Still, Paul is quarterbacking a team that wants to play up-tempo and one that does not have the precise execution of the Jazz. In that respect, then, Paul is like Nash, a student of the game who nevertheless does highly unconventional things. One Western Conference assistant coach goes so far as to call Paul "somewhat of a loose cannon," and for that reason favors Williams.

In fact it's their delicious departures from the models that make these guys more interesting. Williams, for example, has turned himself into a precision shooter (52.8% from the field and 48.3% from three-point range at week's end), more Nash than Kidd in that respect. And though he is cast in the Robertson-Kidd model, Williams gets only 3.0 rebounds per game, far fewer than Mr. Triple Double (the Big O averaged 7.5 over his 14-year career); the astounding Kidd, who was leading the Nets with 8.7 per game; and, as a matter of fact, Paul, who was averaging 4.0. Then again, Williams plays with great rebounders such as Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko and reserve Paul Millsap. "I just get out of the way when I see them coming," he says.

So is there a consensus as to who is better? "I'd take either one and be real happy," says Indiana Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird. "They both do one thing that every great point guard has to do -- they get wherever they want to on the floor."

"They both make something out of nothing," says Detroit Pistons coach Flip Saunders. "That's the sign of a great point guard."

"You approach them the same way," says Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups, "with the idea that you have to trap them. You can't let either one get going or you're dead. And neither one is real easy to trap."

The Spurs' Parker does stick one foot out on a limb: "Deron, like Chris, is a great passer, and he's a better shooter than Chris," he says. "So Deron is a little harder to cover because you can't leave him open."

Indeed, one can collect several not-for-attribution votes for Williams, based on his superior shooting ability and size (the latter giving him an advantage on defense) and the 17-game playoff experience he got last season. A coach who observed both of them during the U.S. national team trials in Las Vegas over the last two summers -- Paul participated in '06, Williams in '07 -- says that Williams seems closer to stardom. "Chris was kind of like everybody's little brother in camp," says the coach. "Deron was willing to learn, particularly from Jason, but he never acted like he didn't belong."

On the other hand The Wages of Wins, a stats-based website, devoted a long recent post to comparing the two, concluding that Paul is the superior player. Paul's assist-to-turnover ratio was 3.28 through Sunday, better than Williams's (2.37), Kidd's (2.60) and Nash's (3.27); that doesn't sound very loose-cannonish. And anyone who watched CP3 (so nicknamed for his uniform number) shred the Memphis Grizzlies with 43 points (including the game-winning basket with 1.8 seconds left), nine assists and four steals in a 118-116 overtime win last Friday would be hard-pressed to name a better point guard performance all season. (Of course, the next night Williams nearly matched Paul's point total, pouring in 41 in a 125-117 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.)

Whatever Paul and Williams might feel privately about who's better, you won't get either of them on the record. "I'm not going there," says Williams. And Paul waved the question away with a smile. "The good thing is," he says, "we have a lot of years to find out." And maybe to create their own models.