Of course, I know there is more to being an "elite" player than scoring. Kobe is also 17th in total assists over the last 5 seasons. LeBron, Wade and Andre Iguodala are the only other non-PGs in the top 20. He's also 58th in total rebounds, highest of any guard. He ranks 7th overall in PER over the last five seasons, trailing only LeBron, DWade, CP3, Durant, Dwight Howard and Tim Duncan. There have been only three players over the last five seasons that have scored > 8000 points, handed out > 1500 assists and grabbed > 1500 rebounds. They are LeBron, Kobe and DWade. Last season, at the age of 34, Kobe was only one of two players in the entire NBA to score over 2000 points hand out over 400 assists and grab over 400 rebounds. The other was LeBron. Still sounds pretty "elite" to me. And, I still hate him... BNM
It's my right and privilege as a Blazer fan not to have any common sense when it applies to the Lakers, their players and their fans, and to hate them openly and most passionately.
The Blazers posted this on their facebook page: With the caption; "Is there a better trio of guards in the West?"
Yeah, there is. The Clippers with CP3, Crawford and Reddick. Still, we are at least in the conversation for one of the top 5 guard rotations in the West. BNM
I'm not sure that's clear cut. Mo is a bit better than Crawford, Wes is a bit better than Reddick, and I don't think CP3 is enough better than Lillard to make that an easy call.
Hmmm maybe this what mediocre man was talking about. The Blazers have the best guards in the NBA hahaha
Seriously? CP3 alone makes their backcourt better than ours. I LOVE Lillard, am thrilled we drafted him and think he had a GREAT rookie season, but he's not even close to the same class as CP3 at this point. CP3 had a PER = 26.4 last season. That was 3rd highest in the league, trailing only LeBron and Durant and a full 10 points higher than Lillard. And, PER isn't a true measure of Chris Paul's value. It's amazing that a player who only averaged 16.9 ppg had such a high PER (as PER heavily favors scoring). Paul's true value is that he makes his teammates better. HUGE advantage Clippers. I love Mo Williams and think he was a great pick up. However, Jamal Crawford averaged 16.5 ppg and had a PER = 16.8 coming off the bench for the 56 win Clippers while Mo Williams averaged 12.9 ppg with a PER = 14.4 as a starter for the 43 win Jazz. Advantage Crawford. Not that it really matters at this point, but I'll call Reddick (PER = 14.7) vs. Matthews (PER = 14.1) a tie. Advantage no one. The Clippers 3 guard rotation is definitely an entire level better than the Blazers. But again, ours is MUCH better than it was a year ago. So, I'm happy we are moving in the right direction. BNM
Play a 3-on-3 tournament between the two back courts and I think you'd find that the stats don't tell the whole story.
I agree with everything you posted except for the Crawford part. I believe Crawford will be the Achilles heel to the Clippers. He forces shot after shot and hogs the ball in the 4th. All the greatness of Paul and others get fucked with Crawford ruining the flow with his ISO offense.
But who would win in a game of HORSE? Maybe what matters more than either result is how those players impact a game of 5 vs 5.
That asian dude Lin is probably the worst guard to pair with Harden though. I think a shooting guard; even steve blake would be a better fit, IMO.
You missed the point. We're talking about the best back court, not the best team. The stats only tell us how those players rank in a regular 5-on-5 team game, which is pretty much irrelevant to the discussion.
My money is on the Clips. Chris Paul is the best player on either team, and that 3x3 playground shit is Crawchuck's bread and butter. Wes' defense isn't going to save them.
Well Oh Ok thanks for the clarification. I thought this was the rank of NBA backcourts for an NBA team. I didn't realize it was a rank for a game of 3 on 3. Guards that have good post skills, physical toughness and defense are much more valuable since they will be doing all the rebounding and shotblocking. Passing and outside shooting would be far less valuable. A guy like Rajon Rondo would be one of the most valuable players along with other physical tall shooting guards. Why are we supposed to care about this? Is the NBA going to have a 3 vs 3 tournament?
If you look at the advanced metrics they're pretty similar for their careers. Redick actually has a pretty good reputation around the league as being a decent defender, though I haven't seen enough of it to really buy in. But the Reddick-Matthews discussion is making me think of the "West Matthews is a top 10 SG" contingent. So does that make Reddick top 10 as well? They're both well rounded role players who mainly shoot and play defense. Even if he does start at SF, he'll play plenty in the backcourt when Barnes is in the game. And we know hes going to have to play as a PG sometimes.
