Deron Williams: best point guard in the league (ongoing conversation)

Last Response on 12/5 by Chuck

Bam, when you are ready to debate this topic I'm ready. Deron Williams, best point guard in the NBA right now, potential MVP this season. Dare you to debate.

Ok, First off in average points+rebounds+assists Deron Williams is 6th behind the obvious Kobe, Lebron, and Kevin Durant. On top of the list though are Westbrook and Derrick Rose. Derrick Rose is not an MVP candidate to me this season because MVP seems to be an award that goes to a proven player. Deron Williams is that player but the Jazz will have to maintain the success that they are having now in order for him to win the MVP race. I think as of now (4 game slide ignored) Kobe Bryant will be the MVP, Lebron won't get the points necessary to win it and the Heat will continue to struggle but as of now Kobe leads his team in assists and points per game and will continue to dominate games the way he always does.
-Bam

That is cute that you chose Kobe Bryant. Yet the statistic that sticks out to me is efficiency. Deron Williams is fourth in the NBA with 25.2 right behind Chris Paul at 25.83. (Efficiency is ((Points + Rebounds + Assists + Steals + Blocks) - ((Field Goals Att. - Field Goals Made) + (Free Throws Att. - Free Throws Made) + Turnovers)). Translation: Control and management of a game. Deron is the most efficient player in the league. Deron is averaging 38 minutes a game to Paul's 35, that three minutes is a big difference when measuring such a precise stat. He controls games like no other players do on a team that is red hot winning seven straight. The showdown with the Mavericks will determine who has the second best record in the West. Kobe will get hot, and LeBron and the Heat may turn it around, but with the Lakers taking the Celtic approach to the regular season, just breezing through until playoff time, and Lebron being with Wade causing his stats to go down, Deron emerges as number one.
~Chuck

Than if we're going to use that stat rather than the fact that Kobe flat out controls games we'll have to say Pau Gasol is the best player in league. He averages more minutes per game than Deron, Has a higher efficiency, and is by far the best center in the league. If you lead those two categories and are far and away the best player at your position shouldn't you be a shoe in for MVP? On top of that Russel Westbrook leads Deron in both the aforementioned (points+rebounds+assists) average and efficiency, as well as averages more minutes a game so in either case by your own argument Pau Gasol and Russel Westbrook are the clear front runners for the 2010-2011 MVP campaign.
-Bam

Russell Westbrook is having a heck of a season. But you and me both know you don't think he is motherflipping MVP, he isn't even the best player on his team. Same goes for Gasol; though they may be efficient players. My true reasoning for believing Deron Williams is deserving of MVP is his ability to make players better. A sign of a great player. It doesn't matter who is running the pick and roll as long as Deron is half of that equation it works. He has turned Paul Milsap into a star his first year starting, he has raised his scoring average by seven points this season playing with Williams. And Currently the Jazz have a better record than the Lakers and Thunder.
~Chuck

I don't but by your previous statistical argument both of those players are better statistically than Deron Williams. Yes, Deron Williams has made his team better and Yes, he is currently the best point guard in the NBA but he is not the best player in the NBA and there are many point guards that could be inserted into the Jazz lineup with similar results. Right now the point guard position in the NBA is by far the strongest with very few teams if any not having a legitimate point guard. There is only one Kobe Bryant and one Pau Gasol. If either of those two players is removed from that team they become a bottom feeding team with little or no potential for a successful postseason the same goes for Westbrook and Durant but Westbrook falls into that over saturated point guard position. There are three players in the ranks of Kobe positionally and statistically, Lebron, Wade, and Durant. With Wade and Lebron on the same team there is no way that either becomes the MVP but I still believe the debate is between Kobe and Durant. If there was a secondary MVP debate for the second best player on a team crucial to their success it becomes about Westbrook and Pau Gasol but there is no such award so you inevitably go back to the most dominant players in the game reaching no other conclusion than Kobe and Durant. Lebron will in time see his stats inflate with the attention being split between he, Wade, and Bosh but is not as valuable in that equation when you have two other all-stars (even though only one, Wade, is playing well enough to be one this year and Bosh is a pansy). Between Durant and Kobe I still think Kobe is superior though Durant will be more than worthy of the award after Kobe starts declining.
-Bam

This discussion is not about who the best player is in the NBA, it is by definition the most valuable. I consider it a moot point for you to say that without Gasol or without Kobe or the thunder without Durant their teams are not as good, well no shit. So considering that, think about the secondary players on those teams and how good those players really are. The second best player on the Jazz is Paul Millsap who averages 18 a game, but his development has been because of the leadership of a player like Williams. Now consider this, take away Deron Williams and where is the Utah Jazz? All speculation, but there is no thing that cannot be debated and that is that they suck. The most VALUABLE player is Deron Williams when you consider his value to his team when contributing to their success. Karl Malone won MVP twice in his career during the 90's do you think he was the best player in the NBA that year? Absolutely not, but he was the most valuable. There was another player named Michael Jordan that most would consider better. In 2000's Nash has won the award twice, was he the best player in the NBA? no way, but the most valuable for his team's success, yes he was. Deron for MVP!
~Chuck