There seems to be a surplus of good and great PGs. I'm 22, so I really only watched basketball starting in 2000 or so. Is this the best PG generation of all time? Nearly every team has a high quality PG and/or backup. I mean In no order, but Kyrie, CP3, Curry, Lilliard, Rose, Wall, Rubio, Westbrick, Holiday, D-Will,Parker, Conley, DRAGIC, Bledsoe, Lawson, Jennings, Rondo, Crawford (2?),... There also seems to be a surplus of very solid backup PGs, who may have been able to start in other eras So, is this the best PG generation of all time? Can someone old fill me in? Jk, but thanks. Figured this was better than overreacting on a loss in November
lol, not gonna bark up that tree. I do like Lin and he's played very well this year (and the second half of last year), but this thread would take a turn for the worse if I placed him on that list. IMO, he's one of the most unfairly criticized player in the NBA. Glad to see him play well this year. I placed Dragic tho, because he's my boy
I knew people would knit-pick this list. I wasn't saying top 15-20 PGs, just showing how versitile and large the group of good PGs is in this league, AND i left out many other high quality PGs. Rubio may not be able to shoot, yet, but he may be the best passer out of all of these guards.
No. Magic Johnson Isiah Thomas Terry Porter Mark price ---------------------- overlaps Kevin Johnson Gary Payton John Stockton ---------------------- overlaps Jason Kidd Steve Nash And then you had guys like Nick Van Exel, Sam Cassel, Derek Harper, and Rod Strickland of Portland, guys that I would take over most of the PGs on your list. Also, other than Chris Paul and Ricky, none of them on your list is a true PG. They all want to score now. And Ricky has to pass because he cant shoot.
Historically it's been mostly big men's game (Center), then the 80s I would say this changed a bit with Magic and Bird, then there was MJ in 90s to be more on SG side, but with our clutch fan fav Olajuwon in there as well. Starting from late 90s and 2000 it starts to shift more to the PFs and SG, but still with center like Shaq. I think Yao was probably the last true traditional center that team still builds around. Center now days are just PF disguised, you look at Duncan or Dwight, they are both PFs really. And PGs start to flourish. Traditional PGs are floor generals, and space stretchers. They set up big men or SGs and wait to shoot for 3s if needed. Now days, we have a lot of small body SGs play the PG position. We all know Francis wasn't a traditional PG. Also Arenas, these are guys can put up over 20+ pts a night. And due to the athleticism of the big men now days, PG flourish with lob passes (Chris Paul). I think with these changes, it made a lot of players whose skill set not made for a traditional NBA team flourish with the current environment.
Out of this list, only 3 have done things meaningful... CP3(hands down the best) Parker(wins titles) Nash(2 MVPs) Rose, Westbrook, Rondo, Curry are the next gen PGs, but IMO...still kinda blah The league is more guard/ small forward driven, hence why there are more productive players at the 1/2/3...as opposed to dominant 4/5's...I think Duncan is gonna be the last of his kind for a while...
no. Since they got rid of hand-checking its impossible to slow down speedy guards (now everyone has to dry hump with their hands in the air to slow down guards). Because of this it seems like the PGs today are better, but not really.
I have a theory that it's easier to find more talented 1 guards due to the availability of people who are 5'11 - 6'2. Contrast this with 6'9-7'2 for PF/C, and the available talent becomes much smaller. The NBA has been blessed with some skilled big men, but at the moment, rule changes, extreme officiating, and a relatively un-skilled era of big-men makes this a guard's game. This is not to knock their talent. You have to be pretty incredible to make it to the best league.
Players are getting more athletic, a lot of good point guards in this generation. But have to remember the rule changes benefits the perimeter players. No bumping, no hand checking. Also older generation players tend to play within their roles more.
^Yup...the skills of big man today are, how fast can they run, how high they jump, and what kind of dunks they can do. The rule change really help the guards and perimeter players but made it harder for big guys. Players can front and have a guy behind him (like guarding yao). Old school type big men that are still in the NBA: Duncan, the Gasols, Luis Scola. Always loved Scola's game, that guy has no vertical leap, and tries so hard just to run, but in the low-post he just fools and dominates defenders. PURE SKILLS AND FUNDAMENTALS
The best combo guard generation of all time Out of all those guys only Rubio is a true point guard. Maybe Rondo too, but he doesn't have a high enough bballl iq
