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These 4 point guards used their slick passing skills and size advantages to great success in the NBA (the first three are 6'3 and the last one with a giant booty).

Which of these 4 had the best career? Who had the best prime or peak? Lastly, if they all were dropped into today's era during their prime, who would be the most effective?

I'm not going to take the time to put all the statistics on here because that would require lots of effort but for my analysis I used BBREF comparisons and these years for what I considered their primes:
Deron Williams 07-13, Best season: 07-08
Baron Davis 01-08, Best season: 06-07
Terry Porter 88-93, Best season: 90-91
Kyle Lowry 14-20, Best season: 16-17 (60 games)

I think Lowry probably already has the best career locked up because even though he took a very long time to get to his prime, he has the longest sustained elite point guard play to go along with a championship ring.

For prime I am very stuck and don't even have an answer which is why I am interested in hearing others arguments.

As far as peak goes, I absolutely love Baron Davis in the "We believe" season and thought he was unstoppable that year. Part of the reason he did so well that season was because he stopped jacking up 3s at a ridiculous rate with his low percentage. If Baron could have became even a consistent 36% shooter from 3 he would have been so much better but that really holds him back. Deron was incredible his best season and at this point he was still at least a good man to man defender with his size and athleticism. He was never a great team defender and lost focus then when he got older his lateral quickness went down the shiter way before he lost a step offensively but this season he was probably a slight plus on that side. Gun to my head though, I think Terry Porter in 90-91 was the best peak. He was a very solid team defender and did well against most guards that weren't super quick because of his size. Offensively he was so ridiculously efficient and his mid range that season was lethal. The advanced stats also love that season and had him as the top guard by many metrics above Clyde and even Jordan for APM (Im not saying he was actually better than Jordan but it's still impressive). This season gets lost in time but I think Terry was Chauncey Billups of the early 90s and this season was magnificent. I actually think Lowry is the only one who doesn't have an argument for best peak.

Truthfully, I am no more qualified to make these decisions than your Grandma so I'm much more interested in what you all have to say. I would have added Jrue Holiday and Fat Lever to the question but thought it would get to congested so that's for another day.

Have at it gentleman (and ladies?).

Bwelc679 wrote:Which of these 4 had the best career? Who had the best prime or peak? Lastly, if they all were dropped into today's era during their prime, who would be the most effective?

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RE Career: Kyle Lowry

2nd best player on a championship team, best player on multiple High-50 wins teams who fell short due to LeBronto James and weak side-kick play [DeMar DeRozan] with some of the shortcomings due to Lowry's own limitations as a scorer.

RE Prime and/or Peak: Terry Porter in 2001 was the best player here followed closely by 2017 Kyle Lowry. Unfortunately for Porter he really only reached near his heights in 1990 and 1991, while Lowry was at his best from 2014-2018 [before his body starting to falter in 2019]. Prime goes to Lowry here.

RE 2024 Era: Probably Lowry.

Career: Lowry

Extended Prime: Baron Davis; streaky scorer, but 2001-08 is a more consistently stable level of play than we see from any equivalent stretch from Deron (took a clear step down on the Nets) or from Porter (only seven years as a starter), and with all due respect to Lowry, in his prime he is not a better first option in the postseason.

Prime / Extended Peak: Deron Williams; for four consecutive years the Jazz were taken out by the western conference winner, so they never quite broke through as a team, but Deron was an incredible playmaker and passer on a level beyond any of the other three here, with a better capacity to act as a first option scorer than Lowry, more proof of concept as a first option scorer than what we saw from Porter, and better sustained consistency than Davis.

Peak: 2008/10 Deron narrowly over 2007/08 Davis, although I frequently oscillate between the two because Davis had a truly spectacular pair of playoff series with the Warriors; still, tenacious defence is not necessarily something I care more about than historically excellent playmaking when assessing point guards, and if you asked me who I would draft for a season, it would usually be Deron. So I guess can say Davis based on how he actually performed and Deron based on how I would generally expect him to perform in a vacuum.

I respect Lowry and Porter (and comparable guards like Conley and Jrue) as complementary stars, but I will never be as moved by scoring efficiency acting as a second option rather than as a first option. It is just too different a role and corresponding level of defensive attention.

Career:
1.Lowry
2.Baron
3.Porter
4.Deron

Prime:
1.Baron
2.Lowry
3.Deron
4.Porter

Peak:
1.Baron
2.Deron
3.Porter
4.Lowry

Baron Davis IMO is clearly the best player of this foursome. His Playoff production from 2001 through 2007 was almost as good as Peak Jason Kidd with elite Guard Defense, Shot Creation, & scoring value.

Deron Williams is by far best Offensive Player out of this bunch and would function best in today's NBA based around Shooting and PnR Actions. The Playoffs stretch from 2007 through 2010, he averaged about 21 PPG | 10 APG | 40% 3P% (6 3PA) | +4% rTS Defense Adjusted

I like Baron the least, worst outside shooter and shot selection, mediocre defense (don't be fooled by the steals), seems made to play on lower talent teams.

Deron had a really nice offensive peak but had the worst intangibles and is a system player.

Lowry offensive talent was the worst here, but is great leader and defender, the entire Raptors culture was built on his back.

Porter has pretty nice mix of skills and solid intangibles, like a poor man's Billups. Played before the right era for him.

Overall

1. Porter
2. Lowry
3. Deron
4. Baron

For peak play Deron maybe is the best with the right system around him.

Baron at his best was the best option here. His motivation tended to come and go and unmotivated Baron wasn't nearly as good, but motivated Baron was really elite. He'd be remembered a lot differently if he'd been on stronger teams that could get to the playoffs regularly without him going all out as playoff Baron was a beast.

Porter and Lowry were a lot more consistent. For their overall careers they were good to very good a lot more than Baron or Deron and have a lot of career value.

Career

Lowry
Porter
Baron
Deron

Prime

Lowry
Baron
Porter
Deron

Peak

Baron
Lowry
Deron
Porter