Chris Paul may have lost a step since his prime, but he hasn’t taken a leap backward.
Paul was mentioned by ESPN reporters Zach Lowe and Kevin Arnovitz as a dark-horse candidate for an NBA All-Defensive Team at guard, though he wasn’t on either reporter’s final list.
Neither went into detail about Paul, simply mentioning him as a player they considered while discussing honorable mentions for the award on The Lowe Post podcast.
Arnovitz said that right now — and it could change by the time ballots are submitted — he would go with Marcus Smart and Kyle Lowry on the First Team and Eric Bledsoe and Ben Simmons on the Second Team.
Lowe said his current ballot would have Smart and Simmons on the First Team with Kris Dunn and Jrue Holiday on the Second Team, though that final spot on the Second Team in particular may be changed.
“There’s bunch of guys, but this spot came down to Jrue Holiday, Kyle Lowry, Eric Bledsoe, Patrick Beverley, and Chris Paul, and I just thought Jrue Holiday was a little bit better,” Lowe said.
While Paul averaged 1.6 steals per game and ranked eighth among guards in defensive real plus-minus, other advanced stats including defensive rating and FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR were not as friendly.
But simply being a name brought up in his 15th season after getting back to the All-Star game for the first time in four years is an accomplishment.
Other players Lowe and Arnovitz mentioned as guards they considered included Beverley, Danny Green, Fred VanVleet, Gary Harris, Dejounte Murray, Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Okogie, Alex Caruso, De’Anthony Melton, and Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown, whichever Celtics player would be considered a guard.
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