Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, or Derrick Rose?
09/07/2012 18:30
Today I will debate about who is the best point guard in the league today. I left off many good point guards that you might believe is better than these three. If I did, please comment and tell me who you believe is the best. Here are some people I left off: Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker, Steve Nash, Stephen Curry, etc. If you believe these people are better, please comment. I will be comparing these three players by each category. The categories are: Scoring, Defense, Passing, Rebounding, and the Finale. The finale will be up of many of the smaller categories. I will decide at the end who is a better overall player. Here is how I will score them: 1st: 1 point 2nd: 0.5 points 3rd: 0 points. If there is a three way tie then they all get one point. If it’s a two way tie the two get 1 point and the 3rd gets none. Feel free to comment, but please do this in a proper manner.
Scoring: This one has a clear answer. Chris Paul might have a chance at this but his knee surgery really took off some of his explosion. Here are their PPG for their career so far: CP3: 18.8 Rose: 20.5 Rondo: 10.8
You can obviously see Rose has a larger PPG than Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo. This is how they look without their first seasons:
CP3: 19.3 Rose: 22.7 Rondo: 11.8. Rose still, out scores the two. I also compared the players 1st to 4th year PPG. Derrick Rose averaged more PPG in his 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year. Chris Paul averaged more than the other two in his 4th season. I also compared how they fared against each other. Rose scored more against Paul 2 times while Paul also scored more twice (They tied once). Rose out scores Rondo 14 times in the games they played each other in while Rondo only did it five times. As you can see Rose is the premier scorer of the three but I want to look at Rondo and Paul now. Paul outscores Rondo 7 times in the 9 games they’ve played each other in. Rondo has only done it twice. As you can see Rose is the premier scorer while CP3 follows.
Advantage: 1st: Rose 2nd: CP3, 3rd: Rondo
Defense: For this category I will look at their defensive awards and stats. Chris Paul has been on the All Defensive NBA First Team two times and the second team twice. Rajon Rondo has been on the first team twice and the second team twice. Derrick Rose has not been the defensive first or second team once (For now I will exclude Rose from this category for most of it because he is an average defender compared to Rondo and Paul who are great on the defensive end.) Rajon Rondo was on the second team twice because Paul was on the first team when he was on the second team. Paul was on the second team twice because Rondo was on the first team one of the times. That means for 4 straight years one of those two were on the first team. That also means for 5 straight years one of the two were on the first or second team. Next I will judge their defensive win shares (Defensive Win Shares is based on Dean Oliver's Defensive Rating. Defensive Rating is an estimate of the player's points allowed per 100 defensive possessions). Chris Paul’s defensive win shares are okay. In 2008 his defensive win share was 10th in the league. In 2009 it was 6th in the league. Rondo’s defensive win shares are better than Paul’s. In 2008 and 2011 he was 7th in the league for defensive win shares. In 2009 his defensive rating was 3rd and in 2010 it was 8th. Rose again was not very good. He has one defensive win share he can showoff which is in the 2011 season Rose’s defensive win share was 8th in the league. The last thing I will look at is SPG (Steals per Game). Derrick Rose has nothing to show off again but Rondo and Paul do. Rajon Rondo has averaged 1.9 SPG for his career so far and Paul’s SPG is 2.4 for his career. Derrick Rose’s SPG is 0.9 for his career. Rondo and Paul have also been fighting for who leads the league in steals. Rondo has done it once in 2010 when he beat out Paul 2.3 to 2.1. Paul has lead the league in steals 4 times. He led the league in steals in 2008 and 2009. He also led the league in steals in 2011 and 2012. That means if Rondo hadn’t lead the league in steals in 2010 then Paul would’ve lead the league in steals 5 straight years. So this is what the category looks like. Derrick Rose is definitely last. Rondo and Paul split the defensive first and second team, Rondo edges out Paul in defensive win shares, and Paul beats out Rondo in SPG. To me I would choose Paul by a sliver but that would be biased too. So I have to call this a tie. It’s just too close.
Advantage: 1st: Tie (Rondo and Paul) 2nd: Rose
Passing: This one is the main purpose of a point guard. The main purpose is to spread the ball to teammates and start the offense. Knowing that, we all know each of the three is going to put up at least 6 assists per game. Here are their PPG for their career: Rondo: 8.1 Paul: 9.8 Rose: 6.8. However, if you take away each of their first four seasons then this is what it looks like:
Rondo: 10 Paul: 10.5 Rose: 7.8. This is what we should really be judging off of. I will also look at how they did comparing their first seasons all the way to their 4th season (I will count Rondo’s first season as his 3rd season because he was a backup his first two years). When you do this Rondo hands out more assists 3 times compared to 1 by Paul. Rose never had more assists than either one. If you change this experiment again by not counting Chris Paul’s first two seasons then this is what it looks like: Chris Paul averages more assists per game twice while Rondo does it twice too. Again, Rose does not average more APG than either once. Lastly, I usually don’t bring this up because it’s not a problem that often, but it is in this case. Rajon Rondo has been noted for causing bad feelings in the Celtics locker room. Rajon Rondo had been accused of causing bad feelings especially when it comes to Ray Allen. I’ve even read articles like: “RUMOR: Ray Allen Left Boston Because He Hates Rajon Rondo.” All you have to do is look up on Google: Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen or Is Rajon Rondo a Bad Teammate? It is also a fact that in a Celtics meeting showing game tape from the night before Rondo threw a temper tantrum and left room! Here is the link to the story: https://clnsradio.com/2012/04/02/rajon-rondo-good-teammate/. Meanwhile, Chris Paul and Derrick Rose have had no trouble at all. In my opinion being a good teammate matters when it comes to assists. So when it comes down to it I believe this is how the standings look for this category:
Advantage: 1st: Chris Paul 2nd: Rajon Rondo 3rd: Derrick Rose
Rebounding: This category is the least important category for a point guard so I will count this as ½ of a point when we count the points. For this category I will also show you their RPG, and how they rebounded against each other. First is their career RPG. Here is how their RPG looks: Paul: 4.5 RPG Rondo: 4.4 Rose: 3.8 As you can see they are fairly close to each other. They are also pretty good rebounders for their position. I will now be looking at how they rebounded against each other. Chris Paul actually outrebounds Rondo in nine games 4.2 RPG to 3.8 RPG. Rose though outrebounds Paul in 5 games 5.2 RPG to 3.2 RPG. Lastly, Rondo outrebounds Rose 5.0 RPG to 3.9 RPG in 12 regular season games. In the postseason Rondo outrebounds Rose 9.3 RPG to 6.3 RPG. As you can see you could prove any of the players are better rebounders. This is why I will call it a tie.
Advantage: Three Way Tie.
Finale: For this finale I will be adding another factor. This factor is leadership. Many of my peers have said it’s not all about the stats so I will decide things like, are you a good teammate, are you a leader, and are you clutch. I will go in the order of shooting efficiency, MPG/GPS, the leadership factor, and of course, the clutch factor. First is the shooting efficiency. I will separate shooting efficiency into three categories which are: FG%, FT%, and 3P%. For these I will show you their career averages. For field goal percentage, Rondo is a little better than both. Here are their career averages: Paul: 47.2% Rondo: 48.1% Rose: 46.4%. As you can see they are very close, however Rondo does edge them out. Chris Paul and Derrick Rose dominate the free throw mini category. Here are their career free throw averages: Paul: 85.4% Rondo: 61.9% Rose: 81.5%. As you can see Rose and Paul kill Rondo in this category. Paul obviously has the better free throw percentage which makes the shooting efficiency category 1-1. This category has an obvious winner but one of them might be the winner in 5-10 years. Here is their career 3P%: Paul: 36.1% Rondo: 24.1% Rose: 31.0% Paul is the winner of this category however; Rose might be the winner in 5-10 years. Here is Rose’s first 2 season’s 3P% average: 24.2%. Now here are his last two season’s averages: 32.6%. In just 1-2 season’s his 3P% goes up from mid 20’s to mid 30’s! Just imagine what he will be like in 5 years! However, today Paul is the better 3 point shooter which means Paul wins this category.
Advantage: 1st: Paul 2nd: Rose 3rd: Rondo The score is now: Paul: 4.0 Rondo: 2.0
Rose: 2.0 The next category is MPG/GPS (Minutes per game and Games per season). I will simply just look at their MPG and GPS and decide who plays more for their team. This is a huge category to me because; someone who only plays 30 minutes could be producing a lot less than someone who plays 40 minutes. The person who plays the most minutes is Chris Paul. Chris Paul has averaged 37 MPG while Rondo and Rose have only averaged 35 and 36 MPG. Rondo actually averages 32 MPG for his career, but if you take away his first two seasons as a backup it’s 35.8 MPG. The person who averages the most GPS (Not counting the lockout season) is Rose. Most people will immediately shoot this down because of this year’s injuries but Rose averages 80 games per season before the lockout season. Next comes Rondo and then Chris Paul. I believe Rose wins this category since he would play 324 more minutes than CP3 and 212 more than Rondo. That can make a big difference. Advantage: 1st: Rose 2nd: Rondo 3rd: Paul. The score is now Paul: 4.0 Rondo: 2.5 Rose: 3.0. The next two categories are not statistical categories. The first one is leadership. This one has to go to either Rose or Paul. Rondo hasn’t proved himself as a leader yet because he plays on a team of veterans but eventually he might be on top. Some people have said he’s the leader of the Celtics now but I still believe Pierce is. Rose and Paul have also played on teams with not very good teammates. Rose now has Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, and Carlos Boozer. Chris Paul now has Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and Caron Butler. I believe Rose and Paul are too close to decide which one’s better because they both were the team’s offense (they still are their current team’s offensive creator but not as much), most of the team’s defense, and the player they go to at the end of the game. The thing that defines a leader to me is if they go them at the end of a game. A leader is supposed to step up and not care if they miss. At the end of game’s the Celtics go Pierce or Garnett and sometimes Rondo, the Clippers go to Paul or Griffin, and the Bulls go to Rose 99.9% of the time. That’s the only thing that might edge out Paul but it’s still too close. Advantage: 1st: Rose and Paul 2nd: Rondo. The score is now Paul: 5.0 Rondo: 2.5 Rose: 4.0. This comes down to the one and only clutch factor. All of these players are clutch. Rondo going for a triple double in the playoffs, Rose’s game winning shots, and Paul’s amazing play’s in the fourth quarter. Rondo in the 2008 NBA Finals averaged 9.3 PPG and 6.7 APG. He also led both teams in total assists. In the final game, Rondo had 21 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds. In the 2010 NBA Finals Rondo averaged 13.6 PPG, 7.6 APG, and 6.3 TRB. Again he led the teams in assists. Rondo also had a triple-double in game 2 and two assists away from another in game 7. In the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals Rondo averaged 20.9 PPG, 11.3 APG, and 6.9 RPG. And of course he led both teams in assists. In game 2 Rondo had 44 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds. Then in game 7 Rondo recorded a triple-double with 22 points, 14 assists, and 10 rebounds. Rondo also has 8 triple doubles in all of his playoffs. You can’t see how great rondo played in the ECF of 2012 without watching however so here I suggest watching the 7 games against the Heat; it is purely amazing. Next is Chris Paul. Chris Paul doesn’t have much on his resume because he’s played on pretty bad teams but the 2012 playoffs showed us how clutch he can be. With 23 seconds left in game 1 of the Eastern First Round between the Clippers and Grizzlies Paul made two clutch free throws to give L.A. the lead. They went on to win the game afterwards. Then in game 3 Paul made two clutch free throws with 23 seconds left and the Clippers won the game. In game 4 Chris Paul scored 6 points in overtime and the game clinching jumper. In game 7 Chris Paul scored 19 points and handed out 9 assists to move on. So far Rondo has been more clutch but it can unfair because he’s had more chances. Last is Rose. In the 2011 playoffs against the Pacers, Rose scored 14 points in one fourth quarter, and made a layup to go up by two with 17 seconds in one game. Rose then went on to dazzle against the Hawks and the Heat. In my opinion Rose and Paul can’t compare to what Rondo did so I’m giving Rondo the advantage here. That means the final score Paul: 5.0 Rondo: 3.5 Rose: 4.5. Yes, I would choose Paul then Rose and then Rondo. I hope you enjoyed the article and please comment on your opinions. Thanks.
Winner: 1st: Chris CP3 Paul 2nd: Derrick “D” Rose 3rd: Rajon Rondo
