The Point Guard Era in the NBA
How is the league being dominated by PG's? Derek Fisher and Rafer Alston were the starting PG's in the Finals. Your arguement holds no water. This years playoffs proved the importance of big men. Boston almost lost to Chicago and got beat by Orlando because Garnett was hurt. Cleveland had the PG advantage over Orlando but what happened? Same goes for Denver and LA. The league is dominated by good bigmen.
Not sure if I agree or not, but I just read an interesting comment recently that the importance of the pg position is quite overrated. While some of the best pg's in the league were sitting at home, Fisher and Alston were battling it out for a title. The Bulls and Rockets did'nt have any all-star pg's when they won titles. The Spurs had Avery Johnson their first year. The Lakers won with guys like Ron Harper and Fisher playing point. Even White Chocolate led a title team. Not that I agree, but something interesting to think about.
Nelson is not as good as Deron or Chris yet.
You win with big guys, KG last year, Gasol this year. Without Gasol the Lakers lucky to beat the Jazz.
Duncan, Shaq both have 4 rings they don't win w/out alot of help but you can interchange the wing players and win.
There's a reason why guys like Ewing, Hakeem, Robinson, Shaq, Duncan, Yao, Howard, even Brown, Bogut, Olowokandi, Oden all drafted 1st. How did the Cavs do agains the Magic this year.
This is a point guards league. You cant get to the Finals unless you have an exceptional leader and or talent at the 1. They (esp. Fisher) aren't the most talented or physically gifted players, you cant make me believe Fisher and Alston weren't exceptional leaders. Dont get me wrong, center is the most important position for a team and any team with a high-level center will succeed, but a point guard that leads the team is the ingredient that puts the team over the hill. They are an extenstion of the coach on the floor and you have to have that.
I think that the topic is referring more to the fact that the NBA is changing a bit and is transitioning into what we will refer to as "The Point Guard Era". The 80's and 90's had quite a few champions that were built around guards. Magic and the Lakers (even after Kareem left), Isiah and the Pistons, Jordan's Bulls. I know that they all had good bigs, but the premier guys on those teams weren't big men. Plus, Scottie Pippen was technically the PG on the Bulls championship teams, at least during the second 3-peat. He's one of the 50 best, Slam put him in the 30's of all-time if I believe, although he was "technically" a forward.
20 years from now, there could be quite a few teams that have won a few championships that are based around a PG. The Hornets, Bulls, and a couple of others come to mind. No matter who the Bulls or Hornets add, unless it's LeBron or Kobe, will probably play second fiddle to Paul or Rose. I am not saying that either the Bulls or Hornets are locks to win a championship but they do have dominating type of talents (assuming GREAT strides are taken by both PG's) at the position.
I also read that article that pointed out that there haven't been many champions built around a point guard. The reason that the position has taken on a new level of importance is because there aren't many great centers in the league right now, there are some amazing talents in the NBA at PG right now (probably as much or more than any other time in NBA history), and most importantly rule changes have given freedom to great athletes (speed especially) that will make PG more important than ever.
The NBA now is being dominated by the 1 position with stars like Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Jameer Nelson, and Tony Parker, and rising stars with the likes of Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, and Russell Westbrook. The future is clear that the NBA would be dominated by the point guard position.
In this years draft their are some players that could make a major impact in the league
Ricky Rubio - who has wowed fans all over the world because of his maturity and potential.
Stephen Curry - a sweet shooting point guard with a scorer's mentality.
Tyreke Evans - a very versatile and talented guard with a lot of upside in him.
Johnny Flynn - steady point guard with tremendous athletic ability.
Brandon Jennings - point guard with swagger and a lot of potential.
Next years draft
John Wall - a prototype guard that combines speed and explosive ability ala Derrick Rose.
Willie Warren - big time scorer, can score in everywhere on the floor.
Kemba Walker - a blur in the floor that will get better in time.