OT-- Best young player in the game, Paul or Howard?

[El Duderino]

Seeing Chris Paul and Dwight Howard playing dominant basketball this year and in the playoffs, it got me to thinking, if every GM was asked if they were starting a new team from scratch, how many would take Howard or Paul?

At first thought i'd imagine Howard would easily get more votes because he's a young big man that put up 20/14 with 2.2 blocks per game. The guy is an absolute beast strength wise who is also incredibly athletic for being 6' 11 and about 270 pounds. It wouldn't surprise me if Howard put up around 22/15 next year.

Paul has been insane though from the All-Star break on

22ppg/12.6ast/3st while shooting a spectacular 50% from the field, very high for a point guard and he's rare in that defends at his postion. In the first two playoff games he's averaging 33.5/13.5 on 64% shooting, while making Kidd look helpless at trying to defend him. He also took a good, but non-special roster to 56 wins in a loaded West.

Then i look around the NBA and see a large number of high quality big men, whether it's at center or power forward. At PG though, there are maybe five top notch ones and two or three pretty damn good ones, then tons of nothing special riff raff ranging from decent to garbage.

I understand history in general shows a great big man is the best path to a title outside of a truly special guard and that Howard should be the no brainer choice because of that. Yet, i can't help but thinking i'd rather have Paul by a sliver. Am i nuts in thinking so?

Thoughts?

[trwi7]

They actually had this debate on PTI today. Honestly, I really can't decide. Flip a coin, you can't go wrong.

[th87]

[J~Rush]

Lebron

[Jez2983]

I suppose you could say Paul now, but Howard very soon if he develops more facets to his offensive game.

But what if Paul gets even better? I mean, they're both the same age, so could they both improve? Bogut's older and we assume he's going to improve...

Now I made myself sad like th87.

[BlueJeep]

Deron Williams HANDS DOWN!!!!

[NotYoAvgNBAFan]

What is your age cut-off?

26? What is 'young' to you? I would say Amare'. But yes, Paul is not bad at all. Neither is Dwight.

I like Brandon Roy a lot but he is not pass Deron yet, and you have to consider Rudy Gay if you mean 25 and under.

But Paul or Howard? Man that is a tough one...Extremly tough to call. I would take either one and win a title in 3 years if you give me a 62 mil dollar cap for one year.

I would have my top ten like this:

Under 25..

#1. Chris Paul
2. LeBron James? (How old is LeBron? Remember him?
3. Dwight Howard
4. Chris Bosh
5. Brandon Roy
6. Deron Williams
7. Andre Iguodala (Most Improved Player or Andrew Bogut?)
8. Josh Smith
9. LaMarcus Aldridge (Ok, you can put Bogut here if you want. Not me.)
10. Monta Ellis
11. Luol Deng
12. Kevin Durant
13. Andrew Bynum
14. Andrew Bogut
15. TJ Ford (When healthy...Still my boy. TJ is a good player.)

[howe070523]

CP3 in a heart beat.
then its DWill

[Kerb Hohl]

What is your age cut-off?

26? What is 'young' to you? I would say Amare'. But yes, Paul is not bad at all. Neither is Dwight.

I like Brandon Roy a lot but he is not pass Deron yet, and you have to consider Rudy Gay if you mean 25 and under.

But Paul or Howard? Man that is a tough one...Extremly tough to call. I would take either one and win a title in 3 years if you give me a 62 mil dollar cap for one year.

I would have my top ten like this:

Under 25..

#1. Chris Paul
2. LeBron James? (How old is LeBron? Remember him?
3. Dwight Howard
4. Chris Bosh
5. Brandon Roy
6. Deron Williams
7. Andre Iguodala (Most Improved Player or Andrew Bogut?)
8. Josh Smith
9. LaMarcus Aldridge (Ok, you can put Bogut here if you want. Not me.)
10. Monta Ellis
11. Luol Deng
12. Kevin Durant
13. Andrew Bynum
14. Andrew Bogut
15. TJ Ford (When healthy...Still my boy. TJ is a good player.)

Melo?

[Tug0bwerdna]

Ramon Sessions

[midranger]

I'll just take both.

[bogutsdad]

It's funny how we often judge players by years in nba instead of age and it is deceiving how old or young some players are. For instance dwight howard actually being 7mths younger than chris paul, howard seems like a veteran now. Then LeBron being only 5mths older than paul. To keep with the thread, I choose paul over howard. I don't think you need a quality big man to win a title, just a compilation of competant players around your star (michael jordan won 3 with luc longley at centre!). However the centre will always be relying on other players to get the ball inside, where paul already has the ball and controls the game and the involvement of the other players, which is why I pick paul. However, to step away from this thread if I had to choose a player to build around, without a doubt lebron. What he did in the playoffs last year was amazing, all he needs is a better supporting cast.

[Wise1]

Paul. I'll let their team's records win the tie breaker.

[Wise1]

I do think centers are harder to come by, but Paul has carried his regular season dominance over into the playoffs. 9 times out of 10 I take the big man, but Chris Paul is an exception.

Young Lew Alcindor or young Magic Johnson? Another close one. I'd take Magic.

[LISTEN2JAZZ]

Basketball-wise they seem about equal, but Paul is 10x more fun to watch.

[europa]

Very tough question. The good news is it's a no-lose scenario in my opinion because both players are incredible talents who will help your team become significantly better. I'm of the belief that if you have an elite PG and an elite big man I take the elite PG nearly every time because he's the one who controls your team and can more directly make everyone around him better.

But then I think about Kirby's Kareem-Magic question and as much as I loved Magic I might lean toward Kareem. Really tough choice given how Kareem never won a title without an elite PG (Oscar or Magic) and Magic never won a title without Kareem.

With regard to Paul and Howard, I'd probably go with Paul by the slimmest or margins. Both of these guys have really been sensational in the playoffs so far.

[gobbler]

LeBron - he almost carried a weak team to the Finals last year.
Howard - It is much harder to find a center this dominant than a PG as evidenced by 3 & 4 here, which is part of why dominant C's win more. Who has more titles Duncan/Shaq or Kidd/Nash?
Paul - PG who can dominate in every way you'd hope a PG his size does.
Williams - Used his size to neutralize Paul in head-to-heads this year. Also a very good all-around PG.
Durant - The kid is so young and so good already. He's not refined, but he's already shown he can play and his ceiling is very high.
Bogut - Just to piss off the haters.

Seriously, no one has really stood out to me after the first 4. Bosh is nice, but not all that special. If at age 26 Wade still counts, I'd put him 5th, despite the injuries.

[MikeIsGood]

I do think centers are harder to come by, but Paul has carried his regular season dominance over into the playoffs. 9 times out of 10 I take the big man, but Chris Paul is an exception.

Young Lew Alcindor or young Magic Johnson? Another close one. I'd take Magic.

To note, Howard has carried it over also. He's averaging 27 and 21 in his first two.

This is incredibly tough. I don't even know if I can decide. Can I have both and call it even?

[AussieBuck]

Paul was widely available as Portland were trading down to get Webster. Orlando could've paired Paul and Howard and we could watch lob to dunk all the way to the finals.

[BlueJeep]

-= original quote snipped =-



Melo?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Good Joke