Of the eight players to average a PER of at least 25 over at least 500 games, Paul is the only one without a title. But, fairly or unfairly he may be the poster boy for that group by pure definition. He is not an obvious “empty stats” candidate like a Kevin Love or a Carmelo Anthony (both great players in their own right), or a Stephon Marbury of yesteryear. Quite simply, his statistical greatness suggests he is already a top-four all-time point guard and a top-25 all-time player, yet in reality there is a severe disconnect between his stats and his résumé. Will Paul ever win one? Or is his game more conducive to piling up stats than winning playoff series? Yet those three won titles – eight between them. A case can be made that the other three – Magic, Oscar Robertson and Isiah Thomas – are the top three point guards in NBA history, so this is the most elite company imaginable. Only two have ever done it more than once: Paul and Magic Johnson.Īs it stands he is among a group of just four players with career averages of 18+ points and 9+ assists. Moreover, only five players have ever averaged 21 points and 11 assists on at least 48% shooting for a season. He is one of just five players to amass 11,000 points and 6,000 assists over his first nine seasons, and he currently ranks first all-time in PER among all guards – not a tell-all stat by any means but one that demonstrates his all-round statistical brilliance. Historically, he is amongst elite statistical company. A true stat sheet filler, he already has 297 double-doubles to his name. He is also a relatively good defender – though not quite fully deserving of his six All-Defense nominations, as I recently laid out here.Ħ17 games into his career, Paul is putting up averages of 18.6 points, 9.9 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 steals on 47.2% shooting. He is a maestro with the ball, one of the best distributors in recent league history and a multi-faceted scorer. He is a true floor general and orchestrator of his team’s offense. Paul is a four-time All-NBA first teamer and the best pure point guard in the league whose skills are well known to anyone reading this blog. ![]() How does he stack up against them given the gap between his stats and his résumé? He’s smart enough to make himself available, a premium skill to have on this team.The statistics place Chris Paul among the absolute greats to ever play his position, but he is yet to experience their level of playoff success. If there’s somebody that needs to be guarded off the ball, catch and shoot, I’ve been working hard on that over the last couple of years, and my numbers have been better and I plan to get even better at that.”Īs aforementioned, Joseph will rarely stand still - he’ll lift to the wing/sink to the corner to make close-outs long and difficult. “Like I said, what I try to do is try to hang my hat on defense. “I’m comfortable playing off-ball,” he said. Curry is the golden standard in that department, and Joseph is ready to follow his example. Joseph not only is a steady presence as a ballhandler - he has shown some off-ball movement chops and isn’t merely a standstill operator. ![]() CP, we all know how smart he is in the pick and roll.” “We’ve seen what Steph has been able to do with the 3 and kind of changed the game. I’m sure I’ll get there and learn a lot from them. “I get to learn from two of the greats to ever do it at their position,” Joseph said Tuesday in an introductory Zoom with Bay Area media. Per NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson: With a team that had several moments of bad decision making and head-scratching turnovers last year, Joseph - along with Paul - is on a mission to provide veteran leadership as well as more on-court IQ.Įven at 32-years old and having 12 years of experience in the league, Joseph is making sure he’ll soak in as much as possible from Paul and Stephen Curry, two of the greatest point guards to have ever played in NBA history. Chris Paul wasn’t far above him at fifth (4.6). Joseph was 10th in assist/turnover ratio (3.9) last season among 301 players who played a minimum 49 games. At 6-foot-3-inches, Joseph isn’t exactly a beacon of defensive versatility, especially with a standing reach of 8-foot-3 and a wingspan of 6-foot-5.īut what Joseph does provide is a steady hand and years of experience as a lead ballhandler and decision maker. ![]() Signing veteran guard Cory Joseph won’t do much to quell concerns about those next season. Guard depth - at what many thought was at the expense of big-man depth and overall size - was a huge point of contention among Warriors fans last season.
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