Chris Paul vs Gary Payton - defense only

[dhsilv2]

I'd imagine because he guarded MJ he guarded SG's as well...

I mean, if you want to compare the list of guards that Paul has had to guard vs. Payton it's not really that close. If the 90s were the golden age of bigs, this era is the golden age of guards.

payton guarded jordan especially in the 96 finals decently well all things considered and he's better than any guard today

Eh, there are some pretty good defensive guards they're just not the all around stars that Payton was. Dejounte Murray for the spurs, Holiday (maybe the closest to a star), and Rubio jump out when I think of defensive point guards. Rubio has consistently been an elite defender his whole career and he's actually built very similarly to GP. Perhaps not as strong but he covers space better imo.

[bledredwine]

Uh, Payton, clearly.

[NO-KG-AI]

Strange to see Paul getting so much respect for his help defense. I always thought someone like Stockton is better than Paul in helping and overall team defense.

I'm actually feeling the opposite. I'm surprised it took this long for people to catch up, Paul has always been a fantastic help defender. I think people saw his steal totals a lot of times and just assumed that he gambles and gets burnt all the time.