Over at BallHype, Tom Ziller takes a look into the whole combo guard vs. pure point debate (which is always a hot button issue whenever someone discusses Gilbert Arenas) and analyzes how players fall into these different categorizations.  Even though Gilbert didn’t get enough playing time this year to be included in the analysis, I think you can draw some conclusions based on TZ’s research.

It’s a must-read for any Gilbert fan, since unfair or not, this is a question that will dog his supporters.  I’d especially recommend checking out this part:

Based on the groupings we see on our Scale, there are a lot of incredible “combo guards” in our league. Baron Davis. Reigning Finals MVP Tony Parker (who has roughly three shooting possessions for every assist he makes). Chauncey Billups. Of course, some of these can be attributed to the offense system these players use. Famously, San Antonio basketball results in few assists (though I’ll note that Avery Johnson averaged 7+ assists in 31 minutes in SA’s first title season, playing in the exact same offense, versus 6 assts in 33 minutes for Parker this year; Parker is less pure than AJ, certainly).

All four teams still competing boast impure PGs, combo guards who shoot at least twice as often as they earn an assist. Two (Billups, Parker) are considered among the best in the league; the others (Rondo, Fisher) are considered solid at worst. Yet we curse every prospect without the vision of Kidd (his team lost in five in the first round) or Nash (ditto), relegating these lepers to the bargain bin.

Chris Paul stormed the universe this year. Deron Williams was also brilliant. These matters seemingly have the greater Chicago area set on Derrick Rose, lauding THE RISE OF THE PURE POINT GUARD. And while these fellows are more pure than most, they aren’t holy angels of unselfishness and good intentions. Paul was a 20 ppg scorer, for goodness sake. And even more, Rose’s freshman totals would place him with Marbury on our scale!

Our perspective on what makes a point guard great is seriously warped, and I blame it all on the false heralding of the assist as a game-changer and of purity as the singular path to point guard greatness. Because we believe assists to be of utmost import, and because pure point guards are more valued than scorers, we consider PGs who get lots of assists to be pure and thus, the best. They supposedly raise the game of their teammates. They make everything offense easier. They lead, muzzled or not, because they pass. It’s malarkey (and I offer Jason Kidd as proof).