Elsa/Getty Imagese[/caption]In the NBA today, we have a variety of different point guards. We have shoot-first point guards (Derrick Rose), pass-first point guards (Rajon Rondo) and a variety of both (Tony Parker).
Some say it is better to have more of a scoring-type of point guard. They say it saves time to get up the court. They can go one-on-one and score in 10 seconds.
However, some say it disrupts the concept of working the ball around. It doesn't seem to affect Rose or Russell Westbrook, although when Westbrook shoots poorly, the Thunder usually play poorly.
Then there are the pass-first point guards. These guys set up their stars and get their players going. These point guards seem to have the most success. Think of all the championship teams in the past.
Mario Chalmers, Jason Kidd, Derek Fisher, Rajon Rondo, Jason Williams, Avery Johnson, Steve Kerr, Kenny Smith, John Paxson, Magic Johnson, Maurice Cheeks, Tom Henderson, Lionel Hollins, Butch Beard, Larry Siegfried, Wali Jones, K.C. Jones and Bob Cousy are the point guards who won championship.
They were all pass-first point guards, which means about 65-70 percent of all championship teams had a pass first point guard.
Finally, there are the players who are neither pass-first or shoot-first point guards. These are players like Tony Parker, Chauncey Billups, Isiah Thomas, Gus Williams, Walt Frazier, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West. That means 25-30 percent of all championship teams had a hybrid point guard.
I cannot think of one team that had a shoot-first point guard and won a championship. Jerry West was the point guard with the highest PPG average who won a championship. He averaged 25.8 PPG, but also led the league in assists, therefore you can't say West was a shoot-first point guard back in 1972.
Who would you rather have: a shoot-first point guard, pass-first point guard or a mix of both?
First off, I can exclude shoot-first point guards since they have yet to win a championship. In my opinion, I would rather have a pass-first point guard. They have won the majority of all championships and you don't need a lot of money for most. You can go out and buy another superstar if you have an average pass-first point guard (Derek Fisher).
A pass-first point guard will be more valuable than any other point guard some of the time, but I'd rather have a point guard that can distribute but know when to take over a game.
What point guard do you prefer?
