Jerry Sloan knows point guards. He coached one of the best in John Stockton, coached against Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas and Maurice Cheeks and played against Bob Cousy, Lenny Wilkens, Nate Archibald, Pete Maravich, Earl Monroe, Walt Frazier, Guy Rodgers, Oscar Roberston and Jerry West.
So Sloan knows the value of a player who can run a team and help his teammates. And Sloan, who will be in Chicago with his streaking Utah Jazz to play the Bulls on Tuesday night, has one of this era’s best young point guards in former Illini Deron Williams.
This may be looked back on as the golden era of point guards, with Williams, Chris Paul, Steve Nash, Tony Parker, Jason Kidd, Baron Davis and Chauncey Billups. For the first time since 1991, four point guards, including Williams, are averaging at least 10 assists.
And while Williams and Paul are young, Billups and Parker have been Finals most valuable players, Nash is a two-time league MVP and Kidd is a certain Hall of Famer among the all-time leaders in triple-doubles. And who knows what position Allen Iverson plays? It’s no coincidence they play for top teams, because with rule changes to open up the perimeter, point guard is becoming the game’s most important position.
“We felt like he gives us a chance to move forward with our team,” said Sloan of the decision to package three first-round draft picks to move up in the 2005 draft and select Williams at No. 3. “He helped us to move on to build a better team. How he goes, that’s how we go.
“I’d say he’s right at the top [of point guards now]. I don’t know how you break it down. A point guard gives you a chance to compete. If you don’t have a point guard, it’s difficult to compete on a consistent basis.”
Williams is averaging 19.2 points and 10.2 assists this season and has been brilliant this month as the Jazz has won four straight to take a substantial division lead and establish itself as a championship contender. Williams is averaging 19.0 points and 16.3 assists in those four games, with 19- and 20-assist games.
In fact, Williams has caught on so fast that Sloan says Williams calls more of his own plays than any point guard who has played for him.
“He’s very smart and understands what’s going on,” Sloan said. “He picks up things quickly. He has great basketball knowledge. He’s still looking to get the kind of respect he deserves in the league (he’s not an All-Star yet). He has the tremendous luxury to run the team, probably more so than anyone I’ve ever coached. He handles that responsibility and has responded to it very well.
“It seemed [Stockton] wanted us to call plays, so we did. Deron, he calls an awful lot. It’s different personalities. He looks at us a little, but basically he sees what’s going on.”
And what is going on today is a wonderful revival of the point guard position. In some sense, it is creating a series of haves and have-nots — teams that can boast point guards and those still looking for them.
The Jazz’s trade for Williams also quietly frustrates the Portland Trail Blazers, who with Greg Oden due back next season probably are missing only a point guard to be a true title contender. Portland traded the third pick used on Williams for the sixth and 27th selections, used for Martell Webster and Linas Kleiza, and a future first-rounder. Williams was taken just ahead of Paul, who went on to win rookie of the year for the Hornets and is having an MVP-type season.
But the bigger, tougher Williams probably fits better with a Sloan-coached team and can begin to make the case for this being perhaps the best era ever for point guards.
Which era was better?
The 1990s and the early 2000s were among the poorest. That was due to a slower game with fewer possessions and scoring opportunities plus more scoring-oriented point guards such as Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Gary Payton, Kevin Johnson, Kenny Anderson, Nick Van Exel and Tim Hardaway.
The best era?
It’s generally considered the Magic Johnson period of the 1980s, since Johnson is regarded as the best point guard ever.
The ’80s probably was the NBA’s best all-around era, and at point guard there were Johnson, Thomas, Stockton, Cheeks, Archibald, Mark Price, Mark Jackson, Kevin Porter, Norm Nixon and Johnny Moore.
But was that better than the first great era in the late 1960s into the ’70s, when there really weren’t point guards but guards who distributed and scored?
Of course, Cousy was a pure point guard, but Roberston and West were what we’d consider shooting guards now. But both had seasons in which they led the league in assists, eight times for Robertson. There also were Hall of Famers such as Wilkens, Frazier, Monroe, K.C. Jones, Dave Bing and Gail Goodrich and fan favorites like Ernie DiGregorio and Norm Van Lier. The latter two each had seasons leading the league in assists.
In a few years, you should be able to match the current group with any who have played.
Hornacek enjoying taste of coaching
It’s said he’s the Jazz’s coach-in-waiting, but Jeff Hornacek says he’s just along for the ride.
The west suburban native out of Iowa State lives in Phoenix and commutes to Utah as a part-time Jazz assistant to work on shooting with Andrei Kirilenko and Kyle Korver. Korver doesn’t need much help, and the Jazz has taken off since his arrival. But Kirilenko, out after being flagrantly fouled by Dirk Nowitzki, is shooting almost 38 percent on three-pointers this season, as opposed to 31 percent for his career. And he’s hitting 49.8 percent overall compared with 46.8 percent for his career.
Hornacek said he’d consider coaching “at some point when the kids are gone. But now one is in college, one’s a junior in high school and one’s in 8th grade. I don’t want to take away from the family now. I’m just glad to be able to stay involved.
“I always thought at some point I’d get back in. Maybe the front office, but I’d like to be down there on the court, the competitiveness of it. But I don’t have any plan or timetable.”
Role players helping Rockets roll
With Saturday’s victory over the Hornets, the Rockets equaled the NBA’s fourth-longest winning streak with 18 — and the longest the Bulls ever had. The Rockets now face the Nets, Hawks and Bobcats before playing the Lakers and Celtics. They could pass Milwaukee’s 20 in 1971 for the second-longest streak behind the Lakers’ 33.
Their run, six without the injured Yao Ming, shocks many, though the Rockets have the modern-day formula for success: a star who demands a double team in Tracy McGrady and committed, hard-working role players. One key is Purdue rookie second-rounder Carl Landry, who has teamed with Luis Scola (they haven’t lost since he became a starter Jan. 29) to give them toughness, though Landry just bruised his knee.
“In the past it was like two guys that would scrap for loose balls and scramble, dive on the floor, do all the dirty work,” McGrady said. “Now we have four or five guys. Scola is putting up double-doubles. Landry is putting up double-doubles.”
They have won 26 of 29, have won their last eight by double figures and are averaging almost 110 points since Yao went out. And their defense is ranked second.
More headaches for coaches
Reggie Theus doesn’t deserve this. The Kings coach has done a nice job but is under siege from Ron Artest after a naive management believed Artest would behave. Artest was fined $5,000 by the team last week after, among other things, condemning Theus’ coaching and saying: “We’re trying to make the playoffs. And once we get the coaches believing that we can make the playoffs, we’ll be fine.” After getting fined, Artest stopped playing, claiming an injury that the team knew nothing about. … Heat coach Pat Riley said he’d skip some games to scout, which is only fair as his players skip most games they are supposed to be playing in. “It’s a reality,” Riley said. “We’re in the lottery. You don’t have to go to the 7-Eleven store to get a ticket.”
Kidd not making expected impact
They’re getting a little anxious in Dallas, with the Mavericks 5-5 since acquiring Kidd and losing to every playoff team they have played. “It’s time for us to start rebounding, and some of the mistakes that some of our players that we just got are making, now it’s time for them to stop making those mistakes and stop saying, ‘Well, we didn’t do it this way in the previous system,'” coach Avery Johnson told Dallas media. The player having the most trouble has been Josh Howard, who liked the Mavs’ isolation game and now doesn’t get time to set and attack the defense with Kidd pushing the ball.
James, Wade happy — for now
LeBron James, after scoring 50 points in New York, and Dwyane Wade, about to be part of as many losses this season as in his previous two combined, both said they want to stay where they are. But James added menacingly that he was happy “for now.” And Wade said: “Just because we’re having a down year doesn’t mean I’m ready to jump to another city. I love Miami. This perception of me ready to leave right now because other players are getting mad in their situation is totally false.” Wade also said it would be prudent to re-evaluate his position as free agency approaches in 2010. … Insiders say Donyell Marshall’s blow-up with coach P.J. Carlesimo in Seattle is just the tip of the iceberg in a chilly situation. Among the issues is alleged misuse of Kevin Durant. Many voters are now moving toward voting for Al Horford as rookie of the year.
The final word
Classic from Spurs reserve Matt Bonner, who got tied up with the Pacers’ David Harrison in a recent game. It came out that Harrison threatened to kill Bonner in conversations with referees. Deadpanned Bonner: “You only get a technical for that?”
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sasmith@tribune.com
