# Do great teams really need a "pure point guard" to win?



## Chinatownballer (Oct 13, 2005)

I think that there aren't many pure pgs in the league and that although they contribute in a huge way to their teams they aren't necessary to win a championship. Tony Parker is definately more of a scorer than a pure pg and the same can be said about Chauncy Billups. I think that what a team needs in a pg to win a championship is a pg who knows how to get the easiest shot for his team. This definately doesn't rule out a point guard who can score easy buckets. Its just that a point guard has to know which shots to take and which passes to make. In the past few games Steph has definately been a great pg. True, he hasn't been a pure pg but he has judged which shots he has to take and which shots he has to pass up. Field Goal% can say a surprising amount about a pg. TParker shoots over 50%, so does Nash. Thats why i think people should really consider point guard more as good decision makers than extremely unselfish players.


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## NYKBaller (Oct 29, 2003)

no you dont need a pure point guard to win a championship but i do believe no team with a PG being the focal point of the offense as in scoring has won a championship, maybe the pistons with Isiah Thomas but I dont think he was the leading scorer and they did it with defense also...


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## ERAFF (Jun 27, 2005)

NYKBaller said:


> no you dont need a pure point guard to win a championship but i do believe no team with a PG being the focal point of the offense as in scoring has won a championship, maybe the pistons with Isiah Thomas but I dont think he was the leading scorer and they did it with defense also...


Isiah was a GREAT Point Guard. He knew what to do and when and how....typically, he was a distributor throughout the game, and a very dangerous finisher late in the game. I don't have a good feel for his personality---it's hard to say you don't like someone you don't personally know!....but he was IT as a PG!!!!


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## knicksfan (Jan 4, 2003)

Teams need a GREAT point guard to win but not neccesarily a " PURE" one. They need one who knows when to distribute and when to score and has the ability to play great defense. That is the definition of a great point guard in my book.


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

You also need a great team to win. Parker has Duncan and Manu. Duncan draws 99% attention from the opponent. 

Pistons is really a "true" team effort. Nobody is really the "star". Everybody contributes. Billups is great but having him and having Duncan on your team is a different story. Hamlton, Prince, R. Wallce and B.Wallce are also very good players who contribute just as much as Billups. 


The sad news is those "pure" point guards like Nash and Kidd usually don't have a great good inside player like Duncan. Amare is learning (he is still VERY young) and I am sure most people would agree that Suns did well in the playoff last season until Joe Johnson went down (well, Nash nailed Mavs, but that's revenge story. lol). And this year Amare is injured and the injury can cause his career. Bad news. 

It will be interesting and rewarding to see a "pure" point guard to win NBA championship. I cheer for all the small balls out there.


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## The True Essence (May 26, 2003)

"I am sure most people would agree that Suns did well in the playoff last season until Joe Johnson went down (well, Nash nailed Mavs, but that's revenge story. lol). And this year Amare is injured"

right.....

u could have said the EXACT same thing about stephon when he brought phoenix to the playoffs n almost beat the eventual champion spurs... thats when amare went down n amare missed the first few weeks of the season... yet they blamed it all on steph and traded him... which seems pretty unreasonable to me, but not to everyone else.....

why this bias towards nash? 

shouldnt a ****in.....MVP single handedly bring u to the playoffs? maybe amare should get more credit....


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## Da Grinch (Aug 17, 2002)

PennyHardaway said:


> "I am sure most people would agree that Suns did well in the playoff last season until Joe Johnson went down (well, Nash nailed Mavs, but that's revenge story. lol). And this year Amare is injured"
> 
> right.....
> 
> ...


its weird doncha think , nash was the mvp but Amare was/is their best player.

call it what it is an excuse to give nash the mvp, even though no one in their right mind would have entered last season thinking he was a franchise player, in fact dallas of all teams decided he wasn't worth the money of a franchise player.


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## truth (Jul 16, 2002)

Da Grinch said:


> its weird doncha think , nash was the mvp but Amare was/is their best player.
> 
> call it what it is an excuse to give nash the mvp, even though no one in their right mind would have entered last season thinking he was a franchise player, in fact dallas of all teams decided he wasn't worth the money of a franchise player.


Sorry guys,Nash was their best and most valuable player.Amare is dominant...Nash is the ultimate team player as well,and if you dont think so,take a look what he avg against the Mavs when he stepped it up on the offense.....


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## Chinatownballer (Oct 13, 2005)

Just to sidetrack a little to Steph. Why do people consider him a bad pg because he scores the way he does? Is Gilbert Arenas a bad pg? Steph knows how to make decisions and set up the offense but a lot of the time he steps it up and scores his team back into the game. What exactly is wrong with a scoring point guard anyway? The media has been extremely bias against Steph (check today's time's article, they say LB is def going to trade him) and ,from what i've seen of him the past three games, without reason. I'm starting to think that the editor of the sports section in the times tells people to just write certain things and not even watch the games.


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## alphadog (Jan 2, 2004)

*Man, you guys are thick...*

The guys who want to have Marbury's baby are totally irrational when it comes to his critics. (Hello...Penny?). Nobody says he's a bad PG because he scores....nobody. People criticise the way he runs a team, his poor BBall IQ, his prima donna attitude, selfish ways at times, and his disappearnace when it counts. If he played like he did against the Sixers, you wouldn't hear a peep. Is he finally getting it? Who knows?....check in at the end of the season.

By the way...after JC goes 0-7, then makes 3 baskets in a row, he is suddenly the guy who steps up at crunch time? After those three shots, the guy passed up a potential back breaking 3 (I guess a good wide-open look isn't what he looks for), a missed shot he forced early in the clock, and a choke at the line that let the game go into overtime don't matter? Well, they will in close games. It almost cost them yesterday but for a very fortunate shot at the end. The guy has no feel for the game.

And please, Penny, try to understand what MVP means. It doesn't say "Best player". It says the most valuable player to his team. You know, the one that makes the most difference. Comparing Sm to Nash on the Suns is pure horsecrap. Marbury never even bought into the game they were trying to play. He couldn't play the Suns type of offense effectively if his life depended on it. Not meant to slam Marbury...he just doesn't(can't) play THAT type of game.


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## The True Essence (May 26, 2003)

if nash is so valuable...

why would the suns choose amare over nash if given the choice?? cause amare is way more valuable...

and yes marbury brought the suns to the playoffs, almost beat the spurs, like i said....he didnt have that blossomed amare and joe johnson tho, jus the rookie versions...nash came in when they were 3 year vets...

so the next season amare gets hurt, the suns suck...its all stephons fault they suck...not cause amare is missing..

but now its cause amare is out, not nashs fault...

why judge nash differently??? probly cause hes got as much color as chalk


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## BIGsHOTBOY12345 (Aug 24, 2005)

to bad he cant manage better than he plays :biggrin:


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## Chinatownballer (Oct 13, 2005)

alphadog, thanks for saying that stuff about Crawford. I've been thinking those exact thoughts since the beginning of the season. And about Marbury, i guess i bashing people who say he's a bad decision maker because from what i've seen of him these past three games he's been an amazing decision maker.


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## alphadog (Jan 2, 2004)

*Hey Chinaballer...*

You can't be serious about judging a player after 3 games...right? The guy has a 10 year track record of poor game management. Penny.....are you serious? Amare is what?....20? And Nash is like 32? Plus guys his size with that much talent are hard to come by...of course they take Amare. That particular team needs both guys healthy to be really good. Amare is like a Ferarri but he don't go anywhere without a great driver.


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## ChosenFEW (Jun 23, 2005)

*Re:*

you dont need a pure PG to win...............but it would help obviously.



honestly i dont think there is a pure PG in the League....a Pure PG is supposed to be a play manager he's supposed to always give the ball to the open man or set up a player for the open/best shot.....IMO if there was a pure PG in the league he would be avg'ing 15+ assist per game and maybe 5 points....the reason you would avg so little points is because your objective is to find a shot for the other man, not yourself.....nowadays everything is based on scoring and if you cant score you dont get noticed, you dont get scholarships to school and you dont get the big contracts in the NBA


IMO


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## Chinatownballer (Oct 13, 2005)

*alphadog*

Obviously these three games can't have come from nowhere. I've seen Marbury play games where he makes the right judgements and controls the flow of the game as he's been doing recently. The guy has it in him. It's just a question of showing whether he can do it consistently.


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## L (Sep 20, 2005)

Da Grinch said:


> its weird doncha think , nash was the mvp but Amare was/is their best player.
> 
> call it what it is an excuse to give nash the mvp, even though no one in their right mind would have entered last season thinking he was a franchise player, in fact dallas of all teams decided he wasn't worth the money of a franchise player.


he was mvp b/c he turned a team that couldnt get their act together into a team that had over 60 wins and went to the west finals


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## alphadog (Jan 2, 2004)

*Chosenfew...*

Its not always the pass that leads to the basket that matters. Sometimes its the pass that leads to the pass. The point guard runs the team on the floor. He gets the players in position at the right time and more often then not triggers the play. Kidd and Nash are about as "pure" of a pg as you will ever see. Magic was maybe the best.


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## GM3 (May 5, 2005)

*Re: Chosenfew...*

No, but it helps.


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