Goodbye, Point Guard, you will be missed

http://insidehoops.com/point-guard-090104.shtml

By Jean-Paul Pelosi / Sept 1, 2004

The NBA Point Guard died today due to complications surrounding a neglected existence. He was 54. He is survived by his more popular cousin, Shooting Guard.

Born in the fall of 1950, when the legendary Bob Cousy began his professional career in Boston, PG carved out a role as a team staple - a selfless playmaker and organizer, a leader, an on-floor coach.

His "pass first, shoot second" mentality was one of a kind, spawned by an unselfish nature rarely seen in professional sports. He was a "people" person, a unifier of mind and purpose with the sole intention of instilling team harmony.

PG's motivation arose from a desire to win and achieve the best result. Developing his skills over five decades, he rapidly became the catalyst of the NBA offense and inspired numerous others to follow his lead; Bob Cousy, K.C. Jones, Nate Archibald, Calvin Murphy, Earvin Johnson, Isiah Thomas, John Stockton, Dennis Johnson, Mark Jackson, Scott Skiles and Jason Kidd, to name a few.

Cousy once said, "If basketball is an art form it primarily resides in the artistry, creativity, imagination and development of the nuances of the position by a genuine point guard such as John Stockton or Jason Kidd."

"Genuine" was one of PG's nicknames.

His career flourished through the decades and over that time elevated to an art form. More like architecture than oil painting though, he distributed the ball with the same mathematical accuracy required to use a set square. Magic Johnson and Mark Jackson may have added flair but only on top of a fundamental base.

So it was with extreme anguish that NBA fans were forced to swallow a contaminated blend of this skill during the turn of the 1990s. Perhaps the arrival of too many scorers spoiled the league's delicious broth. Or maybe everybody, regardless of position, just wanted to be like Mike. Whatever the cause, PG's life was forever changed by a modern recipe that no longer resembled the sweetness of basketball that we had come to love.

The last decade especially harmed PG's presence on the floor. Hybrid guards - too small to be traditional scorers and too tall to be restricted as passers - marched into the NBA as if Joe Dumars had gone mad and cloned himself over and over again. These guards nullified the need for a pure "two-guard", providing teams with the same scoring capacity in a much more dynamic package. Conversely they could fulfill a mild passing role, offering point guard-like speed and dexterity to dish to open players.

The end result was a new guard-type that excelled in self-sufficiency and became engrossed in personal achievement. A one-man-band if ever there was one, the NBA's doors opened and remained latched back for the Iversons, the Davis', the Van Exels, the Marburys, the Billups', the Fishers, the Flip Murrays, the Francis' and the Cassells to enter.

PG was benched. What use was there for a Point Guard after all when the new guys could take care of most offensive requirements?

His heart defeated and his soul bruised, PG eventually floated from the game altogether. And while he became expendable and hardly recognized, many fans wondered why the standard of the NBA had depreciated. Where was the movement, teamwork and leadership that had embodied the league's golden years? Where was the ball distribution, the even flow of the five-man unit? And more importantly, where was the artistry of the pass?

Remember when Skiles broke the single game assist record in 1990 with 30? Or how about when Magic served 22 set-ups in the '84 All Star game? And we will never forget the grace with which Stockton accumulated a best ever 15, 806 career assists.

Such magnificence seems from a retro era - achievements to reminisce and not expect to again. It may as well be the "starting four" from this point on.

These days we revere the "avant" guard. He shoots, he scores, he throws the occasional pass, and shoots again. Chauncey Billups was the most recently praised of the hybrid battalion. The 2004 Finals MVP averaged a paltry 5.2 assists per game in the championship series. Compare this to Isiah Thomas' 7 apg in 1990, against the Lakers incidentally. Billups probably couldn't even imagine passing the ball as regularly as Isiah or Magic did when they played in the Finals. Magic tallied 20 assists in Game 2 of the Finals against Detroit in '87 and 21 in Game 3 against Boston in '84, just for example. In the 1985 finals he averaged 14 assists per game!

That is why true basketball fans across America and around the world now mourn. The passing of the NBA Point Guard is a sad moment in the history of the sport.

Thanks for the memories, PG. We'd be better off adopting a "no-look" without you in the ball game.

The NBA PG isn't dead, as this report seems to say. It's merely an endangered species. Those in its pure form are few and far between...

It's more likely in this day and age that you see the marriage between PG/SG in some hybrid form... that said, here are some of the better examples of the rare breed known as the NBA PG.

Jason Kidd - he's been known to score a bit (esp in the 2002-2003 season), but he's every bit playmaker first.

Eric Snow - runs the team and does the little things... like defend.

Mark Jackson - still a general, but on his last legs.

Jamaal Tinsley - they talk about his questionable everything, but he's got that Mark Jackson court vision.

Mike Bibby - He should get an asterisk here-- how can you be called pure if you only average 5apg? I suppose when you have several big men who like to think they're PGs (Divac, Miller, Webber).

Jason Williams - turning into a pure PG under the tutelage of Hubie Brown...

Ahm, a PG can score, nothing wrong with that. Iseah scored plenty, and they can also shoot. The problem is today's players can't pass or run a team well. Marbury can pass btw, so I don't know why he is brought up as not a legit PG. What he has not shown he is able to do is lead a team. Kidd is def a pure PG. If he had more targets to pass to he would average 12+ assists a game. It's kinda hard to come up with double digit dimes when your only options for a completed pass are an ocasinal outside shot by Kittles and a dunk by Kmart or Jefferson. Marbury should def average over 10 dimes this year with all the offensive options, but he prolly wount cause for whatever reason he can't seem to run the team at its top potential. Which is basically the problem with most PG's today, they can't run a team like a PG is supposed to.

Posted by HARDCOREKNICKSFAN:

Stephon's points & assists avgs will increase this year IMO, as well as the emergence of better leadership skills.

I'm looking forward to seeing both Stephon and TT have breakout years this season.

I don't know about his assists improving. He'll probably be playing off the ball slightly more now that Crawford is on the team too.

Some people seem to believe that the "point" in point guard is about points,its the guard that leads the point in attacking the defense by setting up the offense,starting plays.Thats what the writer is lamenting,PGs that look to score before setting up his teamates.If you watch war movies,you hear the leader telling one of the soldiers to "take the point" its more or less the same thing.

I hear what you are saying Bonn.My ideal PG is someone who tries to get his teamates in some kind of a rhythm first and if he cant,to put up some pts on the board to keep them in the game.Four guys involved in the offense can do more damage than one streaky PG in the long run IMO.

Im not saying that the PG should completely abandon his game for the sake of the 4 other guys on the floor,the article was talking about PGs that look out for their game before their teamates and I agree with him.Like I wrote,Id rather a PG try to get involve the other guys first before he tries to be the main scoring threat.If the other guys cant do it then by all means he should do his thing.Doesnt mean he cant take any shots while getting his teamates involved but he should first see if anyone has a better look at the rim than he does which to me is the true meaning of a PG.

Good PGs make their teamates better like Jason Kidd.Cousy, Isiah,Magic could easily have been the first option on their team but they werent.They got to the hall of fame by knowing when to set up their teamates and when to take over a game.A PG that looks for his game first isnt a true PG which is the point of that article which I happen to agree with.

Posted by Kwazimodal:

Good PGs make their teamates better like Jason Kidd.Cousy, Isiah,Magic could easily have been the first option on their team but they werent.They got to the hall of fame by knowing when to set up their teamates and when to take over a game.

I agree with all of that. For those very same reasons, I think young guys like Marbury and Baron Davis are excellent PGs