Friday, November 5, 2010
John Hollinger on Point Guards... Two Days After In Your Eye NBA
Insider only on ESPN so sorry if you don't have it but GREAT look at D Rose, Russ Westbrook, and John Wall as the 'new' breed of point guards in the league following in the footsteps of CP3, D Will, Rondo and Nash, J Kidd, and Chauncey.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Point Guards are Starting Pitchers
The San Francisco Giants cruised through the Texas Rangers in five games to win their first World Series in 56 years behind the strength of their pitching. Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, and Madison Bumgarner combined to give up as many hits in five games as the Giants scored runs, 29, across the five game series. Lincecum, in particular, was incredible throughout the entire postseason, winning heads up battles against the Braves' Derek Lowe, the Phillies' Roy Halladay, and twice beating previously undefeated Cliff Lee. The entire baseball playoffs were all about pitching, more so than ever before this season. The League Championship Series' were defined by the aces of each team with CC Sabathia and Lee in the AL, and Halladay and Lincecum in the NL.
So why am I talking about baseball and pitching on an NBA blog? Because a starting point guard in the NBA is the new ace starting pitcher in baseball. Teams with a stud ace will always have a shot at making the playoffs in baseball, and the same is becoming true for stud point guards in the NBA.
The League has never had a deeper crop of point guards from the top teams to the cellar dwellers. More point guards are being taken earlier in drafts than ever before, highlighted by 2009's first round draft class that included Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn, Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings, Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague, Darren Collison, and Rodrigue Beaubois. The previous year included Derrick Rose at number one overall, Russell Westbrook, DJ Augustin, Jerryd Bayless, and George Hill. In fact, there are a whopping 18 starting or backup point guards in the league right now that have been drafted in the first round since 2008 with three back ups being second rounders and one a D-League call up. All told, that's 22 starting or back up PG's taken or signed within the last three years which is about a third of the league's point guards!
(See this chart for each team's starting and back up guards and what year they were drafted)
The youth movement is most prevalent in the Eastern Conference, where there are less established contenders than in the West. In the East, six of the fifteen teams have a starting PG drafted in the past three years. The West however, has six starting PG's that were drafted in the 90s compared to the East's zero. Remarkably, only three first round point guards taken since the 2005 draft are currently out of the league. They are Marcus Williams, currently playing in Russia, Javaris Crittendon of 'pick one' fame who is a free agent, and Ricky Rubio who's only out of the league for one more season after being taken by the Timberwolves in 2009.
This crop of point guards is very reminiscent of the crop of young starting pitchers infiltrating major league baseball. There are still plenty of heavy weight veteran aces. For every Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay there is a Derek Fisher and Andre Miller. But with the Giants hoisting the World Series trophy behind Lincecum and Cain (both 26), Sanchez (27), and Bumgarner (21), the youth movement will continue in baseball. Perhaps we're still a couple years away in the NBA from the current crop of young guards ascending to championship contention, but if can learn anything from baseball, anything can happen once the playoffs start. To prove my point ask yourself a question - would you really be surprised if 2008 draftees Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose were the starting point guards in the NBA Finals this season?
So why am I talking about baseball and pitching on an NBA blog? Because a starting point guard in the NBA is the new ace starting pitcher in baseball. Teams with a stud ace will always have a shot at making the playoffs in baseball, and the same is becoming true for stud point guards in the NBA.
The League has never had a deeper crop of point guards from the top teams to the cellar dwellers. More point guards are being taken earlier in drafts than ever before, highlighted by 2009's first round draft class that included Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn, Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings, Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague, Darren Collison, and Rodrigue Beaubois. The previous year included Derrick Rose at number one overall, Russell Westbrook, DJ Augustin, Jerryd Bayless, and George Hill. In fact, there are a whopping 18 starting or backup point guards in the league right now that have been drafted in the first round since 2008 with three back ups being second rounders and one a D-League call up. All told, that's 22 starting or back up PG's taken or signed within the last three years which is about a third of the league's point guards!
(See this chart for each team's starting and back up guards and what year they were drafted)
The youth movement is most prevalent in the Eastern Conference, where there are less established contenders than in the West. In the East, six of the fifteen teams have a starting PG drafted in the past three years. The West however, has six starting PG's that were drafted in the 90s compared to the East's zero. Remarkably, only three first round point guards taken since the 2005 draft are currently out of the league. They are Marcus Williams, currently playing in Russia, Javaris Crittendon of 'pick one' fame who is a free agent, and Ricky Rubio who's only out of the league for one more season after being taken by the Timberwolves in 2009.
This crop of point guards is very reminiscent of the crop of young starting pitchers infiltrating major league baseball. There are still plenty of heavy weight veteran aces. For every Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay there is a Derek Fisher and Andre Miller. But with the Giants hoisting the World Series trophy behind Lincecum and Cain (both 26), Sanchez (27), and Bumgarner (21), the youth movement will continue in baseball. Perhaps we're still a couple years away in the NBA from the current crop of young guards ascending to championship contention, but if can learn anything from baseball, anything can happen once the playoffs start. To prove my point ask yourself a question - would you really be surprised if 2008 draftees Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose were the starting point guards in the NBA Finals this season?
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