I have decided to do a list. A top 5 list that is. Of who I consider the top 5 players at each position. They are not ranked. #1 is not better than #5....he COULD be, but he isn't necessarily better just because I put him at #1. I will provide stats to back this up, but obviously this is entirely based on what I value in a PG...so I would love input from everyone else afterwards. Hopefully this can spark up some good conversation.
1) Ty Lawson
2) Stephen Curry
3) Darren Collison
4) Jonny Flynn
5) Jeff Teague
Explanations after the Jump
1) Ty Lawson is having a great year and leads the nation in offensive efficiency. That's about all you can ask from from your point guard. 15.5 points, 6.5 assists and 2.3 steals a game is spectacular...especially as a second option on an incredibly talented UNC team. More impressive is that he's shooting 55% from the field and 49% from three point land. He's having an incredible year and should find himself on some sort of All-America team at the end of the year.
2) Stephen Curry is a scorer, plain and simple. We all know that. What some may
not know is that on top of his nation-leading 28.9 points a game, he is also dishing out 6.3 assists a game and stealing the ball 2.8 times a game. That is very good for such a prolific scorer. He is 70th in the country in offensive rating, which is pretty good considering he essentially IS the Davidson team. I think we can all agree that we would love him on our team.
3) Collison is a guy I wasn't going to put on this list, but after looking at it again, I felt
that he definitely deserves the accolades he receives. 14 points and 5 assists a game is good, but he shoots 93% from the stripe and 53 % from the field. Thats great for the guy who has the ball in his hands the most. He is 23rd in the nation in offensive efficiency too. He also steals 1.7 balls a game, pretty good as well. 2.2 A/T ratio is good too, 55th best in the country.
4) Jonny Flynn is one of my favorite players out there, and I feel like he has carried
Syracuse this year. 17 points, 5.8 assists, and 1.4 steals a game is great. Not the greatest shooter at 36.5% from three, but 47% from the field and 75% from the stripe isn't bad. 304th in the nation in offensive effieciency is pretty good, good enough for 24th in the Big East. 1.9 A/T ratio is also pretty good. The numbers don't scream out for this guy, but think about where Syracuse would be without him...ugly.
5) We all know about Jeff Teague. 20.6 points, 3.6 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.1
steals a game. He shoots 51.4% from the field, 50% from three point range, and 82% from the stripe. 225th in the nation in efficiency is good too and is good for 16th in the ACC. 1.1 A/T ratio isn't great, but for a guy expected to score like Teague--it makes sense. It is interesting to stack Teague up against these other great point guards as he is somewhat of a different breed. He doesn't have the assists, but scores more than the rest, except Curry. I'm not sure if I'd put him as the best in the nation at the point guard slot (in my opinion, that's Curry), but Wake has gotten themselves a stud PG. In an ideal world though, Teague should be playing SG in college. As a draft prospect though, for his size, he needs to learn the PG position.
Also, I discovered this after I wrote my post, interesting. My Honorables are exactly the same as his, with the exception of Holiday, I wouldn't mention him with these names yet.