RealGM

Who's the better player overall? Who's better offensively? In their primes

I lean towards Billups--significantly better scorer as he is a great shooter and Payton isn't, Billups is great at drawing fouls and driving [significantly moreso than Payton] while Billups projects as a better #1 and #2 [and #3, #4 and #5] is advantageous compared to the defensive gap of point guards.

^ Shooting and foul-drawing and overall scoring, yes, but Billups was a significantly worse driver than Payton; driving was Payton’s primary offensive skill.

AEnigma wrote:driving was Payton’s primary offensive skill.

And posting up.

Billups had a nice stroke and could draw fouls, which makes the offensive comparison tough. Because GP was definitely more versatile.

Billups also was a strong post up guard and I would say peaked a little higher. Payton's prime and career were longer and probably has more career value.