Was Muggsy Bogues basically a 5’3 Chris Paul?

[OkcSinceSGA]

Peers describe him as having an incredible IQ, insane competitiveness, elite court vision. SUPER low turnover rate. On defense he could be a terror racking up steals. At his peak he was a 10 point, 10 assist, 2 steals, 4 rebounds guy.

His peak was early-mid 90’s a couple years before I started watching the NBA as a kid. I watched him but I’m sure I had no clue what I was watching. Was this guy basically a Dwarven version of CP3? I imagine if CP3 was 9-10” shorter he would not be scoring at his 17-22 ppg clip in his peak.

This interesting video is what brought this up.

Alonzo Mourning: Muggsy was the smallest, fiercest player I have ever seen.

Kendall Gill: Smallest guy on the court, but the toughest guy and nobody played with more heart.

Watch on YouTube

[Knicks365247]

Muggsy could actually dunk, though he never did it in a game, mostly due to the fact that he could not palm a basketball.

One time he dunked in practice, catching an alley oop!

#TrueStory

[Phreak50]

I'm tempted to say he wasn't half the shooter CP is but I remember he and Mourning in practice both making, no joke, about 20 threes straight.

So he probably could have been more effective in games if he was Paul's height.

[prophet_of_rage]

Bogues was a reluctant shooter. That is a major difference between he and Paul.

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[Bobbcats]

Yes and that's probably who cp3 followed growing up as the Hornets who also played for Wake.

[antonac]

if you can play in the nba at 5'3 you have to be pretty elite in other areas.

clearly he would have been an all-nba level PG if he was 6'0.

[HeartBreakKid]

He's way more athletic than CP3 and most NBA players.

[Golden Knight]

Both played at Wake Forest (and the Hornets)

[OdomFan]

He was really good but Paul is on higher tier regardless of height. The thought of Paul on those teams would surely improve their title chances I'll tell you that, but I think the Bulls still win.

[Adam Stern]

No.

Two totally different class of player.
Consensus All-time great vs tough talented fan favorite.

[NeoDragonKnight]

Muggsy was always so fun to watch, I only got to watch him play on the Raptors in his last years but watching him drive into the paint and disappear in a forest of giant players only to see the ball pop out from their midst and into the net and Muggsy emerging from the taller players always amazed and amused me.

[FreeThrowLine]

Visually, no.

Nothing about watching Paul reminds me of Muggsy.

Paul is more calculated and takes his time, while Muggsy relied on his speed if he wanted to get the advantage because he was always going to be the smaller guy

Playing in this era changes their style too. Paul is able to get into the paint and have multiple players on the perimeter looking for and ready to take the 3, whereas Bogues despite playing alongside Dell Curry, Hawkins, Chapman etc would have to try and find guys in the paint, simply because guys weren’t taking the volume of 3’s they do now

Just for comparison, the year Bogues averaged his highest assist total, the entire team attempted a total of 611 threes. The Suns this season attempted 2,490

[og15]

Don't know about the comparison overall, but the man had some tree trunk legs, probably had a very nice squat amount.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Don't know about the comparison overall, but the man had some tree trunk legs, probably had a very nice squat amount.

In that video a few players said once he got his legs set he was very difficult to deal with.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Visually, no.

Nothing about watching Paul reminds me of Muggsy.

Paul is more calculated and takes his time, while Muggsy relied on his speed if he wanted to get the advantage because he was always going to be the smaller guy

Playing in this era changes their style too. Paul is able to get into the paint and have multiple players on the perimeter looking for and ready to take the 3, whereas Bogues despite playing alongside Dell Curry, Hawkins, Chapman etc would have to try and find guys in the paint, simply because guys weren’t taking the volume of 3’s they do now

Just for comparison, the year Bogues averaged his highest assist total, the entire team attempted a total of 611 threes. The Suns this season attempted 2,490

How much of Paul being able to get in the paint better is his huge 8-9” height difference? Like skill set wise how different? His A/TO rate at peak is similar. His playing the passing lanes. I am also wondering about mental makeup. Both apparently were competitive as hell and scrappy.

[Woodsanity]

To a certain degree yes but his I would say skillwise he was below Paul. Not the shooter he was or the playmaker. Still he was as strong as bull and very athletic and still overall a very skilled and smart player. There is a reason why he could be a good player even at his height. Its incredible he was even a good defender at that height.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Muggsy was waaay more athletic. A much better defender too.

[The Laker Kid]

Bugsy Mogues is more like IT

[GSWFan1994]

By what I recall of Bogues, he was more like a blue-collar type of player, in the sense that he did not have an outlier, elite skill. He was very good at many areas, though.

But, mainly, the biggest difference between him and Chris Paul was shooting. CP is sooooo much better as a shooter, scorer, etc than Bogues ever was.

[LakersLegacy]

CP3 is more of a little Jordan whose Achilles is that he is to focused on the way the refs call the game. And the flopping.

Mugsy was fun to watch with Zo and LJ and Curry and little kid Steph cheering them on