Hello my dear Steemit friends and welcome to my blog.
Throughout next couple of of posts I will share my opininion on the best players in the NBA history by each position. In today's post I will rank my 10 best point guards that ever played the beautiful game of basketball.
So sit back, enjoy and feel free to join the discussion in the comments.
Before I start, just to be clear, I listed Allen Iverson and Jerry West as shooting guards so they won't be featured in this top 10. Here it goes:
10. Walt Frazier
Walter „Clyde“ Frazier is one of the best players in NY Knicks history. Even though it was a hard decision between him and some other palyers, I just couldn't leave him out. He is a 2 time champion, 7 time all star, 4 time NBA all first team and amazing 7 time NBA all defensife first team. He was just that good. Probably his most memorable performance was 36 points, 18 assists and 5 steals in 1970 NBA finals vs Jerry West's and Wilt Chamberlain's Lakers and brought the championship to NY.
He is also known for his unique fashion style, something like Russel Westbrook in today's era.
Finally, this is a quote from his teammate, and another NBA great, Willis Reed, that described his game very well: „It's Clyde's ball, he just lets us play with it every once in a while.“
9. Bob Cousy
This list just couldn't be without him. This Boston Celtics legend is a 6 time NBA champion, 1957 NBA MVP and so much more. He led the NBA in assist for 8 consecutive seasons, which is just crazy.
Bob Cousy was conisdered the best player ever at the time. Watching his plays shows you that he was way ahead of his time. His creativiry with the basketbal, ball handling skills and flashy passes were unseen at the time. He was the predecessor of the likes of White Chocolate, Rajon Rondo, Steve Nash, John stockton etc. Furthermore, when you see his accomplishments, both personal, and team, even if you are not familiar with him (mostly younger people) you get an idea of how great Bob Cousy was.
8. Steve Nash
I am pretty sure there will be a lot of people that consider Steve to be much higher on this list and that is fine because it is all really close. He is one of the most creative passers in the modern NBA, great shooter, 2 time MVP, 5 time assist leader and was selected in All NBA first team 3 times. Also he had four 50-40-90 seasons which is an NBA record. Even though he played in Dallas with Dirk Nowitzki, he spent his best years in Phoenix Suns under Mike D'Antoni. Him and Amare Stoudemire were a deadly duo and an enigma to defenses across the league. Even though John Stockton is considered as an inventor of Pick and roll, Nash has to get credit as well because he brought it to perfection. As Pick and roll is being a staple part of pretty much every offensive set in today's basketball, we are very thankful to Steve for showing us how to execute a proper Pick and roll.
However, he unfortunately never won a ring and as we all know, Mike D'Antoni's 7 seconds offensive philosophy will boost your stats a little bit so I think he did not deserve 2 MVPs. For example, the season where Kobe averaged 35.4 ppg. One way or another Steve Nash is amazing and deserves to be on this list.
7. Chris Paul
Chris Paul was on the way of becoming the best point guard ever earlier in this career. But the fact that he never passed the second round of the playoffs despite having some really good teams around him is the reason he is not higher on this list. To be fair, he had some bad luck with injuries. Also he was on the verge of being traded to the Lakers, but that trade was stopped by NBA commisioner at the time David Stern. Who knows what he could have accomplished being paired with Kobe Bryant, but that is the way it played out.
CP3 is still one of the best point guards without a doubt. If you look in the advanced stats, you see that Chris Paul is number one all time in offensive rating which is insane. He is also third in assists per game and sixth in PER all time. Besides being a great leader, a true floor general and being a deadly offensive player, he is an outstanding defender. He stands 6th all time in steals per game and has been selected to 7 all NBA defensive first teams.
This year with the Rockets, his fate might turn his way and he might get that silverware he really deserves. He still has years to play in this league and has a lot of potential to severely improve on this list.
6. Jason Kidd
Jason Kidd is one of my favourite players on this list. When you describe to someone what a true point guard is, you think of Jason Kidd. A pass first player, but capable of scoring, once in a generaiion passer and a great defender. Even though he was not known as a good shooter, he is sitting at 9th all time in three pointers made. He is also 2nd in assists, 8th in assists per game, and second in total steals.
He is sitting third all time in tripe-doubles although Russel Wesbrook is really closing in. Kidd was just solid all around and always agressive. You just knew that what you expected from him, you will get it night in and night out. Kidd was just that reliable.
He put a cherry on top of the cake of his carreer in 2011 with Dallas Mavericks, when he won his only NBA title. He also participated in 2 other NBA finals with the New Jersey Nets, but he fell short both times. Most likely Jason Kidd will be inducted into the Hall of fame this year and another proof he can be put along side any other point guard in NBA history.
5. Stephen Curry
I feel people will be the most divided on this one. Some think he should be even higher. Some think he shouldn't be on this list at all. Well, he is kind of a guy you ether love or hate. I am trying to be as objective as possible and I think that he deserves to be here and by the time he finishes his career he will be even higher on this list. He is not really a traditional point guard like some others on this list, but he is playing the position his entire career.
There is not much I can say about Curry taht you allready don't know. The assasin with the baby face, as he has been called, is the best shooter in the Universe ever. Period! He has singlehandedly changed the way the game is played today. All those three point shooting that we see nowdays is because of him. His impact on the game will be seen even more in 10 to 15 years because he is a guy that kids look up to today. He showed that you don't have to be a freak of nature to be one of the best. That is why if you look on your local basketball court, all the kids are shooting threes, not working on their post up play or being physicall.
He is a 2 time MVP with one of them being unonimus (only unonimus MVP ever) and a two time champion of course. He is on course to acomplish much more in his career and we should all enjoy watching him because he is truly one of a kind.
4. John Stockton
Between 2nd, 3rd and 4th it was very hard for me to decide the ranking. If John Stockton had a championship under his belt he would most likey be #2, but that is a very important factor so I have to „punish“ him a bit because of that, just like I did with Nash and CP3.
Besides that, what to say about a guy that leads the NBA all time assists list by a margin of almost 4000 and steals by almost 600. He was an original version of Steve Nash. Just like Nash had Stoudemire, Stockton had a much better version of Stoudemire, Karl Malone. They were one of the best, if not the best duo in the NBA ever. They were supposed to be multiple champions, but like just a lot of other players, their problem was they were born in the same era as Michael Jordan who crushed their dreams.
As I mentioned earlier, he was to first palyer to run a proper pick'n'roll which turned ou to be very influential to the future of basketball. Let me just put some more stats and accomplishemts out there to prove how great of a player he was. He stands second at assists per game in the regular season and in playoffs, number one in assist percentage in regular season and playoffs and fifth in offensive rating. He contributed to the game so much and some records set by this Hall of famer might never be broken.
3. Isiah Thomas
Toughness, effort, hard work, grind and then some more toughness. That is how you describe Isiah Thomas and the Bad boys Pistons that he led to back to back titles. Any team that beat Jordan had to be great. He was a part of some of the most memorable playoffs moments ever. His battles vs Kincks, Celtics and Lakers were one of the best ever. Even tho he wasn't very tall, people feared that guy. The Hall of famer cemented himself amog the basketball greats.
Who knows what else he could have accomplished if he had stayed healthy. Even though he retired at relatively early age(32), he is seventh all time in total assists which is absolutely amazing. He is also fifth all time in assists per game in the regular season and seventh in assists per game in playoffs. Why is he ahead of Stockton? It is really close and what pushed Isiah ahead is that he led this team to two titles. They did not play flashy and pretty basketball, but they achieved their goal in the era with some very tough competition.
2. Oscar Robertson
When we were looking at what Russel Westbrook did last season, we saw how amazing his season was with all those triple doubles. Now imagine how good The big O was when he did that almost every year. In his first seven seasosns in the league he averaged 30 plus points in 6 of them. He averaged a triple double in his second year and was just shy of doing it in his rookie year.
He really did it all. He is 11th all time in total points, 4th in assists per game and 11th in win shares. And the most impressive stat of all is his 181 career triple double, leading the all time list by far.
He also won a title in 1971 and an MVP in 1964, he was a 12-time all star and 6 times assists leader.
Another amazing accomplisment is the is one of only four players ever to record a quadruple double.
He was that dominant. Some can say that he had no competition and that he wouldn't be as good had he played in later eras. OK, maybe that's true, but I know that we sould appreciare greatness when we see one. And Oscar Robertson could be a synonym for greatness
1. Magic Johnson
Earvin „Magic“ Johnsosn is my undisputed and absolute best point guard ever. When you get a nickname Magic it says a lot about you. He is a 5 time champion, 3 time MVP and 3 time finals MVP including one in his rookie season. A FINALS MVP. IN A ROOKIE SEASON.
Let me throw some stats at you really quick. He is fifth all time in total assists, first in assists per game in both regular season and playoffs, 13th in PER, 11th in true shooting, 7th in assists percentage, 3rd in offensive rating, 1st in offensive rating in playoffs and fifth in win shares in playoff history. It really doesn't get much greater than that.
Magic is 6ft9 so he was always taller than other point guards, but was just as quick and scrappy. He had amazing ball handling skills and one of the best passing talent ever. He played with a lot of great players but he embraced a role of a leader as a very young player. He is the main reason Lakers from the 80s are known as Showtime. He was one of the most exciting player to watch in the one of the best and most exciting teams in the history. I could spend hours and hours writing about how good Magic was and I just don't see a reason why even bother when he is so much ahead of everyone else.
Honorable mentions
Gary Payton was the hardest one for me to leave out and I would't mind him on the list but there are only 10 palces.
Other honrable mentions are Kevin Johnson, Tim Hardaway, Penny Hardaway, Kevin Johnson, Nate Archibald and Russel Westbrook.
Do you guys agree with me? Who is on your top 10 all time list? Let me know what you think in the comments.
Also stay tuned for the next part where I will rank my top 10 shooting guards of all time. Cheers!