http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=ArAg6VYaQce0ltYTnvnLXTC8vLYF?slug=ks-pointguards121807&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Chauncey is ahead of Chris Paul AND Deron Williams and Williams is ahead of Paul. Chauncey ahead of Deron Williams? Okay, an argument can be made, I suppose. But Chris Paul behind both of them? Whatever. I’m a big fan of David West, but he is NOT Carlos Boozer. Paul is making that team go, and he makes his free throws (*cough* Deron *cough*), which is invaluable. And damn you Kenny Smith for trying to solidify the Mr. Big Shot moniker for Chauncey’s (often absent) clutch shooting.

And oh yeah, he has Kidd as the 1a to Nash’s 1. HA. That’ll go over well here.

As for the article, it sorta reminds me of something Bill Simmon’s wrote once on ESPN (though I say that meaning well, sometimes Bill’s observations are hardly those of a great writer but in this case he was spot on). Basically he was bemoaning the combination of the 1 and 2 guard spots into one All Star catagory “Guard”. Basically this was done because there are about a BILLION deserving 2 guards in the West every year and nobody wants to hear about how Tracy McGrady missed the All Star game because Kobe was just that much better. After watching the game that year he came up with the idea that each conference should name 2 “point” guards per squad, and no matter WHAT at least one of them HAD to be on the floor by rules mandate. I think he had Kidd/Billups for the East and Nash/Someone Who’s Name Escapes me for the west as suggestions. His arguement of course was that it simply made for a BETTER game to have distribution first PG’s on the team and running the offences, from an entertainment standpoint… even though fans would ALWAYS vote for the biggest names.

I think Kevin is absolutely right that Billups deserves serious consideration for the starting PG spot on the east team. I also thought Bill Simmons was absolutely right about the whole “Guard” slot on the All Star ballot being a mistake…Otoh this is the NBA so I won’t be suprised at all at all when the starting “Guards” for the east are Vince Carter and Dwyane Wade.

Still, good analysis or not, absolutely nothing is going to prevent Nazr from “going Jihad on Kevin’s ass”. (Seriously, I’m saving that line for the rest of my life).

But, his performance in Finals against the Spurs was amazing. Flawless. If they didn’t let Bowen manhandle him in Game 5, Sheed’s blunder wouldn’t have mattered.

Greetings from Bulgaria

In his own words:”If I hit it we win, if I miss y’all are going to blame the stars for losing the game anyway. There’s no pressure on me.”

I think people are more likely to remember the ones that go down rather than the ones you miss, unless it’s like a dunk. Or if your body language is terrible and its clear you don’t want to be out there.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/statistics?sort=per&qual=true&pos=pg&seasonType=2&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2fhollinger%2fstatistics%3fsort%3dper%26qual%3dtrue%26pos%3dpg%26seasonType%3d2

Food for thought.

BUT, as much as I have lamented about Pistons’ fans passivity in accepting Chauncey as a stud, savior, team MVP, Finals, or even league MVP (not reality) or whatever designation you wish to bestow upon him, THIS season he deserves some serious dap. This year, yes, I would say in the Eastern Conference, he deserves to start. There is no one playing better than him at PG in the East. And he is playing some of, if not the absolute best, ball of his career.

If someone wants to tell me he’s better than Chris Paul, or Steve Nash, I might have to go back to being a contrarian on Chauncey (as I perceive a great deal of my frsutration is directed at Piston fans’ superfluous, blind praise over the past few years). The guy owns the East and he’s probably having his best season ever, but he’s not even an automatic Top 3 PG in the league, and he’s maybe a Top 5 but at least an argument could be made that the following are all better than him: Nash, Parker, Williams, Paul, Davis. I’m not going to make that argument. It’s irrelevant, because we’re winning and he’s one of or THE major reason. This is supposed to be praise for Chauncey from a guy who is almost always reticent to give it out, but can ardent Chauncey fans please stop talking about ‘05-’06 and how he deserved more MVP consideration (because he didn’t at all), please? Let’s live in the present REALITY, where Chauncey and the Pistons as a whole are getting it done.