First of all, Bradford is just trolling. He's not really that stupid, and he's obviously just acting like that to piss people off with rock hard ignorance.
Throughout their careers, its been fairly close in every significant stat. In assists it was Deron by .4 in 07, Paul by 1.1 in 08, Paul by .3 in 09 and Paul by .2 in 2010.
Paul won TS% by .2% in 07. Deron won in 08 by 1.9%. Paul won the next two seasons, 2.6% and 1.1%.
Paul beat Deron in scoring by 1.1, 2.3, 3.4 and it came out in a tie last year.
The categories with major differences are TOs, steals and (until recently) rebounds. Paul was a far better rebounder in their first 4 seasons. Last year Deron closed the gap.
Steals is a major sticking point, because it contributes massively to Paul's edge in PER as well as some of the other advanced metrics. Truthfully, there are only a few players in the league that seriously contribute in steals who are actual defensive impact guys. Then there are the handful of guys that pile up the steals while being mediocre--or even
poor--defenders. Allen Iverson is the face of this group, though there have been many such players to fit the description down through the ages. There are many and varied opinions on how good each of these players is defensively. What I think we CAN conclude is that Paul's ability to produce steals is not reflected in his ability as a defensive player on the whole. No one but Paul nuthuggers think that CP is even above average defensively, as its plainly obvious that he's not. Yet steals (as well as blocks) as a statistic, and when included in PER, can only be taken as a players contribution as a
defender. Since its clear that Paul isn't noticeably better than Deron defensively (and, in my own opinion, isn't anywhere close to him in that regard, but I digress) how does it make sense to include steals as a legitimate statistical measure? It doesn't, really. Any more than it did/does to do it with Allen Iverson, Dwayne Wade, Steve Francis, Stephen Curry, Baron Davis, etc.
Finally, TOs. This is legit. Deron will get careless with the ball at times, and make passes that are a little too risky. He doesn't value possessions quite as dearly as CP does, and he doesn't have
quite that tightness in his handle, either. Impossible to argue this one, and the gap is considerable.
So, essentially the stats are pretty close here. Deron has scored slightly less with similar, though slightly less efficiency. Their distribution has been neck and neck, nearly identical with the exception of one season.
The real gap was in rebounding, steals and TOs. I could honestly care less how my PG rebounds in most circumstances. And I'll be honest, I think that much of Paul's defensive rebounding ability comes from the fact that he has no interest in pushing the ball in transition. But whatever. ( I have never been watching a Hornets game and thought "wow, that was an impressive rebound by CP" like I do when I see Westbrook, Kidd, Rondo or any of the other top rebounding PGs. He always gets the loose ball types that you usually see a PG leave up to their big guy as a courtesy. But that's highly unscientific, so I don't expect anyone to take that as anything. ) So if rebounding and gambling in the passing lanes is a big deal, go ahead and take CP. That's where much of his statistical edge came from in advance metrics, particularly PER.
So I acknowledge Paul's statistical superiority. There's no way to do otherwise. I call it a small-to-modest edge, but depending on how you look at it, there's room for exaggeration.
So is there more to it than stats, or is that all? Is it possible that Deron's ability to be the lynchpin of a system that has produced one of the league's best FG% offenses for years running means something? And is it just a matter of circumstance that his offenses are so much better than CP's? Is it a coincidence that the Jazz have had a better FG% and eFG% (despite being much less proficient from the 3pt line) than the Hornets every year since their rookie seasons? And, while its true that the Hornets have limited TOs much better than the Jazz, isn't it funny that the Jazz have been significantly better every.single.season. in offensive rating than the Hornets?
Or is that system? Teammates? Bad management? Riiiight. Maybe there's something to the fact that a lot more of what Deron does doesn't show up on his individual stat sheets as opposed to CP. Maybe CP is in a system that allows him free rein to do whatever he wants with the ball and pile up stats, and in order for him to contribute the most to a contending team he will ultimately have to take a step back and have others help him?
People try to dismiss the head to head matchup. I don't get that. If you wanted to know who's better between Larry and Magic, you watch their 7 NBA Finals matchups. If you wanted to know who's better between Hakeem and DRob, you watched their playoff tilts. How, exactly, is it that Deron Williams owning Chris Paul on the same court at the same time isn't relevant to the argument? They guard each other. They do similar things for their respective teams. And when they do it against each other, Deron Williams looks like he's on another level.
All told, the whole body of evidence together, I think Paul was the slightly better player coming into this season. He has stats on his side, and I'm a bit of a stat guy. The edge there is clear and definitive (though not overwhelming the way that some make it out to be). But Deron has had far more team success. The manifestations of good PG play are more readily apparent in Utah's offense than in NO's. He's won more in the playoffs. And he's crushed CP into the ground when they've met up. So its close but I say Paul has been better.
But as for who I would take right now, its gotta be Deron. He's added to his game and looks like he will be far more durable in the long run. CP has taken a significant step back in his game this year, and there's a good chance his knee won't let him play at a high level past the age of 30. So right now is Paul, but I'll bet anything that by the end of each of their careers, Deron is considered the greater player by a good margin.
(ps, sorry for the length
)
