All Points Bulletin

David Sabino

April 05, 1999

The flash of Kings rookie Jason Williams, the triple doubles of the Suns' Jason Kidd (below) and the three-way trade involving Stephon Marbury, Terrell Brandon and Sam Cassell have created lots of buzz about what is arguably the most important position in the league—point guard. Using the SI Player Rating Formula* (INSIDE THE NBA, March 15), we evaluated each team's starter at the point this season, including games through Sunday. A few big names didn't measure up: Sub-40% shooting hurt Williams, Mookie Blaylock, Rod Strickland and Damon Stoudamire. Preseason up-and-comers Charlie Ward and Steve Nash, two of the league's biggest disappointments, were done in by their 92 turnovers and 34.3% marksmanship, respectively. On the other hand, Denver's Nick Van Exel, who at week's end was shooting below 40% but averaging 15.8 points and 7.1 assists per game, ranked far ahead of his replacement on the Lakers, Derek Harper (8.3 points and 4.4 assists), which makes you wonder if Dennis Rodman is really the Lakers' biggest worry. Only current starters are listed, but a couple of guys coming off the bench have much better stats than a lot of starters. Orlando's Darrell Armstrong, would rank sixth among all points; Heat sub Terry Porter would rank just ahead of Detroit's Lindsey Hunter and five other starters in the Eastern Conference, proving once again that Pat Riley really does get the point.