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Pretty interesting take.
Who's Better: Williams or Parker?
Comparing two of the NBA's elite point guards across six categories
Originally Published: April 4, 2012
By Chris Palmer | ESPN the Magazine
Anyone got the full article?
Pretty interesting take.
Who's Better: Williams or Parker?
Comparing two of the NBA's elite point guards across six categories
By Chris Palmer | ESPN the Magazine
Deron Williams' shooting and passing abilities give him the edge over Tony Parker.
The careers of Deron Williams and Tony Parker couldn't be more different. One's a three-time champion who still manages to get overlooked, the other is a whirlwind of talent and ability who's never won anything. In his 11th year, Parker is continuing to polish what could be a Hall of Fame career while seemingly still struggling to earn respect.
Williams' name has been tossed around as one of the game's best point guards since he entered the league, but his credibility as a franchise player could use a shot in the arm. In the age of the point guard there's an intriguing matchup on the floor every night and Parker versus Williams is as compelling as it gets. When it comes to elite-level lead guards these two are right up there. But who's better?
Ball handling
Williams has possibly the most complete handle in the game, employing a variety of misdirection and change-of-pace dribbles in both the half court and in transition.
Nearly everything Williams does is set up by a dribble move of one kind or the other. D-Will loves the classic crossover set up by a hard right shoulder fake to get the defender to commit before blasting the ball right-to-left across his body. Flypaper defenders are usually served a quick follow up of a left-to-right crossover that normally frees his pull-up. But put Williams in the open court and it starts to get interesting. He's one of the few players who can make sharp changes of direction in the open floor without sacrificing speed or ball control, forcing defenders to play keep up.
Parker's airtight, no-frills handle is so fluid it often goes unnoticed. He keeps it low and close to his body, which allows him to slip through double-teams rather easily. His crossover is lightning quick but its strength is Parker's economy of movement when delivering the ball from one side of his body to the other.
Parker's handle is efficient and tight, allowing him to slip double-teams easily.
You won't find the exaggerated shoulder movement of his American counterparts. He's got a lightly pronounced shoulder fake that sets up his hesitation dribble, and loves to greet bigs in the lane with a tight, right-handed in-and-out dribble before releasing his floater.
Scores (out of 10): Parker 10, Williams 10
Shooting
Their respective approaches to shooting are polar opposites. Let's start from behind the arc. Williams pulls it early and often, while you nearly have to twist Parker's arm to get him to take a 3. Williams hoists a whopping 6.4 3s per game to Parker's scant 1.1. Williams is second in the league in attempts and with more than a third of his shots coming from behind the arc, it's become the focus of his offensive attack.
Williams leads the league in four-point plays.
Move in closer and it's more of the same for Williams. He's attempting a career-high 4.6 shots per game from 16-23 feet, meaning that roughly 60 percent of his shots are deep jumpers. It seems to be working. Although his field goal percentage is down, he's averaging a career-high 21.6 points per game. Bonus: D-Will leads the NBA with five four-point plays.
Parker takes a healthy dose of long 2s -- about five per game -- and is quite comfortable easily creating pull-up jumpers off of screens. He's also effective spotting up after ball reversal, particularly from the baseline and elbow. But Parker's relatively low, knuckleball-like release is a bit on the slow side and his dribble penetration is a far better option, so it's likely he won't develop into a better shooter until his quickness begins to fade. There are only slight differences in percentages outside the paint but Williams' better use of the 3 gives him the edge.
Scores (out of 10): Parker 7, Williams 8
Athleticism
As an athlete, Williams is deceptively good leaping off either one leg or two, as evidenced by some huge dunks this year. Even after seven seasons, defenders are still caught off guard when he launches his wide, solidly built frame toward the rim. But outside of highlight-worthy flushes, his hops add little to his effectiveness. While not as fast as Parker, D-Will's top open-court speed is still a dangerous weapon, especially when combined with his penchant for pushing the ball whenever the opportunity arises.
From end-to-end, Parker is in the same category as Derrick Rose and John Wall when it comes to pure speed -- and it's by far his best asset. A slight body and a low center of gravity help him zoom up the floor like he's on a rail. Parker's quickness in the half court is such that he's got little need for a counter crossover move because his first step more often than not allows him to gain a suitable advantage on his defender.
Scores (out of 10): Parker 8, Williams 9
Passing
The possessor of excellent floor vision, Williams' deliveries come from an unusually wide range of spots on the floor. And he likes to push even after made baskets. With his head up and eyes forward, his advanced body control allows him to read the defense at speed while scanning for teammates leaking out on the wing.
Williams has uncanny floor vision and body control.
Williams also rarely telegraphs his passes. He can take the ball from his dribble and fire off a quick release pass -- fundamentally-sound chest passes are his favorite -- in an instant, making it very difficult to play passing lanes against him.
Parker's forte is breaching the lane, drawing the defense and dumping off a sensible pass to a big. It's a simple, stripped-down game plan that has been the center of the Spurs' attack for years. He's got a bag full of smart little bounce passes to feed the post or connect with streaking cutters.
Parker is especially dangerous on over-penetration, where he dribbles behind the basket. In this scenario, his defender usually trails him, allowing him to easily pass off to bigs waiting at point-blank range under the rim.
Scores (out of 10): Parker 9.5, Williams 10
Defense
Here's the area where Williams has been maligned for much of his career. But one overlooked aspect of Williams' defensive game is his surprisingly good ball denial on the perimeter. He also sees the floor well and communicates adequately when the ball is on the other side of the floor. Williams will probably never be a world-class one-on-one defender, however improved lateral movement and more effort fighting through picks would suffice.
Parker is excellent at corralling opponents on the perimeter.
Parker has also often been questioned about his capabilities on defense partly because he almost always gives up size and strength to opposing guards. But Parker has made considerable strides on defense in his 11-year career and become a solid on-ball defender with quick hands to poke at the ball -- though he's never generated a ton of steals -- and make quality contests on jump shots. He slides his feet well and doesn't lack for effort. Plus, he's developed a solid grasp of help defense and scoots back pretty fast in transition playing in Gregg Popovich's defensive system .
Scores (out of 10): Parker 8, Williams 7.5
Finishing
Parker takes roughly half his shots inside of nine feet due largely in part to his ability to get to the rim and his elegant floater. His teardrop runner is one of the very best and simply an unblockable shot. He flips it up with his right hand after springing off of two feet, and is at his best when driving across the lane to his right. When taking it all the way, he's adept at finishing with either hand and uses the rim well to shield defenders.
Parker's teardrop runner is one of the best in the business.
Williams on the other hand isn't nearly as good around the rim as he used to be. Shooting a career-low 55.3 percent at the rim (on just 3.8 attempts) means he's one of the least effective starting point guards when it comes to finishing in the lane. In fact, that's the lowest percentage among players who average at least 20 points.
Everything about Williams' game -- his size, strength, quickness and leaping ability -- would seem to indicate that he could be one of the league's very best at the rim. But Williams has made the conscious decision to settle for more jump shots. No surprise then that he's shooting a career-worst 41 percent from the field. But once he's in the lane, he can absorb contact and still get off a good shot. His very respectable 5.7 free throw attempts per game don't hurt, either.
Scores (out of 10): Parker 10, Williams 8.5
Final score: Williams 53, Parker 52.5
Parker is playing at an exceptional level, but Williams gets the nod here thanks to his unique combo as a game-breaking scorer and one of the league's purest passers. Williams is as good as any point guard in the game one-one-one offensively, while at the same time possessing a pure point guard's mentality and skill. His 57 points against Charlotte on March 4 is the single-game high for the season. He's also got assist totals of 20, 15 and 14 (four times) and despite fierce compe ion is a solid bet for All-NBA second team.
Parker is having arguably the best season of his career and as the Spurs' clear No. 1 option, his name has popped up in the MVP conversation as of late. He's got San Antonio humming -- (10-1 in its past 11) and the Spurs are poised for another run at the Finals. His experience is unmatched as his possession of three rings and a Finals MVP trophy suggests.
For all his ability Williams has yet to turn New Jersey into a winner, but he could hardly be expected to do it so soon with the Nets' youth, inexperience and injuries. Even still Williams is in the debate as the league's best point guard. Parker's speed, intelligence and prowess in the lane should keep him among the elite point guards for some time but for now, even with all that hardware, he's looking up at Williams.
He basically wrote that long article to tell everyone he thinks Williams is .5 Palmer Points better than Parker.
Entertaining read. Good piece for a casual NBA fan. Damn stupid way to compare two players. Deron Williams very well could be better but picking random categories and rating 1-10 isn't the way to figure it out, tbh.
Lol rating Williams half a point behind on defense just so he could say Williams won.
Thank you Ricky Davis.
I'd say overall Williams is a slightly better player. They're in very different situations though. I think Williams would do well on this Spurs team and I think Parker would go off every night with the nets.
It's just funny how he put together a ratings system so his analysis could seem "objective". As if he didn't already know what the outcome would be until he got to the end and tallied his scores. "Wow, what a close finish!"
I like the conclusion "he's looking up at Williams."
Come on 0.5 point... and he makes it sound as if Muggsy Bogues is looking up at Manute Bol
WTF? so Williams is .5 better than Parker? LOL Thats a bold statement.
Tbh, I'd probably go:
Ball handling
Parker 10, Williams 10
Shooting
Parker 5, Williams 8
Athleticism
Parker 7, Williams 8
Passing
Parker 8, Williams 9
Defense
Parker 8.5, Williams 6
Finishing
Parker 10, Williams 7.5
Over the last five years or so, I'd say Williams is the better player. But this year, Williams has been pretty damn bad. Career-low assists, career-high turnovers, poor shooting, FTA down, rebounding down ... and his team sucks in a horrible conference.
If we're talking just this season, Parker >>>>>>>>>> Williams.
If we say Steve Nash is the benchmark for best passer in the game, I'd say Deron is alot closer than Parker is in that regard. So probablt put Parker at 7.5, and Williams at 9.
For shooting, I think 5 is too low for Parker. His midrange game has been deadly this year. Minus points for lack of a consistant 3-point shot, but not too much. Deron is one of the best shooting PG in the game. Parker 7 Williams 9.5
Edit: I'm talking about shooting in the context of jumpshots only, not overall FG%.
Their ball handling styles are very different so it's kind of difficult to say one is "better" than the other. Parker's goal is to get in the paint. Williams' goal is to get his shot off. I might give a slight edge to Williams when it comes dribbling for his ability to get defenders off balance. Parker has that ability too, but I don't think he's as skilled as Deron. This is really just nitpicking though because, again, I find it difficult to compare the two.
Parker is better at finishing but I didn't realize how bad Williams had dropped off the past 2 seasons.
FG% from 3-9 feet:
____________Williams__Parker
2010-2011: __27.8%___52.9%
2011-2012: __32.4%___44.9%
Why no PER or PC score?
At the very least, you have to take the American because the Spurs are full of players from foreign lands.
The 4 letter is BIASED.
Diaw wanted to read it but his mum came and she hasn't allowed him to read it.
"It's not an individual sport" she said.
It's espn insider mumbo jumbo jet. 747% of nonsense statacada.
Stop posting
That was lame.... He basically bashed william's "finishing" but still gave him a decent score of 8.5 at the end to make him better than parker... so lame.
Since Williams entered the league, Parker is shooting about 51% from the floor. I don't know exactly how that works out to a 7 out of 10 in "shooting", muchless a 5.
Shot selection
Williams 4 Parker 8
Sooo if we had Williams instead of Parker, the Spurs would be 0.5 points better too ??
D-Will's numbers look a little better simply because he has been "the man" on his teams just about his entire career. TP has had to share the spotlight his entire career with two other legends. Look at how his numbers improved this year with Manu out. Put Parker on the Jazz teams that D-Will played on and I think his numbers would be higher as well.
Tony's heart and desire were heavily questioned after last year when he got embarrassed by Mike Conley in the playoffs and made some questionable comments in the offseason. His play this year has put those questions to rest and he has once again showed himself to be an elite clutch player. TP has that special ability to kick his game up a notch and completely take over the game that few others possess. Timvp calls it "god mode". We've all seen it, where he drives to the paint at will and hits jumpers when the defender backs off. He does this several possessions in a row and just destroys the will of the other team.
D-Will is an exceptional player, and has been the best point guard in the league for most of his career. I believe Parker's ceiling is higher than his though. I think this year Parker has been better. The way he has led the team this year in Manu's absence has really impressed me. I think the media, and even most Spurs fans have underestimated him for most of his career. People forget that he is a Finals MVP and has performed brilliantly on the biggest stage in the world. Considering the failures of other elite players on that stage when the bright lights are on them (ie Lebron) that is not something that should be overlooked.
Isn't picking a shot part of shooting?
the categories of shooting, scoring and finishing all seemed pretty redundant to me
There's this thing called "margin of error." Pollsters know all about it - basically any two numbers within the margin of error cannot be evaluated as one being better than the other.
When you are making up bull 1-10 rankings based on subjective feelings, your margin of error is going to be huge. 0.5 points doesn't prove because the margin of error in this comparison's going to end up being somewhere between 5 and 15 points.
Count the rings! Deron wants to play for Portland anyway, lol.
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