I believe this polémique lies in the fact that the most of us were raised in the belief that defense wins championships.
Nonsense, it lies in the fact that he's a point guard. They are a dime a dozen. Chris Paul doesn't win you championships. We're binding max money on a position where we could get 80% of the production for 20% of the cost.
Why do you think there's a glut of starting calibre point guards in the league right now? A generational anomaly?
It's the handcheck rule changes.
Contrary to popular belief, the most efficient shot in the NBA is a layup (actually it's a dunk, but those have other risks). Before the changes, the best way to get close to the basket, and thus, increase your efficiency, was through posting up, grinding out and overpowering your defender. If you tried to get fancy, you would land on your ass with mach 5.
After the changes, it made more sense to use quicker, more explosive players, with good handles and a low center of gravity for shifts of pace to get closer to the basket. That's the main reason for all these high scoring numbers by team's primary ball-handlers we've seen over the last few years (just look at last season's crazy stats, from Harden to Westbrook - heck, it's the sole reason why Harden plays point guard).
Apparently, people have come to the conclusion that this means you "need an elite point guard" to play with the big boys. After all, big stats = superstar, and superstars win championships. That couldn't be further from the truth. The artificial inflation of primary ball-handler stats has made point guards not more important, it made them
replacable.
What wins you championships is not big stats, or defense, or rebounding, it's something far more mundane: smart allocation of cap space.
It's not Steph Curry "who led the Warriors to a historic record", that's tabloid nonsense so you can sell a narrative to the casual public. Personal stories sell better. It's the fact they were able to get such a crazy amount of overall talent for relatively cheap, simple as that.
Binding max money in the 7th best point guard so you "can be competitive" and "get a guy who can make the shot" is the opposite of smart team-building. If you spend max money on that position, you're effectively throwing ~25% of your main ressource into an attrition battle.
It's a recipe for disaster, and the fact our FO doesn't seem to understand such a basic concept is more than just a little concerning.
Kyrie scored 11 points last night. Lebron has scored 11 points in exactly one game in the last 5 years.
/end thread