Love him or hate him, Chris Paul is (statistically) one of the best point guards we’ve ever seen.
Though the last few years have been rough, and his future seems bleak, his skills and leadership as an offensive “quarterback” for his teams set him apart from the rest.
Reddit user u/deadassynwa laid it all out in one increasingly popular post:
To put things in perspective:
- CP3 has a AST/TO ratio of 4.1 the highest by any PG in the regular season of all time. The second is Stockton at 3.72
- CP3 has a 47.2 AST% and 13 TO%, difference being 34.2% the highest by any PG. Second is Stockton at 29.4
- CP3 has the highest PER among point guards of all time with 25.7. Coming in second is Magic with 24.1
- CP3 also has the highest WS per 48 min of all point guards with 0.249. Magic is second with 0.225
- CP3 boasts an offensive rating of 122 the highest of all time, second being Stockton and Magic with 121. In addition, he is tied first with Stockton and Magic for defensive rating with 104
- Among all point guards, CP3 has the highest BPM with 7.5. Second is Magic with 7.2
- At his absolute peak, avg ~23/6/11 along with nearly 3 steals, shooting 60 TS%. This was in 2008-09. The year before, he finished 2nd in MVP voting, avg ~21/4/12 along with nearly 3 steals and a PER of 28.3
He flops, he whines and some might say he’s a dirty player. Along with his postseason deficiencies, CP3 is not the most popular player among new fans.
But its the very same fans that love advanced metrics and statistics, and if we’re going to base it off that – CP3 is no question a top 5 point guard of all time.
Despite not achieving any postseason or team success, the numbers tell a different story than the one that has been painted in his twilight years. With Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan, Paul was often blamed for their shortfallings. In Houston, Harden and the Rockets used him as the scapegoat when the stuff hit the fan.
Now, in Oklahoma City, nobody is willing to trade for him either because of his age, his reputation, his large contract, or all of the above.
Those reservations are fair, but perhaps we shouldn’t forget about the past in the modst of Paul’s troublesome present.
