In this Position
Battle post, we will focus on the top five point guards at this point in the
season. We will take into account just the players’ stats for the entire season up till December 5, 2014
(Manila time). This will, hopefully, give us a more current picture of each
player’s production.
In this
list, we have two members of the Team USA iteration that dominated #Spain2014,
a couple of veteran playmakers, and the kid who had maybe the best game-winner
of last season.
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| Best PG in the Association? Who's your pick? |
Note: All of the following stats are based on each
player’s stats as computed by HoopsStats.com. They were taken on December
5, 2014 (Manila time).
5. Kyrie Irving (CLE) - 22.4ppg, 3.4rpg, 4.7apg,
1.6spg, 49.2 FG%, 2.2 triples per game, 42.5 3pt%, 22.1 EFF
Did you see
how he ruined the Knicks? No, I mean, did you really see him drop 37 big ones
on the team that ruined LeBron’s homecoming? In the process, did you notice how
the Cavs moved up to 10-3 and fifth in the East? Man, if Uncle Drew can keep
dropping the boom for the wine and gold, then don’t be surprised if the Cavs
keep winning till they face Memphis on December 22 (Manila time). Heck, maybe
they even beat the Grizz, too!
4. Damian Lillard (POR) - 19.9ppg, 5.1rpg, 6.5apg,
1.5spg, 2.6 triples per game, 40.7 3pt%, 22.2 EFF
The Blazers
suffered through a slow start, going 3-3 in their first six games, but they
have won all but one of their games since then (to the Grizzlies) and are now,
get this, third overall in the entire league. THIRD OVERALL! They have maybe
one of the best starting fives in the whole league, sure, but even they wouldn’t
go anywhere if Lillard weren’t tearing it up.
3. Kyle Lowry (TOR) - 20.6ppg,
4.9rpg, 6.8apg, 1.3spg, 1.6 triples per game, 22.6 EFF
Lowry isn’t
supposed to be playing this well because he’s no longer in a contract year. I
mean, he’s already going to get paid handsomely for the foreseeable future. And
yet here he is, piloting a team that’s been awfully tough to beat since they
jettisoned Rudy Gay. It’s reasonable to expect that they should punch another
postseason ticket, but it’s also reasonable to expect that this stretch without
DeMar DeRozan is really going to test Lowry’s mettle.
2. Chris Paul (LAC) -
17.9ppg, 4.1rpg, 9.5apg, 2.1spg, 53.3 FG%, 1.4 triples per game, 42.6 3pt%,
26.1 EFF
CP3 isn’t as
present in weekly top ten plays as often as he used to, but being
under-the-radar doesn’t mean he’s been terrible. On the contrary, he’s been
playing at an extremely high level, steering the Clips past a difficult patch
early in the season to move up to 13-5 as the eighth best team in the league
(but only the seventh best in the West). Clearly, we shouldn’t sleep on Paul
just yet.
1. Steph Curry (GSW) - 23.4ppg, 5.1rpg, 7.8apg,
1.9spg, 49.3 FG%, 3.2 triples per game, 41.6 3pt%, 92.6 FT%, 26.7 EFF
How do we
even begin to talk about Curry? I mean, he has been one mean, freakish shooting
machine this season. More than three treys a game? Are you kidding? And that’s
on top of around 5 boards, 8 dimes, and 2 swipes? Numbers that good should
merit Curry as a legit MVP candidate, if you ask me. And who knows, if the Dubs
stay in the top four of the West by season’s end, maybe we will see Curry being
crowned MVP, right? Unless someone figures out how to guard him on the high
pick-and-roll, of course (paging Patrick Beverley and Avery Bradley).
Outside
looking in:
John Wall (WAS) - 21.1 EFF
Reggie Jackson (OKC) - 19.3 EFF
Brandon Knight (MIL) - 19.1 EFF
*Russell
Westbrook is currently at sixth place with an EFF rating of 21.5, but he has
played just four games, so the sample size is a little too small.
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