trying to break into the NBA. He closed out on jump-shooters half-heartedly, which is bad enough, but when you combine that with the way he played pick-and-roll plays, it was even worse. Why not a normal scale of one to 10? But will he listen enough to a player he was just playing against to make that shift? This implies that the point guard serves as an extension of their coach on the court, and he or she is accountable for making the right plays every night. Im cheating a little here. In all, Jordans 64.1 DWS rank him 21st all-time. -- Doolittle, Perhaps someday Paul will reach the conference finals and we can focus more on his incredible accomplishments as a scorer, distributor and defender and less on his teams' inability to turn them into deep playoff runs. Because he is the one who touches the basketball first on every possession, the NBAs point guard has long been considered its most vital position. Just because someone gets past him doesnt mean theyre going to score. That would make sense, but there are two reasons to choose the unconventional scale. Thats largely true. Dikembe Mutombo 7. That said, here are the NBAs five best defensive shooting guards of all-time, based on their DWS. Paul, who was born on May 6, 1985, has long been regarded as one of the game's greatest point guards, a fact reinforced by his selection to the 75th Anniversary Team. Who's the best offensive point guard of all time? Still, a first-rate point guard should also have a reasonably effective jump shot. Lowry is neither big nor strong, and he does little with what size he has. He was an All-Star every year of his career and led the Lakers to nine NBA Finals appearances. The Cleveland Cavaliers relied heavily on Kyrie Irving to take and hit huge shots, even when he was partnered with LeBron James. One of the greatest point guards ever, Jason Kidd could make the flashy pass or the simple play with the best of them while also loving to hightail it in transition to wear opponents down in. Thats the difference between what I call work intelligence and natural intelligence. Some people just have to work to pick things up. Teams Los Angeles Lakers late legend Kobe Bryant is often considered the greatest Laker ever and with good reason: Bryant is first in many of the Lakers statistical categories. After ball-handling, the most important areas of the game for a point guard are passing and scoring. -- Pelton, No player his size, 6-foot-3, has ever bent defenses to his will as Curry does. Bob Cousey 8. He gets a higher score here than he technically deserves because he tries so hard. Also, he was disliked for flopping feigning a foul to get the ball back, yet he proved to be a key ingredient to the Spurs championship-winning formula. The players listed below are our picks for the best point guards in NBA history. Los Angeles Lakers (1979-91, 1995-96), Honors He made everything go for those Lakers teams. For a full game, Moncrief was capable of shutting down almost any guard in NBA history. James Harden's age: stats, contract, family, dating, net worth in 2022 and more. But his lack of any vertical leap kills him on the jump shot. Hinrich has a bit more going for him in terms of size. This is a necessity because of the point guard's many leadership obligations. Does he make stupid fouls or smart fouls? But only once did he actually truly defend the play. Some will just hang around waiting for the play to end, but Jack keeps track of his man and also helps if its needed. 2. Players Stats: 18.8 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 5.6 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.3 BPG, Honors: 2010-2011 MVP, 3x All-Star, 1x All-NBA Selection, 2008-2009 Rookie of the Year. Ranked: Top 25 male fitness influencers to follow in 2023, Howe dodges row over Newcastle's Saudi ownership, Former Chelsea boss spotted in Munich with his new lover, Bam Adebayo makes bold claim about the last two DPOY awards, Gary Neville ignites debate after stating ideal price for holding midfielder, Huge Ballon dOr scandal as player claims his votes were changed to Lionel Messi. If you just look at his measurables, Chris Paul is not impressive. Despite his little size, he made up for it offensively by being lightning fast and had the whole attacking package. Many consider Bob Cousy to be a passionate athlete who was the first All-Star and dominating player for the Boston Celtics squad that included legends like Bill Russell and Kevin Collier. -- Haberstroh, Teams Chris Paul had the awkward situation this year of being smarter than his head coach, Vinny Del Negro. He led the NBA in scoring in only his second season, 1967-68, with 27.1 points per game. Lowry just seems to be lost on defense much of the time. Its difficult to have a perfect rating system thats entirely objective, and even more difficult to have a realistic one that is purely subjective. Honors: 1978-1979 Finals MVP, 5x All-Star, 9x All-Defense Selection, 2x All-NBA Team Selection, Hall of Famer. Dr. A's weekly risers and fallers: Jeremy Sochan, Christian Wood make the list, NBA Power Rankings: Kevin Durant's return could rock the West, What NBA Finals runs from LeBron, Giannis can teach Jayson Tatum, They said it! The problem is he doesnt use that height or strength as well as youd like to see. Even though hes been injured a lot, Paul is averaging over two steals a game for his career. Players Stats: 18.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 6.1 APG, 1.9 SPG, 0.2 BPG, Honors: 7x All-Stars, 6x All-NBA Selection, 7x All-Defensive Team Selection, Hall of Famer. In balance he was a plus, but his deficiencies cant be ignored. In addition, Cousy, dubbed "The Houdini of the Hardwood," led the NBA in assists for 8 straight seasons, creating a whole new blend of ball-handling and passing skills for the league. Dennis Rodman 4. He was transcendent. You just dont see him make the wrong plays. Stockton was the. He works well within a system where there are no real defensive weaknesses. His high rebound rate, while partly indicative of his speed is also a result of positioning, which relates to his IQ. And I never saw him go in the wrong direction, not once. By the time he was done, he had racked up 10 All-Star appearances, nine All-Defense selections, six All-NBA . How hard do they fight through them? The seven-time All-Star was one of the best two-way guards of his time, and his performance in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA FInals remains one for the ages. Sounds great, right? Greg Monroe has talent on the offensive side of the ball but not a whole lot on the defensive side. Jrue Holiday is making . Some would look at Conleys frontcourt and assumenot entirely incorrectlythat having Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol to back him up pads his stats. To create All-Time #NBArank, we put together a ballot with the 150 greatest players ever. Watching video on Lin gave me one impression that stood out above everything else: his awareness of where he was on the court and where he needed to be. Think: Dennis Rodman. Allen Iverson 11. Young players who are relatively short are now developing the scoring aspects of their skill-sets, whereas previously these players would find it difficult to enter the NBA without true point guard skills. Players Stats: 14.1 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 5.0 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.6 BPG. While Gregg Popovich and his brilliant system deserve a lot of the credit, Tony is a Finals MVP and is a multiple NBA champion who deserves to be recognised for his role in the legendary Spurs dynasty. He also is tougher than most point guards to post up. The weakness is that it also includes some of what the other player does defensively, (e.g.. blocks, steals, and defensive rebounds). On the other hand, you cant deny what happened, regardless of how much you watch. Stephen Curry 4. -- Doolittle, The great Knicks ball-movement offense started with him. And, there are also times when he does the bailing out. Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose are the two most physically gifted point guards of their generation, and, as a result, are constantly going to be compared to one another. It is a testament to Jarrett Jack that he makes this list. By combining them, we can get a better picture of the whole elephant of a players defense. While he recovers most of the time, its worth asking why he gets beaten. The Cleveland Cavaliers 2016 championship run would not have been possible without Kyrie Irving, who is a two-time NBA champion. Occasionally hell chase the play after hes been beaten, but not always. Below is a list of the 25 Best point guards of the NBA. He averaged 3.9 win shares per season, totaling 75.1 DWS at the end of his 19-year career - good for 11th all-time. Russell is regarded as one of the best point guard finishers of all time. Even the fastest point guards tend to get bottled up. His score would be much worse if it werent for help defense from Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Chris Andersen frequently coming to his aid. Some contend its not his fault that hes short, but its not Jarrett Jacks fault that hes slow either. If he's not on the slide and he played 1,200 minutes, he should be on this list somewhere. One of the greatest rebounding guards of all time. Thats good for 14th all-time in NBA history and he also had 10 seasons in the top 20 for steals per game. The total numbers were then adjusted to arrive at a score ranging between 90 (best) and 110 (worst). He is a natural playmaker with excellent point guard abilities, creating the ideal point guard prototype. He plays way too far off the ball, supposedly so he wont get beaten, but since he perpetually gets beaten like a drum anyway, why not play closer up so he can at least do a better job of defending the jump shot? Closing out on shooters, hell go sailing past them. -- J.A. He is so athletic and so strong for his size that hes been able to get away without learning lessons he should have. With Doc Rivers in charge, things should turn around shortly, and next year his WAM score will be among the best in the league. I considered both their actual measurables and how well they used them. People that just do their job dont usually pitch in and help their co-workers. There arent many point guards in the league who can match Roses pure size and strength. Stockton embodied a true point guard: an extension of the coach that ran the teams offense seamlessly. There arent a lot of players that could lock down Michael Jordan, the greatest player of all time. If he had just a little more strength and could get through the screens just a tad bit quicker, then that ground could be eaten up ever so fractionally sooner, and he would be able to have that smidgen of success needed to effectively challenge those three-point shots. Only two other players besides Moncrief have won the NBAs defensive player of the year award twice. He arguably makes more plays on his feet, both offensively and defensively, than anyone else. Even when he gets switched up on opposing shooting guards trying to post him up, he does a solid job. You dont get the sense in watching him that theres a point of pride in it. Interpreted as: best point guard defensive rating with a minimum of 2000 minutes played per 82 team games 2022 You probably cant say right away, because you watched the storyline, not how Harvey dressed. His lateral quickness is exceptional, making it hard for people to get around him, and thats a big part of why he is tied with Derrick Rose for the fewest points per play among qualified point guards. One of the best -- and quickest -- lob passers the game has ever seen. The debate over whether it should have been a flagrant is mootclearly that got into James head because he was talking about it after the game. Aside from the centre, having the best point guard is critical to improving your game because every play starts with him. In his 20 seasons, Bryant averaged 2.5 DWS and 1.4 steals per year. How much a player understands his role in the defense is measured here. In many cases, I looked at their combine results. As a result, he rarely gets tangled up with the pick-setter. On Detroits 2004 NBA championship squad, he led the likes of Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace to victory over the LA Lakers superteam. Because Derrick Rose was the NBAs youngest MVP in 2009, its unfortunate that the guy isnt higher on this list. There are times where he makes a bone-headed gamble and loses, trying to get the extra steal, but thats about the only flaw there is with him mentally. Big O is widely regarded as one of the best offensive point guards of all time. Despite making it to the Western Conference Finals last season, he is yet to make an appearance in the NBA Finals. Best Defenders in NBA History: Top 50 Best Defensive Players By Clark Boinis | Jul 12, 2021, 4:05pm 1. Players Stats: 24.0 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 6.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.3 BPG, Honors: 5x All-Stars, 4x All-NBA Selection, 2012-2013 Rookie of the Year. A point guard often controls the offense and they also control who gets the ball and who doesn't, as this type of controlling style of play is necessary to control the tempo of a game. Despite the fact that he was unable to win an NBA championship, his charisma and dribbling prowess will never be forgotten. He does get a bit of a bump here for his rebounding. Derrick Rose 15. When they do, he gets tangled up pretty badly; it happens so rarely, though, youd think he had eyes in the back of his head. Point guards are expected to be vocal floor leaders. He applies his energy smartly. Conley also has crazy hops, measuring a 40.5-inch vertical at the combine, and he is one of the quickest point guards in the league. Hes a learning player, and his extensive time sitting last year may have helped his grasp of defense as well as offense. Hes the closest thing in the world to Kevin Garnetts Mini-Me. Its why Williams gives up .92 points per play in isolation, one of the worst averages among point guards. -- Kevin Pelton, Teams OPER is the Opponents Player Efficiency Rating and has been tracked by 82games.com since 2008. An indication of this is the fact that hes had only nine dunks in his career, the last of which was over seven years ago. The point guard is positioned on the perimeter of the play, so as to have the best view of the action. Sometimes, thats just not enough, especially if hes left to guard in isolation, where hes horrid, giving up .92 points per play. Michael Cooper was a great defensive guard, evident when he won the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award in 1987, and James Worthy is a top-ten Small Forward of all-time and was one of the . Per NBA.com/STATS, the Clippers were almost 10 points per 100 possessions better defensively while Lamar Odom was on the court instead of DeAndre Jordan, yet Paul was on the court three times as much with Jordan as Odom. -- Peterson, Thomas' willingness to share the spotlight helped make the Bad Boy Pistons incredible, and he had a consistent ability to step up his game in the postseason during Detroit's title runs (and near miss in 1988).