Visiting with reporters in the hallway before Game 3 of his team's Western Conference semifinal series, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was raving about Chris Paul. You know, the Hornets star whose reputation as the NBA's best player not named Kobe Bryant is growing so rapidly that coaches and media are fast running out of adjectives for him.
When someone mentioned the otherworldly 9.4 assist-to-turnover ratio in the playoffs for the third-year point guard, Pop smiled half-heartedly and said, "It's unheard of what he does."
Hours later, Pop's own point guard, Tony Parker, raced to the rim, finished like few other NBA small men can and scored 31 points to beat Paul's Hornets. Parker also drew the thankless duty of trying to guard the electric Paul and held — yeah, right — the league's MVP runner-up to 35 points in San Antonio's victory.
The two combined for a jaw-dropping 66 points. And these are the guys who are supposed to distribute the ball?
Not exactly. That was the description reserved for old-fashioned point guards such as John Stockton. And even Steve Nash wasn't the scorer he's become until former Mavs coach Don Nelson convinced him he should be.
Today's point guards aren't necessarily pass-first, score-as-a-last-resort, garden-variety assist men. Paul and Parker are exhibits 1 and 1A, but Utah's Deron Williams and Detroit's Chauncey Billups certainly fit into that category as prolific scorers. And more may be on the way.
Don't be surprised to see Memphis freshman phenom Derrick Rose force his way into their company. He played so well in the NCAA tournament that he's pushed his name into the conversation about the No. 1 pick of next month's NBA draft.
Others are Arizona's Jerryd Bayless and Southern Cal's O.J. Mayo, but they're more tweeners, part-point guards and part-shooting guards. Kind of "a 11/2," as some have called former Longhorn swing guard Daniel Gibson. Both of those early NBA entrants have NBA range and NBA consciences — questionable shot selection — but both could become high scorers in the next league and bigger factors than D.J. Augustin. The Longhorn sophomore was an adept finisher in college, but few know whether that ability will translate on the next level because of his 5-foot-11-inch height.
Maybe none of the three will be stars in the NBA, but who knew Paul would be this good after leaving Wake Forest early?
Parker's a nimble 6 feet, 2 inches with a lightning-quick first step to the lane. Paul's just 6 feet tall but has rare imagination and creativity, plays with a small guy's chip-on-his-shoulder edginess and sees the floor as well as Magic Johnson did. Tyson Chandler should donate half his salary to Paul, because the Hornets center gets half his points on picture-perfect lobs from his point guard.
Maybe it's not a new trend, all these basket-filling point guards.
After all, past-era point guards such as Johnson (17,707 points) and Oscar Robertson (25.7 average) had no trouble scoring. And few guards are as complete as those two and Bob Cousy in the 1950s. It's not likely anyone will equal the Big O's unprecedented triple-double average for a season before triple-double became a media creation unless Paul more than doubles his 4.5 rebounds a game.
And great point guards don't always guarantee NBA titles. Stockton, Nash and Jason Kidd have to be included on anyone's top 10 list of all-time best point guards, but none has a world championship ring. Other great ones, such as Walt Frazier and Isiah Thomas, have the credentials and the jewelry and would have been great shooting guards or point guards.
That said, today's elite point guards are scoring machines. And we're not just talking Allen Iverson and Bryant, a pseudo-point guard. Baron Davis and Gilbert Arenas can light it up any night. Parker and Paul are among the leading six scorers in these playoffs with plus-25-point averages. Williams averages 20 a night as well.
Those three are picking up where big-time scoring point guards like Gary Payton, Tim Hardaway and Sam Cassell left off.
Of course, the way NBA defenders sag off their men who aren't good perimeter shooters has created more demand for point guards who can shoot from the outside. Accurate perimeter shooters protect the best big men from double teams, something Tim Duncan's seeing against New Orleans.
Few point guards can be a horrid jump shooter like Kidd and still be pre-eminent players. But Kidd compensated with his unmatched court vision, passing wizardry, rebounding prowess and — until he aged and had to start guarding the Pauls and Parkers of the NBA world — defensive skills.
This may not qualify as the golden era for point guards. Only Paul seems to have the stuff for future Hall of Fame credentials of the current crop of young guards. Parker's not a stickler for defense, and his jump shot is still too erratic. Williams' size and physical abilities separate him from the rest, but he would have to team up with Carlos Boozer for a few championships to merit consideration.
There are plenty of outstanding ones. Toronto has two of them in Jose Calderon and T.J. Ford, who will probably get traded away. Dallas wishes it still had one in up-and-coming Devin Harris, whom it dealt to New Jersey for a fading Kidd.
The SuperSonics or Knicks may soon get one. Just don't expect Rose to break Stockton's career assists mark. He may be a scorer first.
