The Only Deron Williams-Chris Paul Comparison That Matters

Hmmmmmmmmm...

Been seeing a lot of these lately. Tim Legler broke them down today in the Daily Dime, and there's one on nba.com, too, by Maurice Brooks and John Jacobson. Just for the record, I thought of comparing them today at school, befor I had even laid eyes on a computer. Anyways, I used to argue with Kane, but he's real busy as he's just now entering the early stages of the whole progression from high school to college (we all understand, Kane). From here on out, I'll still being doing the debates, only with myself. I'm gonna be disputing my own arguments.

First up, two junior point guards spearheading 6-2 ballclubs in the West. They're both great and future 10-time All-Stars, but who's better? Anthony Wilson and Anthony Wilson are today's debaters.

Argument in favor of Williams:

Well, Williams is significantly bigger than Paul, for one, by about three inches and thirty pounds. He's right up there with B-Diddy, J-Kidd, and Chauncey in terms of the strongest guards in the league. Big and smart enough to use it, he's one of the most physical 1's in the league. He's relentless and indefatiguable (he doesn't get tired); he just keeps coming and coming, pushing and pushing. From here on out, he's The Greyhound. Williams is also a superior outside shooter (37 percent from deep, compared to 32 percent for Paul). And he runs Jerry Sloan's offense to near perfection: 9.3 assists last year, 10.0 this year. Has a serious chance to become the first point to average a 20-10 since Tim Hardaway in '93. Simply put, other than Baron, no other point guard can match his combination of fullback body/strength, pure scoring abilty, and ability to run a team.

Now Wilson, you take that, and you shove it up your ass.

Counterargument in favor of Paul:

The closest thing to Isiah since Isiah, CP3 is an edgy, no-nonsense pure point guard that cracks the whip for this year's Utah. Last week, he had 21 assists against the Lakers; last night, he had 27 points and the game-winner against Joisey. He's totally unselfish and looks to pass first, but also knows when to score, and is shooting 50 percent this year while averaging 19 a game, to go along with 11 assists. He doesn't take bad shots and has more than a three to one assist-to-turnover ratio. Blessed with incredible quickness, both hands and feet, which makes him an expert ball thief and very good defender, and also unstoppable when he wants to get in the lane, which he does often; once there, he draws defenders and feeds lobs to Chandler or kicks out to his shooters, Mo-Pete and Peja, who hit 10 threes against L.A. last week. At only 6-0, he's the second best rebounding point guard in the league, behind Kidd. I remember watching him his rookie year and being shocked that such a young point guard could be in such control of a team; you have to put his rookie year right up there with TD, AI, 'Melo, and Bronny as the best of the last decade. That team won about twenty more games than it should have, and he probably deserved 90 percent of the credit. He was incredible. Two years later, he's a full-fledged maestro.

Plus, he once meatchecked Julis Hodge in an ACC game a few years back.

Verdict: Williams is fantastic, but Paul is a better rebounder and defender and does more with less. No lead guard is more valuable to his team than Chris is to the Hornets. Make no mistake: Nash has the MVP's, Chauncey has the postseason hardware, and Kidd has the basketball universe's complete and total reverence and respect. But Chris Paul is the best point guard in basketball.