Ok, I know there’s another Chris Paul thread and I don’t want to steal DreaMac’s thunder but I think this discussion is different. I not only think Chris Paul is great but he is an MVP candidate...and there are a couple reasons why. 1.his team plays at a slow crawl of a pace. His team is the 3rd slowest team in the league, they get only 87.9 possession per game. So just as players that play on fast teams have inflated stats, players that play on really slow teams have deflated numbers. Some might look at his 22 points a night and think he’s hardly an MVP and not nearly as great of an offensive player as the “big 3” but I beg to differ. Paul shoots 50% and has been more deadly around the rim than Yao Ming. He can score from anywhere on the court and if you foul him you’ll pay for it. It’s reasonable to believe that, given more possessions he might produce more. So, yeah rockbox, CP3 is better than the mayor. Part of the reason his team plays so slow is that, other than him they aren't good. David West, their second best player, is basically another Juwan Howard. He's a 46% mid-range jumpshooting big man but even he has to be spoon fed by Paul. It's not surprising he had a huge jump in production when Chris Paul got there. This leads to my next point. 2.He is the puppet master. Chris Paul gets about 11 assists a game. This is great but because we have seen other guys get numbers like this in recent years, at a faster pace, we tend to overlook it. But, for a better understanding, he is assisting on 54.3% of his teammates points. That’s quite a bit higher than any assist percentage Nash has ever had. So, considering he already scores 22 points, gets 3 extra possessions for his team through steals (yeah, he does it on both ends), and snags 5.4 boards (ridiculous for a 6 foot player), I don’t see how anyone can argue a player not named Lebron is any more VALUABLE. His PER, for this season and last season, suggest that not only is he an MVP candidate, but one of the best PG’s of all time and the best we’ve seen in a while. What more can a PG do? /end jocking
Fixed I don't think anybody is questioning Paul's value or doubting his status as one of the best players in the league. LeBron is just better. He's better, his team is better and statistically he's having one of the best seasons ever. Wade and Paul are in the same second tier boat but the MVP race will come down to LeBron and Kobe with LeBron winning, IMO. Plus, what if New Orleans loses in the first round? Remember how awkward it was when Dirk won it in 06/07 after Dallas lost in first round? That can't help a candidate's cause. Especially whenever the argument for Paul is shaky in the first place when compared next to LeBron's.
I read your reasons... but I cannot put him infront of the following people for MVP 1) LeBron James 2) Kobe Bryant 3) Dwyane Wade 4) Dwight Howard He would have to be 5th behind all of those players. I understand with Wade and his team not winning 50 games, but Wade has had better stats this year and is really playing like Kobe did in 2005-2006.
They play slow because of CP3. That is how he paces the game, and why they have struggled so much this year compared to last. Van Gundy is always harping on how CP3 has not pushed the ball like years past and that is one of their many problems... Not as good as Kevin Johnson, imo.
he has one of the best teams in the NBA, a deep bench, size, everything.. put Wade in and you have an NBA championship caliber team.. put Chris Paul in, and you have a mediocre team with an overrated player handling the ball 95% of the time and excels at pointlessly dribbling the ball between his legs, flopping, and taking cheap harmful shots at opposing players, but hey, he's on the highlight reel of ESPN every day.. he's hailed as Magic Johnson trapped in a tiny frame on GOD mode.. his blatant cheating, along with ridiculously favorable treatment from the refs and non-stop media attention and over-hyping, have collectively garnered him a collection of ignorant fanboys who, like apple fanboys, "would buy anything shiny and made by apple", but substitute "overhyped" for "shiny" and "espn/Stern" for "apple" .. unfortunately, we have a bunch of them in this forum, and they insist on starting a bazillion threads worshiping their media-made dirty role model/mancrush.. and I have to endure that and restrain myself from making a complete fool of myself and typing a lengthy rant (which I am doing right now ) just stop it kids
- The Hornet's weak bench is probably their biggest liability and you think it's a strength? They barely have any good players off the bench when healthy, but considering that they've had a lot of injuries, their bench has been crap. The team only has four players with a PER over 13, and two of them (Chandler and Peja) have missed significant time. Posey is probably the only guy on that bench that could play on a championship caliber team. I mean, they have Ryan Bowen for crying out loud! - You complain about players getting over-hyped and receiving unfair treatment from referees and then you start talking about WADE!
He isn't being snubbed, he's just way behind guys like LeBron, Kobe, and Wade. And If Howard is an MVP candidate, so is Yao. I don't see how one's impact on the team is more valuable than the other.
KJ >= Paul KJ was more athletic than Paul and play in a era when you could get mugged on the perimeter.
Ask any GM in the league which player they would prefer between CP and Howard, and you will see who is more valuable.
How can you say a guy is one of the best of all time when this is only his 4th season in the league and has reached the playoffs only once?
lol look at the hate on this bbs .. everybody hatin on LeBron and CP3 even though they're amazing. I'd take CP3 over Dwight easily. Paul is a machine, he scores, makes his teammates better and rebond extremly well for a guy of his size. Yes we he get a contact he flop but that doesn't make him a bad player .. Everybody is talking about the refs giving special treatment to CP3 but what about Dwyane Wade? Everybody is in love with the dude but he is more untouchable than Paul.
I’m not really making the argument that CP is the best player. I’m saying he’s a great player who deserves to be in the mix for the most VALUABLE player. I think there’s a difference. I don’t think he’s better than Lebron. I don’t think he’s better than Kobe either…but I am saying he is atleast as valuable. CP is the cause of nearly everything the Hornets do while there are plays where Kobe hardly touches the ball. ...and don't get me started on Dirk. He's a joke. He didn't embarrass the league because he lost in the 1st round, it was because he was the reason they lost. The mavericks' "mvp" big man allowed a SG to force him into shooting 38% for the series. If and when the Hornets lose in the playoffs it won't be because someone shut him down. I disagree. The Hornets played slow last year as well, the difference is health. But I think the reason they don’t get more easy baskets is because their wing players don’t run the floor. You need that to be a good fast break team. On most of their fast breaks Chris Paul is the only guy running. 4 years and a couple playoff appearances, that’s about how long it took me to think Lebron was one of the best SF’s and to think Duncan was one of the best PF’s… I understand, he hasn’t had great playoff success but his numbers over the past couple seasons are better than he gets credit for. Statistically, these past couple seasons, he’s dwarfed anything Nash has done and he’s a two-time mvp. Lebron and Wade's PER's are gaudy but CP's is also in that category of all-time seasons.
Some people don't care too much about longevity when they consider how great a player is. If you just consider how well CP3 has played the last two seasons, he probably is among the all-time greats because not many point guards have had better seasons (at least statistically) than he has.
It seems logical that he'll sustain this level of play or get better over the next few years...so, maybe i'm jumping to conclusions but i'd say it's reasonable given his age that he'll be considered one of the greats. He's already had a couple better years than some of them have ever had.
Rank Player AST Season 1. John Stockton 1164 1990-91 2. John Stockton 1134 1989-90 3. John Stockton 1128 1987-88 4. John Stockton 1126 1991-92 5. Isiah Thomas* 1123 1984-85 6. John Stockton 1118 1988-89 7. Kevin Porter 1099 1978-79 8. John Stockton 1031 1993-94 9. John Stockton 1011 1994-95 10. Kevin Johnson 991 1988-89 11. Magic Johnson* 989 1990-91 12. Magic Johnson* 988 1988-89 13. John Stockton 987 1992-93 14. Magic Johnson* 977 1986-87 15. Magic Johnson* 968 1984-85 16. Mark Jackson 935 1996-97 17. Chris Paul 925 2007-08 18. John Stockton 916 1995-96 19. Isiah Thomas* 914 1983-84 Norm Nixon 914 1983-84 21. Tiny Archibald* 910 1972-73 Here are the all-time season assist leaders. Chris Paul is good but he isn't "that good". When he makes it to the finals like the others on the list, we can say he's "that good".
