The Killer Crossover 12.19.07: The PG Era

Posted by Todd Spehr on 12.19.2007

This is the new NBA, where teams want to score a lot of points and there's only one way to do it: Get a good point guard. With an abundance of high-quality point-men running hardwoods, the NBA is entering an exciting era. 411's Todd Spehr looks at The PG Era...

During last week's Suns-Jazz game on ESPN, Mike Breen asked Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson for their top five PG's of today. I sat there curiously anticipating which defensive-minded guys JVG would tee up, or better yet, which pass-first, diminutive dishers Jackson would include. To my surprise, both essentially had the same guys in different order. No big deal, right?

But both lists were missing Jason Kidd. Both. I mean both (!) for crying out loud. Did I mention both? Can you tell this bothers me?

Anyway, amidst the horror, I realized something. For J-Kidd, the same guy who actually possesses a sixth sense – that allows triple-double watch almost nightly - to actually not be a no-questions-asked member of the top-five at his position meant one thing: This is the most competitive time to be a PG in at least fifteen years. It has to be. Just watch Kidd on a nightly basis - and then know that one of the best coaches of the past decade and the second all-time assist leader don't think he's top five at his position. Think about that.

(You want more crazy crap? Consider this: Kidd really should've won the MVP in '02 and Nash, despite a season even better than his previous two, easily could've won in '07 – both were runner up. Anyway, in the alternate universe where they did win (under the Spehr System of PG-biased voting) then the last seven MVP's look like this: Nash (thrice), KG, Duncan, Kidd and Iverson. With the exception of Garnett's monster '04 campaign and Duncan's steady ‘03, you're looking at a league that has been conquered by small players; diminutive in size but colossal in achievement. You could make the case that sure, none of those PG's won when it mattered (they still won a lot, though), but on an individual basis they have dominated. And honestly, don't argue the individual stuff, the NBA now is mostly individual; this isn't the old days when passing and unselfishness was the norm, and it was cool. Back to the PG Era.)

And really, name another position right now that is as deep in talent?

Seriously, there's at least 20 teams that have quality PG's. Some, like the Raptors, have two. When was the last time we could say that? And the best thing is, there is no clear-cut characteristic for these guys; pass-first (Nash), shoot-first (Arenas), triple-dip (Kidd), the prematurely mature (Paul and Williams), the oft-injured yet spectacular when healthy (Baron Davis and Ford), the steady (Billups and Andre Miller), the aged (Cassell), the malcontent (Marbury), and the losing-deprived (Parker). But let me tell you, it makes for interesting theater. There is very rarely a bad matchup on any given night in any given game between any two teams; and it's given the league a new level of excitement.

Perhaps what best embodies this excitement is the debate that everyone has an opinion on but no one knows the answer to: Who's Better? Chris Paul or Deron Williams. I don't even pretend that I know. Paul, who's at 27/4/9 this month, is playing at a level that makes you want to check his birth certificate. This guy can't be 22, I'm telling ya. Williams, on the other hand, calmly leads the Jazz, looks about as comfortable on the hardwood as I do in a hammock, and has the statistical resume to back it up: 20 and nine on the year. The best thing about this rivalry? We're no closer to knowing the answer in five years as we are today, you gotta love it.

And it's an exciting time to run the point, after all, every team's style now caters to up-tempo play.

One major reason for this development is, quite simply, teams play different. Teams play faster. Teams want to score more. They don't want to stop you from scoring, instead, they want to outscore you. And what better way to do it than, as your point guard heads for the door you throw him the keys to your car and tell him to have a great time.

Ever since the summer of '04, when Bryan Colangelo basically created a monster – teaming Steve Nash with Mike D'Antoni – other teams have decided to follow and increase their pace. Look at Golden State, with Don Nelson and his any-shot-is-a-good-shot philosophy. Toronto, oddly enough, also assembled by Colangelo, are trying to push the pace by assembling the personnel to do it. Denver runs more, but really, the league feels like the league if the Nugs have an up-tempo style. Utah, Orlando, Dallas, heck even San Antonio is scoring more points and they all share a key ingredient: good point guard play.

Just how important are point guards? Look at last year's All-Star Game. It was unquestionably the worst I had seen since '91 - they show it on NBA TV sometimes, check it out, it's really really bad – and the major reason was Jason Kidd and Steve Nash were both sitting at home nursing injuries. The game was a one-on-one festival, hardly the up-and-down, end-to-end, free-flowing game that it could be, that it should be. This is just a microcosm of the game played the right way vs. the wrong.

And speaking of the ‘right way' and the new era, the league is a better place for having all these fine point guards, and I expect it to get better. Who knows, with all this high-octane offense, maybe every team will possess a fine point man. Too good to be true? Don't bet on it.

You can read Todd Spehr's NBA column every Wednesday at 411mania.com. For more NBA talk, check out his blog