us men's bball - point guards

ok, figures i might as well; as we all figured out, international bball is not quite the same as nba bball; a lot more emphasis is on the perimeter. i thought i'd over the next few days post some good players that would help make up a good team. to be honest, some of my stuff might read like the entry one of the espn guys wrote up(read it for fun if you want to get your juices flowing as well).

read the article here

anyways, today i thought i'd list 4-6 guys good for the point guard position.

ideally, the point guard should be a guy who can distribute the ball offensively. being able to hurt from beyond the arc's very important, but that can come from your 2's and 3's.

jason kidd: the only remaining pure point guard so i guess we gotta list him. he is getting KINDA old, so he can provide good leadership on the court, and ppl will listen to him. all-around, he simply makes people better on offense; you don't need a lotta shot creators when he's on the court, just good spot-up shooters. and his defense is pretty good too. only weakness might be that he's not really that dangerous one on one; still good, but not great.
to best complement him: just surround him with good spot-up shooters or guys who don't need the ball to create(which is also good, b/c the spot-up shooters often tend to be better defenders than guys who create in a lotta cases, making your team good on offense and defense)

chauncey billups: obviously i'm a pistons fan, but hey, we gotta list him. he's not a pure point guard, but he has shown with the experience he's gotten with larry brown and flip saunders that he flat-out does everything a good point guard's supposed to do almost better than anybody else(except creating shots for others; jason kidd does that better). excellant perimeter shooter when the clock's winding down to bail guys out of tight spots, heavy so he can back guys down, good ability to create shots for others, always cool-headed, making him a great leader on offense, and on top of that, plays great defense. no real weaknesses i can think of.
to best complement him: put a spot-up shooter on the court; it will double his already good offensive abilities. or a defensive player to lockdown on the perimeter. remember that this guy like kidd can fastbreak, so athletic guys are gooood.

mike bibby: not a kings fan, but he used to be good when webber was around, reason being he had someone to run around before catching a pass and the pressure to make a shot wasn't all on him. he's one of the few kings who actually TRIES to play defense(though with the numerous games i've watched him, he still doesn't lockdown), and he is unselfish making the extra pass, so he would not be a bad fit.
to best complement him: a big man who can score w/the ball in his hands, and a 2 spot who can defend well.

chris paul: didn't want to list all all-stars or in the case of billups, strong potential all-stars, and chad ford listed him in his recommendations, but i am kinda stuck as to why he's good, only that he's one of the few players which are making the hornets look decent this year.

dwayne wade: guy can't shoot beyond the arc, and at the int level, ppl will just crowd the lane if you drive, limiting his mj-esque slashing dunks. but he is selfless on the offensive end(which is good; don't want all guys on the us team who seriously think they're the team's #1 scoring option), and very fast, which should free him off his man a bit and send a lotta double teams at him, giving his teammates wide open 3s. good defensive abilities thanks to his athleticism, though i think you'll need to prod him to really work on them to make team us shine.
to best complement him: a 2 guard who can defend well so that perimeter d doesn't go down the pipes when he's playing, and guys who can spot up for 3s well so that hopefully that lane opens up a bit more for him to operate

i sound like i'm being very redundant; sorry, except for billups, i'll admit i don't really look at the point guards(or maybe most of all the good pg's except for billups and kidd are int? parker, nash, etc); maybe when i tackle the 2s and 3s as well as 4s and 5s it'll be a bit less redunant.

to be continued next time: shooting guards/small forwards