Which of these PGs were the best during their prime?

mdonnelly1989 · Post #1 » by **mdonnelly1989** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 4:57 am

Which of these PGs were the best during their prime?

I think it comes down to Isiah, WB, and Kidd.

The only one I'm not really sure about is Penny Hardaway. I was too young and don't have a great reading on.

And although for ITs, I know he was basically the best player on two championship teams.

Perishable517 · Post #2 » by **Perishable517** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 5:05 am

Out of the list, I chose Kidd. I found him in control, strong, smart and solid defender.

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bkkrh · Post #3 » by **bkkrh** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 5:22 am

Went with Jason Kidd ahead of GP and Zeke. Think Penny had a good chance to become the best of all of them if it wouldn´t have been for the injuries.

Main reason for Kidd is that I can´t think of any other player that has such a good track record of truly improving the whole team. Your non-playoff team turned into a 50 win per season team over night with prime Jason Kidd on the roster.

Westbrook was definitely a great player, with him, as with Kyrie I see it more as they are fantastic as your 2nd best player, but you go nowhere with them as a franchise player.

SlimShady83 · Post #4 » by **SlimShady83** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 5:25 am

We talking about legit PG's and not combo's? I voted "The Glove" for a reason best 2way of them all.

Penny = combo
Kyrie = combo

JinKaz69 · Post #5 » by **JinKaz69** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 5:36 am

Penny Hardaway.
He was really special before injuries killed his prime.

Maxthirty · Post #6 » by **Maxthirty** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 5:49 am

Kyrie

KGtabake · Post #7 » by **KGtabake** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 7:07 am

Penny.

Black Jack · Post #8 » by **Black Jack** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 7:31 am

Zeke the only small guy I seen really take it to the giants when it counts and prevail.

Guys like Penny had more skills and stats but Isiah had something intangible.

Karate Diop · Post #9 » by **Karate Diop** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 7:46 am

It's either Thomas or Kidd, maybe there's a case for GP in there but the first two lead in a way that GP did not always do...

Anderson Hunt · Post #10 » by **Anderson Hunt** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 11:50 am

Which guy's team beat Bird, Magic, and Jordan's teams?

Give me that guy.

mdonnelly1989 · Post #11 » by **mdonnelly1989** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 12:16 pm

SlimShady83 wrote:We talking about legit PG's and not combo's? I voted "The Glove" for a reason best 2way of them all.

Penny = combo
Kyrie = combo

If you had both players on the same team. Who would you run at the 1 and the 2?

Anderson Hunt · Post #12 » by **Anderson Hunt** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 12:46 pm

mdonnelly1989 wrote:
SlimShady83 wrote:We talking about legit PG's and not combo's? I voted "The Glove" for a reason best 2way of them all.

Penny = combo
Kyrie = combo

If you had both players on the same team. Who would you run at the 1 and the 2?

Penny Hardaway can facilitate an offense, Irving not so much. Hardaway is easily the PG while Irving does his best Kobe impersonation at SG, just like in Brooklyn with Harden.

Post #13 » by **HMFFL** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 4:19 pm

JinKaz69 wrote:Penny Hardaway.
He was really special before injuries killed his prime.

If only the entire list of players in the poll had Shaq as a teammate like Penny did.

Stan · Post #14 » by **Stan** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 5:14 pm

Baron Davis? What :lol:

JinKaz69 · Post #15 » by **JinKaz69** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 5:19 pm

HMFFL wrote:
JinKaz69 wrote:Penny Hardaway.
He was really special before injuries killed his prime.
If only the entire list of players in the poll had Shaq as a teammate like Penny did.

During the games when Shaq was missing due to injuries, he put huge numbers (he was close to 27ppg) during the season 95-96 and the Magic played great.
And that era he played was not guard friendly as today.

NZB2323 · Post #16 » by **NZB2323** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 6:12 pm

Anderson Hunt wrote:Which guy's team beat Bird, Magic, and Jordan's teams?

Give me that guy.

I don’t know why Isiah always get the sole credit of a team accomplishment. He averaged 18, 8, and 4, 48.1 TS%, 18.6 TS% when he won his first championship, and his teammate won finals MVP.

Billups beat Lebron, Shaq, Kobe, and Dirk in the playoffs.

Billups is the only play who has a winning record against Jordan, Kobe, and LeBron.

NZB2323 · Post #17 » by **NZB2323** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 6:21 pm

Black Jack wrote:Zeke the only small guy I seen really take it to the giants when it counts and prevail.

Guys like Penny had more skills and stats but Isiah had something intangible.

Billups won Finals MVP against Kobe and Shaq as he put up 21 ppg on 69.6 TS%. Does that not count as taking it to giants when it counts and prevailing?

But IT putting up 21 ppg on 45.6 TS% against the Bulls in 89 does?

NZB2323 · Post #18 » by **NZB2323** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 6:23 pm

I voted for Kidd. The 2001 Nets won 26 games with Marbury. The next year with Kidd they won 56 games and made the finals.

ballzboyee · Post #19 » by **ballzboyee** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 8:03 pm

NZB2323 wrote:
Anderson Hunt wrote:Which guy's team beat Bird, Magic, and Jordan's teams?

Give me that guy.

I don’t know why Isiah always get the sole credit of a team accomplishment. He averaged 18, 8, and 4, 48.1 TS%, 18.6 TS% when he won his first championship, and his teammate won finals MVP.

Billups beat Lebron, Shaq, Kobe, and Dirk in the playoffs.

Billups is the only play who has a winning record against Jordan, Kobe, and LeBron.

1990 Isiah was Finals MVP 28ppg/7ast/5reb shooting .548 fg% and .688 3p%. That last one is not a typo. Thomas shot 70 percent from 3p on the biggest stage on same volume as Billups in 20024 finals. Nobody on that list peaked at as high as Isiah in terms of pure wining on the court. Thomas was the leader of a basketball dynasty. IF you look at big picture, it has to be Isiah Thomas. His teams were even beating off a rising Jordan-led squad with baby Pippen, which in retrospect is insane. If Jordan could have gotten past Isiah, he'd probably have at least one more c-ship. To me that Detroit dynasty the most intriguing championship run ever because on paper it looks like its held together by a stick of bubblegum and shoelaces. Thomas deserves a ton of credit for those titles.

NZB2323 · Post #20 » by **NZB2323** » Sat Sep 6, 2025 9:47 pm

ballzboyee wrote:
NZB2323 wrote:
Anderson Hunt wrote:Which guy's team beat Bird, Magic, and Jordan's teams?

Give me that guy.

I don’t know why Isiah always get the sole credit of a team accomplishment. He averaged 18, 8, and 4, 48.1 TS%, 18.6 TS% when he won his first championship, and his teammate won finals MVP.

Billups beat Lebron, Shaq, Kobe, and Dirk in the playoffs.

Billups is the only play who has a winning record against Jordan, Kobe, and LeBron.

1990 Isiah was Finals MVP 28ppg/7ast/5reb shooting .548 fg% and .688 3p%. That last one is not a typo. Thomas shot 70 percent from 3p on the biggest stage on same volume as Billups in 20024 finals. Nobody on that list peaked at as high as Isiah in terms of pure wining on the court. Thomas was the leader of a basketball dynasty. IF you look at big picture, it has to be Isiah Thomas. His teams were even beating off a rising Jordan-led squad with baby Pippen, which in retrospect is insane. If Jordan could have gotten past Isiah, he'd probably have at least one more c-ship. To me that Detroit dynasty the most intriguing championship run ever because on paper it looks like its held together by a stick of bubblegum and shoelaces. Thomas deserves a ton of credit for those titles.

Sure, but that’s a pretty small sample size. He took three 3s a game and made 2 of them. 11-16 total. Billups actually has a higher TS% because he got to the free low line more often and shot a higher percentage there.

But I ended up voting for Kidd. The 2001 Nets won 29 games with Marbury instead of Kidd and instead of having Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman he had Kenyon Martin and Kerry Kittles.

I guess you could make the argument that if IT had a performance he did in the 90 Finals against the 03 Spurs then the Nets could win it all, but if he plays like he did in 89 the Nets wouldn’t make the finals.

IT having the best series of his life against the Trailblazers also doesn’t go along with the narrative that he slayed the Giants of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan when he never played great against any of them.

Best Player During Prime