We always talk about ring culture in the NBA. But what about wing culture? The emphasis on 3-and-D, versatile forwards dominates essentially every basketball team-building conversation. And those guys are great, we’re not denying that. But ultimately it’s hard to make it work without a dynamic guard to run the show.
The days of the John Stockton “game manager” type of guard are long gone. In 2023, the best lead guards are as athletic as the wings, can shoot from the logo and finish around — and sometimes over — the biggest bigs in the league. Just take a look at recent NBA champions: Steph Curry, Jrue Holiday, Jamal Murray, Kyrie Irving. It’s nearly impossible to win a title without an All-Star level guard.
So today, we pay homage to arguably the most important position in the NBA. As part of our rollout of the NBA’s Top 100 Players we tasked our CBS Sports NBA staff with ranking the top 20 guards heading into the 2022-23 season, taking into account projected improvement and decline.
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Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/ranking-nbas-top-20-guards-stephen-curry-vs-luka-doncic-for-no-1-on-list-kyrie-irving-misses-top-15/
Author : Colin Ward-Henninger
Publish date : 2023-09-18 19:38:09
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