Monday, October 27, 2008

Seriously?

Many of you have surely seen this quote by now from ESPN's Bill Simmons. But I have yet to wrap my mind around it:


"By the way, we need to stop comparing Williams to Paul. It's just dumb. This is not Pacino versus De Niro. This is not Brady versus Manning. This isn't even Morris versus Slater. Williams has a chance to go down as one of the best point guards of his generation. Paul has a chance to go down as one of the best 25 players ever. Big difference."

I know how I feel about this quote, and I know how most Jazz fans will feel about it, but I would be interested to hear how non-jazz fans feel about it.

Seriously? Can this argument really be made?

6 comments:

Pasty Gangsta said...

He wrote something similar in ESPN magazine last week too (Paul is Pearl Jam, Williams is Stone Temple Pilots). I do think Paul is probably slightly better all around BUT it's very close AND when the two go head to head, Williams and the Jazz have historically come out on top. I think we probably need to wait another three to five years to really know the answer to this question, but my guess is it will be more like Bird-Magic in terms of talent comparison than, say, Jordan-Dominique.

Tucker McCann said...

So what you are saying is that the comparison is indeed valid, which Bill Simmons thinks is ridiculous.

Pasty Gangsta said...

Exactly. Let us not forget that Simmons is an Internet sports columnist -- his job description is to make ridiculous arguments to piss people off.

Anonymous said...

I am a Jazz fan and Deron is my favorite player in the world. He's the reason I still watch NBA basketball, but have so seen some of the statistical analysis on Paul? Wages of wins did a great piece on how CP3's production has been among the most impressive in history. Wages of Wins isn't biased either. He also writes articles about how tremendously underrated the Jazz are. I just think we need to get over our insecurities and admit that CP is better usually...and then get ready for a generation of knocking the Hornets out of the playoffs.

Orlando said...

I have to agree with anonymous. I love Williams, he's the best player on my favorite team. But Paul is going to be an MVP candidate for years to come. If you were to poll NBA execs about who they would choose to start an NBA team, I'll bet that Paul would come in right behind Lebron. He's that good.

With that said, I think Deron may be a better long term investment. Bigger point guards last a long time. Smaller quick guards can as well, but the track record is not as strong.

We'll see how it all pans out, but as of now, I think it is objectively true that Paul has had better numbers than Deron. And that's not taking anything away from Deron - it's saying that Paul has been otherworldly.

Tucker McCann said...

But the fact remains: a comparison is called for. We are not talking Bryon Russell vs. Lebron here, we are talking Deron Williams vs. Chris Paul