bledredwine wrote:Dr Spaceman wrote:bledredwine wrote:
He’s definitely not a better defender at his position, not a better shooter, or better rebounder. He hasn’t dominated his matchups at point guard every series in the playoffs.
Ironically I think he is actually all of those things. I have Chris Paul as the third best defensive peak of all time at his position. He was one of the most effective perimeter defenders in the league last year despute being 33 and 6’ nothing if we’re generous.
How is shooting even close? MJ was not an effective 3 point shooter and Paul is already close to his mid range percentages despite being half a foot shorter at least.
There are fewer and fewer reasons supporting Chris Paul’s greatness now that the “not enough help” reason is long gone. He’s now played on teams for about seven seasons where he was 2nd option to a better player, or debatably first if you truly believe that he was Batman to Blake’s better seasons. He’s had little success in this league and has struggled multiple times, being outplayed in series by players like Parker, Westbrook, etc.
That in itself should put an end to the conjecture. That said....
How is shooting even close?
You’re talking the best midrange shooter of all time, and someone who averaged over .400 from 3 in seasons when he chose to take threes.
Jordan is the 6th leading guard in rebounds. Where does Paul land? Jordan is 9 time first team defense and DPOY. Though he’s had his share of first team defense, Jordan still defeats him. On top of this, Paul was never a DPOY caliber defender.
Jordan always defeated his matchups. I’ve already posted about this and Paul’s been outclassed in a surprising number of series.
If you believe those things you state, you should provide evidence of some sort. Otherwise it’s a claim that isn’t backed.
We know who the more versatile scorer is, more dominant athlete even for his height, pioneer of the game, and so on.
Chris Paul isn’t even close to the best shooter at his position, seeing how far ahead Nash and Curry are. Jordan’s midrange stats are so far ahead of Paul’s that that’s not a discussion. Add a fade-away to that equation and the footwork as well. If it was a discussion, Paul would have had success in the league.
Paul is obviously a much better shooter than MJ was. Outside of the 3 seasons where the 3 point line was shortened, MJ was about a career 28.5% 3 point shooter. Paul is a career 37% 3 point shooter and one of the better mid-range shooters to have ever played also — and he’s the smallest of the top tier mid range shooters.
He’s also 7 times all defensive first team, and 2 times all defensive second team — and you acknowledged it but then swept it under the rug in the same breath . He’s one of the ATG defenders at his position. He’s also a great rebounder for his size/position. Multiple seasons averaging over 5 per game and a career 4.5 average.
The whole point is to imagine Paul being 6’6. So he had his shortcomings that a lot of people attribute to his size(when healthy) and he wasn’t DPOY because of his small stature.
Not really arguing that he’d be better but some of your argument is all over the place and not mired in fact or is generally irrelevant to the discussion.