Crossover Chronicles is a relatively new blog, so we decided it was a good idea to introduce you to the crew. We’re doing that in a new feature called “Writer-Palooza.” For the next few days, we will feature one writer, introducing him to you via an original piece, his favorite basketball video, and a wildcard post on any topic that he wants.
Today we feature Trevor Zickgraf. You can find him on Twitter here.
Tuesday on Grantland.com’s B.S. Report, Bill Simmons sat down with former Celtics legend and current Indiana Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird.
During that interview Simmons and Bird were talking about how deep the point guard pool in the NBA is. Bird mentioned that there are a ton of really good point guards in the league now, but the 2012 draft and probably the 2013 draft don’t have any franchise altering ones so if you have a really good point guard you should hang on to him.
I think a great point guard is something a team should hang on to, but history has shown us that it’s highly unlikely that a team can win an NBA title when its best player is shorter than 6’5″. As entertaining as this point guard boom has been, chances are this year’s NBA champion, like last year, won’t be a team whose point guard is its best player.
This isn’t the riskiest bet you can make because the Miami Heat have the third best record in the league and are many people’s pick to win the NBA title. But this isn’t just about this season. Did you know that the last time a team won an NBA title with its point guard as its first or second best player was 2004 when the Detroit Pistons won the NBA title and before that the last time a team won a title with a point guard as its best player was in 1990 when the Pistons won the second of their back to back titles with Isiah Thomas running the point*.
Tony Parker* may have won the 2007 Finals MVP, but that had more to do with the Cavs double teaming Tim Duncan and Parker being defended by Boobie Gibson and a 67 year old Eric Snow.
If I were on ESPN First Take this is where I’d make some obnoxious proclamation like “Derrick Rose will never win an NBA championship”. Making a statement like that is silly. I have no idea if Derrick Rose will never win an NBA title. But I do know that John Stockton fell short. Gary Payton fell short. Jason Kidd fell short until he became the third or fourth best player on last year’s Mavs (though I’m positive he and Duncan would’ve won several titles together had Kidd signed in San Antonio in 2003). Steve Nash fell short. Derrick Rose was unstoppable during the regular season last year and then struggled mightily when he ran in to the Miami Heat.
The only similar cause of the point guard’s demise in the playoffs is their teams have always run in to a bigger team with a more dynamic star. What does that mean for today’s star guards? Derrick Rose ran in to Miami Heat and perhaps the only two more dynamic stars in the game in LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, but will last season’s result duplicate itself in the future? I’m going to say it is as long as Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau insists on playing Derrick Rose and Luol Deng 35 to 40 minutes a game in the regular season.
What about Russell Westbrook? The Thunder are intriguing because they appear to be the best team in the West right now, but will that hold come playoff time? Last year it seemed like they just couldn’t execute down the stretch, or at least didn’t execute as well as the Mavericks did. That comes down to the coach and point guard. People focus a lot on the Durant-Westbrook relationship, but the Westbrook-Harden is just as key to the Thunder’s post season success. The Westbrook-Harden dynamic reminds me so much of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. More and more you’ll see Harden initiate the offense and Westbrook will play off the ball. The Spurs have been doing this for years and it’s helped get them three titles over their careers.
Then there’s Chris Paul. Pick your cliche, but the guy really is the ultimate floor general. If I had to bet on one of these three guys to win a title first it’d be Chris Paul. He’s such a smart basketball player that I’m convinced he tells Vinny Del Negro when to call a timeout and what play to draw up. The other thing about Chris Paul is he’s fearless. Rose and Westbrook are also fearless, but I feel like they’re borderline reckless. Paul is always in control. Every time I’ve seen the Clippers in a tight game this season I just assume they’re going to win because Chris Paul has the ball in his hands. He has so much Isiah Thomas in him (as a player, not anything else). I feel like he is the one guy who I would bet on as a superstar point guard to win an NBA title.
The problem is I don’t have a ton of imperical evidense to prove why it’s not smart to bet on a team with a point guard as it’s best player to win it all. Every year is so dofferent from the next. But one thing history has shown us is that it’s just as important for your point guard to be a great leader as it is for them to be a great player.
