Who really is................
I think Rose, personally, but I think there are a lot of guys, in addition to Francis, that are not obvious choices that could be considered in the conversation. I'll throw some more names into the discussion.
Spud Webb - 44 inch vertical
Kevin Johnson - Top end speed, very high vertical ( just search him online and you can get videos of him posterizing many 7 footers and top end shot blockers)
Baron Davis - Top end speed, reported 40'' vert, one of the strongest PG's of recent memory
Walt Frazier - great overall athlete, averaged 6-7 rpg in his career at 6'4'' multipe times
Isaiah Thomas - I didn't get to watch him in his prime, but there are countless pictures of videos of him with his entire arm above the rim. Zeke isn't as strong as a lot of these guys, but his vert is amazing.
Nate Robinson - just a role player, but his athleticism is just amazing. His vert has to be over 45'' and despite being small he's a pretty strong guy.
People always are most impressed by the current players and they forget the older guys. West and Rose are crazy athletes, but not unprecedented. Look at their hops in the draft camp. Rose was really high at 40 inches, but there are some who jump higher. Westbrook wasn't even that crazy a jumper at only 37 inches. Nothing crazy by elite NBA standards for guys who are only 6' 2". Yes, both Nate and Spudd could jump much higher than these guys in their prime. But both West and Rose also have elite speed as well. Though KJ and Isaiah were probably just as fast as these guys.
As far as how they use it with skill, I like Rose and Westbrook.
There are plenty other great athletic PG's of the past, I just want to throw out Robert Pack was a tremendous athlete. http://nbadraft.net/forum/pay-homage-pack-man-one-nbas-best-dunking-smal...
Also one that I want to show some love to that nobody even thinks about.....Randy Brown....athletically referred to as a poor man's Michael Jordan when he was in college and incidentally he became a teammate of MJ.
because he was not an NBA point guard...but there was a former McDonald's All American who went to St. Johns by the name of Michael Porter. He was HS all-american in 85, along with Tito Horford (Al's dad)....yeah, I'm old...lol. Porter was reported to have a 50" vertical. He was a SG and was only 6' tall. They had a great game against BC and Dana Barros back in the day and Porter had 5 dunks. 5 dunks in a game by a guy who was 6' (likely shorter) is an amazing feat, even today. I remember I had a VCR and I just kept rewinding this part where Porter rose up on this guy for a jumpshot, his knees were to the guy's head and that guy was at least 6'3". Porter could jump higher than Spud Webb and was at least 3" taller.
The most athletic PG?
I hear sports people say D.Rose and Westbrook are probably the two most athletic to ever play the position, and even I myself think it......But...............
What about Steve Francis?
He has to be in that talk as well, he was SUPER SUPER explosive sometimes making unbelievable plays, he has a great first step, crazy agility and was fast in the open court.
Vital stats 6-3(Probably more like 6-1) 195 says he was strong as well.
Had great body control, dunked on numerous big fellas and even challenged the best dunker in NBA History(Vince Carter) in a close dunk contest.
If you dont agree with me before you go any further watch the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-2itVYnZRI
Dont forget he averaged
6.9 RPG in 2000-01
7.0 RPG 01-02
6.2 RPG 02-03
That's sick for someone that size and the Bigs back then were wayyyyy more talented and tougher than the ones today, you had Shaq,C Webb, Duncan(Prime) KG(Prime) David Robinson...etc.
Today you have a couple but none like the ones Francis had to go down and rebound against besides Dwight.
Not taking anything away from Rose or Westbrook Rose's career high average for RPG is 4.1, Westbrooks is 4.9.
Was Franchise the most athletic PG ever?