The top three NBA rookies this season were point guards — Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry and Brandon Jennings. Last year’s rookie of the year was a point guard — Derrick Rose. And John Wall will likely be the top pick in this year’s NBA Draft. So are these floor generals the future of the NBA?
To put it simply, no. Point guard may be the most overvalued position in sports. The last elite point guard to lead his team to a title? Isiah Thomas in 1990.
Over the last two decades, John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Mark Jackson, Kevin Johnson, Tim Hardaway, Steve Nash and Allen Iverson (if you consider him a point guard) have combined for a total of zero titles.
NBA championships are won by superstar swingmen (Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade and Paul Pierce) and dominant post players (Hakeem Olajumon, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett). Just not the best No. 1s of the past 20 years.
Some point guards with multiple titles during that span? John Paxson, B.J. Armstrong, Kenny Smith, Ron Harper, Derek Fisher and Tony Parker. It’s a group of serviceable facilitators, but not exactly the league’s elite.
Sure, Parker and Chauncey Billups were named NBA Finals MVPs. But neither earned All-NBA honors during their championship seasons.
One reason for the diminished importance of an elite floor general could be the evolution of the “point-forward.” Scottie Pippen flourished in this role with the Bulls in the 90s and last year’s NBA Finals featured Lamar Odom and Hedo Turkoglu — two forwards capable of bringing the ball up the court.
The ball needs to be in the hands of the team’s best decision maker during crunch time, which doesn’t necessarily mean the point guard. Why have a guy dribble up the floor just to pass it to LeBron James immediately when he crosses halfcourt? Let “The King” just take care of it from the beginning.
The No. 1 seeds in the playoffs — the Lakers and Cavaliers — have similarly constructed rosters. The primary role of point guards Mo Williams and Fisher is to spread the floor by hitting outside jumpers so playmakers LeBron and Kobe have room to operate.
Not exactly the job description you’d expect for a championship-caliber team’s starting No. 1.
The league may never have had this many young, talented point guards at one time with Rose, Deron Williams and Chris Paul leading the group into the next generation. But if history tells us anything, don’t expect for them to be leading their teams to an NBA title.
Jeffrey Tomik is the assistant sports editor for the Washington Examiner. Reach him at [email protected].
