Far be it from me to explain the evolution of point guard play in the NBA, when we have Steve Nash eloquently doing so. Instead, I'll stick to the numbers, where I'm relatively safe. As Nash explains, the role of the point guard in the NBA changed over the course of his long career, as the game opened up thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers and the elimination of most of the hand-checking that defenders once relied upon to keep lead guards in front of them. These changes have manifested themselves statistically over the years, so let's take a look by considering different eras of point guard play in the NBA.
Pre-3 Era
My database picks up with the 1979-80 season, but we can't dismiss the first 34 years of NBA point guard play without a word. For much of the early history of the NBA, identifying a player as what we now think of as a point guard wasn't that easy.
For every Bob Cousy- (or Lenny Wilkins-) led offense, there were teams like the great Lakers of the early 1970s. We all know that Jerry West is on the short list of the greatest shooting guards of all-time. Hoops historians aside, how many fans know that West was a point guard over the last part of his career?
Lakers coach Bill Sharman convinced West to switch positions in order to co-exist with Gail Goodrich, who himself was a starting point guard during his two seasons with the Phoenix Suns. West led the league in assists per game in 1971-72, and averaged over nine dimes for two years running.
The move wasn't extreme -- most teams just had guards with a combination of skills. On the list of Basketball-Reference's top 50 players by win shares through the 1978-79 season, just three averaged at least 6.7 assists per 36 minutes over their careers -- Oscar Robertson, Wilkens and Cousy. During most of the 1970s, reaching the seven assists-per-game mark would land you in the top four or five of the league. The cult of the point guard just didn't exist yet, at least not in the way we think of it today, and big men dominated the NBA.
Top Pre-3 PGs: Oscar Robertson (189 win shares), Lenny Wilkens (95.5), Bob Cousy (91.1), Tiny Archibald (58.1).
A couple of notes: Point guards were identified by those averaging at least six assists per 36 minutes. West is considered shooting guard for the purpose of these rankings, or else he'd rank second with 162.6 career win shares.
The 1980s
Ah, the 1980s, the time of Magic and Bird, when if you lived in a rural era, you got to watch some combination of the Lakers, Celtics and Sixers every Sunday afternoon. And no one else. During these early days of the 3-point era, point guards were more facilitators than scorers. Just 17.9 percent of the league's points were scored by players with a base position of point guard. (Average is 20 percent, as there are five positions.)
As always, point guards got the lion's share of assists, so their percentage of points plus assists rated at an above-average 21.8 percent, and their collective WARP was 24.2 percent. One stylistic note: Lead guards accounted for 33.7 percent of made 3s, more than any other position.
Top five PGs by WARP: Magic Johnson (177.3 WARP), Isiah Thomas (96.1), Maurice Cheeks (88.9), Fat Lever (74.1), Micheal Ray Richardson (66.9).
The 1990s
With the 3-point shot now deeply ingrained in the NBA, point guards began to dish out more 3s than before, but still accounted for a larger portion of treys than they do now. The assists went up, but through the decades prior to this one, the rate has tended to remain stable between 38 and 40 percent. But already, point guards' total production is on the climb, and they accounted for more bottom-line value than any of our decades.
Top five PGs by WARP: John Stockton (184.6 WARP), Tim Hardaway (126.8), Mookie Blaylock (114.1), Gary Payton (106.7), Rod Strickland (96.5).
The 2000s
The game slowed to a crawl during the 2000s, even as the popularity of the 3-point shot continued to climb.
Once again, the portion of 3s that came from point guards declined. But the current guidelines to regulate hand-checking landed in the middle of this decade, and we can see point guard scoring on the rise. However, a decline in WARP suggests that the 1990s were an outlier in terms of point guard value.
Top five PGs by WARP: Jason Kidd (158.5 WARP), Steve Nash (129.0), Chauncey Billups (103.9), Baron Davis (101.8), Stephon Marbury (87.6).
The 2010s
And here we are today in what is being hailed as the golden era of point guard play. The bottom-line value in terms of WARP is right in line with the 1980s and 2000s, and well below that of the 1990s. Yet there is a marked increase in the collective workload of point guards across the league. They account for 2 percent more points and 2.3 percent more assists than the last decade.
The combined total of points and assists for point guards has climbed to 25.2 percent of the league figure, 3.4 percent more than it was in the 1980s. So, indeed point guards are doing more than they ever have. Are they more valuable? That's a worthy debate for another day.
Top five PGs by WARP: Chris Paul (91.3 WARP), Russell Westbrook (75.6), Stephen Curry (74.3), Deron Williams (54.5), Kyle Lowry (51.7).
News and Notes
• The Bucks' feel-good story has been invaded by a nasty bit of nausea as Milwaukee clings to a playoff spot and seems to lose ground every couple of days. The Hollinger Playoff Odds still have the Bucks with a 98.6 percent shot at the playoffs, so they should be fine. However, Milwaukee is just 6-15 since the All-Star break, and if they don't win a few more games, the Bucks could end up getting passed by some combination of Miami, Brooklyn, Indiana, Boston or Charlotte. Entering Wednesday's key home matchup with Chicago, the sixth-place Bucks are just four games ahead in the loss column over the 11th-place Hornets.
Because the start of the skid coincided with the trade deadline, it's easy to look at the switch from Brandon Knight to Michael Carter-Williams at point guard as the culprit for the decline. The Bucks have slid on both ends of the floor, dropping from 17th in offensive efficiency before the break to 28th since, while falling from second to 12th on the defensive end. However, while Carter-Williams' production has improved only a nominal amount since leaving the Sixers, it's overly simplistic to blame him for all Milwaukee's problems.
In fact, the Bucks have outscored opponents by 0.2 points per 100 possessions with Carter-Williams on the floor. No, it's not great, but he and Zaza Pachulia are the only Bucks in the positive since the break. The real issue for Milwaukee has been a marked decline in bench play. Just as the reserves were primarily responsible for propping up Milwaukee's young starting lineup earlier this season, they are now torpedoing the efforts of the Milwaukee starters.
According to NBA.com/stats, here's a list of key Bucks reserves, along with their plus-minus numbers before and after the break: Jared Dudley (plus-7.7, minus-8.4), Jerryd Bayless (plus-6.9, minus-11.2), John Henson (plus-4.7, minus-13.8), O.J. Mayo (plus-1.0, minus-18.1). Wow.
• First, here's a link to one of my favorite basketball cards. I have a ton of basketball cards from the late 1960s and early 1970s, and I treasure them, especially the oversized cards from the 1976-77 season in which Julius Erving got his last Nets card, and Moses Malone is on the Blazers, for whom he never played. Anyway, what I love about this card is that it gets Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the same card. But what I want you to notice is what the card is showing us: The "Rebounds" leaders. That's because in those days, the individual champion in the primary leader categories was considered to simply be the guy who accumulated the highest number of a given stat.
For the life of me, I've never understood why this changed. These days, I spent almost all my time looking at advanced metrics, but like a lot of people, I retain a soft spot for the old school box score categories. It's similar to the way I still follow the batting races in baseball, even though I learned a long time ago that batting average was a poor way to evaluate hitters. So, to me, it's special when a player is declared the "scoring champion" or the "rebounding champion."
Right now, it looks like Russell Westbrook is going to win this year's scoring title. He's got a 0.4 points per game lead over James Harden, and with Kevin Durant done for the season, Westbrook's torrid scoring pace is unlikely to ebb any time soon.
However, Westbrook has missed 15 of Oklahoma City's 74 games. He has more than enough points to qualify for the scoring title, so that's not a problem. But consider this: Harden has scored 362 more points than Westbrook and 307 more points than any other player in the league. He's missed just one of Houston's 74 contests. I can't help but wonder why Harden won't be considered the "scoring champion." Shouldn't durability be rewarded?
• The Golden State Warriors continue to roll through a season that's reached historic proportions. After winning their 10th straight game Tuesday, Golden State has outscored opponents by 10.82 points per game this season. Right now, according to Basketball-Reference.com, there are only four teams in league history that have done better: The 1971-72 Lakers (plus-12.28), the 1970-71 Bucks (plus-12.26), the 1995-96 Bulls (plus-12.24) and the 1971-72 Bucks (plus-11.16). All those teams won a title, except for the second version of the Bucks, who had the misfortune of having to play the 1971-72 Lakers in the West finals.