Jason Kidd- 9 ppg 7 ast 4 rpg
Derek Fisher- '10 10 ppg 3 ast 2.5 rpg
Derek Fisher- '09 8 ppg 2 ast 2 rpg
Rajon Rondo- 10 pgg 6.5 ast 4 rpg
Tony Parker- 21 ppg 6 ast 3.5 rpg
Jason Williams- 30 mintues 9 ppg 4 rpg 2 rpg Gary Payton 24 minutes 6 ppg 1.5 ast 1.5 rpg
Parker- 17 pgg 4 ast 3 rpg
Billups- 16 ppg 6 ast 3 rpg
Parker 15 ppg 3 ast 3 rpg
Fisher- 10 3 3
Fisher- 13 4 3
Ron harper- 8 3 4
Avery Johnson- 12 7 2.5
Ron Harper- 28 minutes 7 2 4 Steve Kerr 20 minutes 5 2 .8
Ron Harper- 27 minutes 7.5 3 4 Steve Kerr 18 minutes 5 1 1
Ron Harper 27 minutes 9 2.5 4 Steve Kerr 20 minutes 7 2 1
Kenny Smith 29 minutes 11 4.5 2 Sam Cassell 22 minutes 11 4 2
These are the playoff stats for the Championship point guards of the last 17 years, and as you can see, we don't see a single superstar point guard. We see All-Stars in Parker and Billups, we see a future all star in Rondo and former all star in Kidd, but at the time of the finals they were not the all star players they were or would become. The concensus is that you need a superstar point guard to compete for a point guard, and while there are many great point guards in the game today, history proves that championship teams don't neccesarily need top flight point guards to compete for a tittle.
I could have kept going back and we wouldn't have had another star point until Isaiah Thomas, right before the first Bulls three peat. Now this doesn't mean that having a star point hinders you, but it shows that there is more to it than having a guy that can get by anyone and break the defense on his own. If you look at these guys one by one, you will see that it's a mix of savvy vets, shooters, and guys that can find the open man.
Kenny Smith was not old by any means, didn't have th quickness he had years earlier, but the Rockets used a combo of his veteran experience, and Cassell's youth and quickness. Then for three straight years, the Bulls used Steve Kerr and Ron Harper, with Harper being the primary point guard getting slightly more minutes than Kerr. harper had been a prolific scorere for several years with the Clips, injuries slowed him down, but he was brought to Chicago to defend and serve as a guy that would get the ball to MJ in his spots. he brought toughness and experience, although I think that Bulls team had all the leadership they needed with Michael. Steve Kerr got his fair share of minutes for one reason, and that was to shoot. He was considered a liability on defense, but the rest of the Bulls D was so stout that they could affford to take a hit in that catagory, and his shooting was sorely needed, Ron Harper and MJ weren't the greatest shooters, and Kerr's ability to spread the floor for the likes of MJ and Pip was invaluable.
Then you have Avery Johnson, he was quick enough to take his guy off the dribble and score, he was undersized, but his main task was to get the ball to the bigs, and that is exactly was he did. In the Lakers first go around Derek Fisher did't get huch run, and it was Ron Harper reuniting with Jackson, he brought the same leadership he brought to the Bulls, and with a young Kobe in the backcourt, he was needed to manage and control the tempo of the game and sort of keep the touches equal between Kobe and Shaq.
Then you have Fisher breaking out of his shell, in his prime he was an above average starter, he made the right decisions, had a high Bball IQ, and hit the shots he needed to hit, and was a bit more spry then he is nowdays, lol.
Then there is Parker 3 of the next 5 years. His first Finals there was immense pressure on his to do well and not get schooled by J-Kidd. There were rumblings that the Spurs would sign and trade Kidd that off-season and would ship off Parker, then a promising 20 year old with the ability to penetrate the middle and get to the basket. He was very solid the first year, and was teh second/third option behind Timmy the next two chamionship runs, he would be able to get to the rim, score at an efficient rate, and set up their big man inside. And in 2007(with Eva looking along) he had the series of his life, toyed with poor Boogie Gibson, and won the finals MVP, probably the best chamionship PG since Isaiah, and the only to take MVP honors in the last 20 years.
And Big Shot Billups was clutch that year, leading a 4 headed monster past the Lakers. In his prime he would get to the foul line almost at will, and would set up his other teamates, and brought terrific suffocating D on Payton and Fish.
In 2006 Jason Wiliams and Gary Payton shared the load. To be honest Payton was washed up, Williams had some left in the tank, pretty much a spot up shooter, showed some flashes of White Chocolate. They basically brought the ball up the floor, than they gave it to D Wade in his isolation sets of Shaq in the post, and would spot up the rest of the time. Payton was there basically to be a floor leader with a young D-Wade there.
Then we have young Rondo, and when the big three was formed, many of us severely doubted the ability of Rondo to adequetly run the point, some thought it would be '96 Houston all over again, where you have three Star vets just at the end of their primes, but a lackluster young point that couldn't hold his own. Rondo didn't break out, but was very solid and showed us flashes of the great distributor he would become.
Now you D-Fish and J-Kidd. Fisher was basically a leader and experience guy that was there for shooting, remember he made some big shots to clinch the tittle against the Magic. Kidd was there for shooting as well, he was still(and still is, to a lesser extent) a very good distributor that sitll hits the boards hard, and you can't leave him alone beyond the arc otherwise he'll make you pay.
As you can see, most of these guys are older veterans that have experience with handling big moments and the situation. Otehr than Parker and Billups, none of these guys at that point in their careers could say"I'm gonna take my guy off the dribble, get in the paint, and then make a decision from there". I'm not trying to say a superstar point guard can't win a tittle, but this shows it can certainly be done as long as the system uses each player correctly, and each team with the exception of the 04 Pistons(They had enough All-Stars to make up for it) had one superstar transcendent player, whether it was a bigman or a wing, and by riding that player, the team was able to win a chamionship without a superstar caliber point guard. And as you could see from the stats above, most of those guys didn't have very gaudy assist numbers either. Most of those guys for the most part would give it up to the star player, whether it be Kobe, Dirk, Shaq, and then they would go out to the perimeter and wait for their opportunity for the open three.
And in defense of guys like CP3, and even D-Will and AI, they didn't have the right pieces arond them to do so. And there may be plenty of great Points right now, but in the mid 90s there weren't that many other than Payton and Kidd. Hopefully we'll see a guy like Nash win it soon, but it goes to show that more than an explosive do-it-all athelte, you can do it with a smart and controlled veteran.
Derek Fisher- '10 10 ppg 3 ast 2.5 rpg
Derek Fisher- '09 8 ppg 2 ast 2 rpg
Rajon Rondo- 10 pgg 6.5 ast 4 rpg
Tony Parker- 21 ppg 6 ast 3.5 rpg
Jason Williams- 30 mintues 9 ppg 4 rpg 2 rpg Gary Payton 24 minutes 6 ppg 1.5 ast 1.5 rpg
Parker- 17 pgg 4 ast 3 rpg
Billups- 16 ppg 6 ast 3 rpg
Parker 15 ppg 3 ast 3 rpg
Fisher- 10 3 3
Fisher- 13 4 3
Ron harper- 8 3 4
Avery Johnson- 12 7 2.5
Ron Harper- 28 minutes 7 2 4 Steve Kerr 20 minutes 5 2 .8
Ron Harper- 27 minutes 7.5 3 4 Steve Kerr 18 minutes 5 1 1
Ron Harper 27 minutes 9 2.5 4 Steve Kerr 20 minutes 7 2 1
Kenny Smith 29 minutes 11 4.5 2 Sam Cassell 22 minutes 11 4 2
These are the playoff stats for the Championship point guards of the last 17 years, and as you can see, we don't see a single superstar point guard. We see All-Stars in Parker and Billups, we see a future all star in Rondo and former all star in Kidd, but at the time of the finals they were not the all star players they were or would become. The concensus is that you need a superstar point guard to compete for a point guard, and while there are many great point guards in the game today, history proves that championship teams don't neccesarily need top flight point guards to compete for a tittle.
I could have kept going back and we wouldn't have had another star point until Isaiah Thomas, right before the first Bulls three peat. Now this doesn't mean that having a star point hinders you, but it shows that there is more to it than having a guy that can get by anyone and break the defense on his own. If you look at these guys one by one, you will see that it's a mix of savvy vets, shooters, and guys that can find the open man.
Kenny Smith was not old by any means, didn't have th quickness he had years earlier, but the Rockets used a combo of his veteran experience, and Cassell's youth and quickness. Then for three straight years, the Bulls used Steve Kerr and Ron Harper, with Harper being the primary point guard getting slightly more minutes than Kerr. harper had been a prolific scorere for several years with the Clips, injuries slowed him down, but he was brought to Chicago to defend and serve as a guy that would get the ball to MJ in his spots. he brought toughness and experience, although I think that Bulls team had all the leadership they needed with Michael. Steve Kerr got his fair share of minutes for one reason, and that was to shoot. He was considered a liability on defense, but the rest of the Bulls D was so stout that they could affford to take a hit in that catagory, and his shooting was sorely needed, Ron Harper and MJ weren't the greatest shooters, and Kerr's ability to spread the floor for the likes of MJ and Pip was invaluable.
Then you have Avery Johnson, he was quick enough to take his guy off the dribble and score, he was undersized, but his main task was to get the ball to the bigs, and that is exactly was he did. In the Lakers first go around Derek Fisher did't get huch run, and it was Ron Harper reuniting with Jackson, he brought the same leadership he brought to the Bulls, and with a young Kobe in the backcourt, he was needed to manage and control the tempo of the game and sort of keep the touches equal between Kobe and Shaq.
Then you have Fisher breaking out of his shell, in his prime he was an above average starter, he made the right decisions, had a high Bball IQ, and hit the shots he needed to hit, and was a bit more spry then he is nowdays, lol.
Then there is Parker 3 of the next 5 years. His first Finals there was immense pressure on his to do well and not get schooled by J-Kidd. There were rumblings that the Spurs would sign and trade Kidd that off-season and would ship off Parker, then a promising 20 year old with the ability to penetrate the middle and get to the basket. He was very solid the first year, and was teh second/third option behind Timmy the next two chamionship runs, he would be able to get to the rim, score at an efficient rate, and set up their big man inside. And in 2007(with Eva looking along) he had the series of his life, toyed with poor Boogie Gibson, and won the finals MVP, probably the best chamionship PG since Isaiah, and the only to take MVP honors in the last 20 years.
And Big Shot Billups was clutch that year, leading a 4 headed monster past the Lakers. In his prime he would get to the foul line almost at will, and would set up his other teamates, and brought terrific suffocating D on Payton and Fish.
In 2006 Jason Wiliams and Gary Payton shared the load. To be honest Payton was washed up, Williams had some left in the tank, pretty much a spot up shooter, showed some flashes of White Chocolate. They basically brought the ball up the floor, than they gave it to D Wade in his isolation sets of Shaq in the post, and would spot up the rest of the time. Payton was there basically to be a floor leader with a young D-Wade there.
Then we have young Rondo, and when the big three was formed, many of us severely doubted the ability of Rondo to adequetly run the point, some thought it would be '96 Houston all over again, where you have three Star vets just at the end of their primes, but a lackluster young point that couldn't hold his own. Rondo didn't break out, but was very solid and showed us flashes of the great distributor he would become.
Now you D-Fish and J-Kidd. Fisher was basically a leader and experience guy that was there for shooting, remember he made some big shots to clinch the tittle against the Magic. Kidd was there for shooting as well, he was still(and still is, to a lesser extent) a very good distributor that sitll hits the boards hard, and you can't leave him alone beyond the arc otherwise he'll make you pay.
As you can see, most of these guys are older veterans that have experience with handling big moments and the situation. Otehr than Parker and Billups, none of these guys at that point in their careers could say"I'm gonna take my guy off the dribble, get in the paint, and then make a decision from there". I'm not trying to say a superstar point guard can't win a tittle, but this shows it can certainly be done as long as the system uses each player correctly, and each team with the exception of the 04 Pistons(They had enough All-Stars to make up for it) had one superstar transcendent player, whether it was a bigman or a wing, and by riding that player, the team was able to win a chamionship without a superstar caliber point guard. And as you could see from the stats above, most of those guys didn't have very gaudy assist numbers either. Most of those guys for the most part would give it up to the star player, whether it be Kobe, Dirk, Shaq, and then they would go out to the perimeter and wait for their opportunity for the open three.
And in defense of guys like CP3, and even D-Will and AI, they didn't have the right pieces arond them to do so. And there may be plenty of great Points right now, but in the mid 90s there weren't that many other than Payton and Kidd. Hopefully we'll see a guy like Nash win it soon, but it goes to show that more than an explosive do-it-all athelte, you can do it with a smart and controlled veteran.
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