Paul leads changing of the (point) guard

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:25 AM By Chris Bellamy PA SportsTicker Staff Writer

Before Phoenix's Steve Nash was named the NBA's MVP at the conclusion of the 2004-05 season, no point guard had won the award in 14 years.

Even then, he was just the fourth player at his position to claim the honor, joining Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson and Bob Cousy.

As deserving as he was, it was somewhat of an aberration for an award that has been dominated by scorers and big men for most of its history.

Nash won it because he completely transformed a lackluster franchise. The year before he came on board, the Suns won 29 games. Once he joined the team and took off in Mike D'Antoni's running offense, Phoenix was suddenly a title contender.

Nash became one of the most transcendent players of his generation - in large part because his dominance at his position was so unique.

Fast-forward four years later, and Nash's type are less of a novelty and more of an in-demand commodity. The league has the New Orleans Hornets' Chris Paul and the Utah Jazz's Deron Williams to thank for that.

With a breakout performance last year, Paul officially took the mantle from Nash as the league's signature point guard - and perhaps even as the league's signature star as a whole. After the league went 14 years without an MVP point guard, it nearly had three in four years as Paul made a serious push for the award before finishing second in the voting to Kobe Bryant.

It wasn't just an incomparable combination of speed and vision that made Paul an instant superstar. It was the way that he, like Nash, nearly single-handedly turned a franchise around. The year before the Hornets drafted him, the Hornets were an 18-win team.

The club showed immediate improvement once Paul arrived - doubling its win total in his rookie campaign - but catapulted into the league's elite last season on the back of Paul's MVP-caliber showing.

With that, New Orleans immediately became a championship contender - and has been a popular pick to take it all as early as this season. While credit has to be spread around to the coaching staff and front office, Paul has been the driving force.

The 6-foot, 175-pound Wake Forest product continued a legacy begun by Nash just a few years earlier - and in doing so may be helping to revitalize, if not re-define, the point-guard position for a new generation.

There's a common lamentation among coaches, analysts and even some players that head coaches have much less control and authority over their players as they - and their predecessors - once did.

The salaries, the stardom and the sycophantic arm of the media all contribute to a culture in which star power trumps a coach's power. Needless to say, that trend has already been well-documented.

Enter Paul, Nash and Williams - now, things seem to go a lot smoother. The gap is bridged. The point-guard position has always been considered an extension of the head coach, but rarely has that seemed as important as it does now.

Paul may be a beneficiary of head coach Byron Scott's system, but that works twofold in reverse.

The same is true of Paul's friendly rival, Williams. The Jazz's point guard earned implicit trust from the notoriously hard-to-please Jerry Sloan, who has nothing but praise for his 24-year-old floor general. On a team known for its conservative, old-school approach, Williams is in complete control.

If the Jazz fall behind with a few seconds on the clock, Sloan no longer calls timeout to draw up a last-second play. Instead, he lets Williams immediately take the ball up the floor and make something happen on his own.

That trust is well-earned - Williams took the team from 26 wins to .500 to the Western Conference finals in his first two years in the league, then led it to a 54-win campaign last season.

Paul, of course, has earned much of the same freedom from Scott, with similarly impressive results.

Not only can the two run and control an offense as well as anyone in the league - they're great scorers and shooters in their own right as well.

With future Hall of Famers like Nash and Jason Kidd on their last legs, Paul and Williams didn't even wait to inherit the mantle - they took it. And with top overall pick Derrick Rose lurking around the corner, the point-guard position may be hitting its prime.