Why Chris Paul should have made the 2017 NBA All-Star team

An offensive leader

Let’s start on offense, where Paul is clearly the most productive and important part of one of the best offenses in the league. The Clippers are sixth in the NBA in offensive rating with a mark of 111.8 points scored per 100 possessions, up from 108.3 points per 100 possessions last season. Paul, as always, is the unquestioned floor general and maestro that puts his teammates in position to score as easily and efficiently as possible and/or attacks opposing defenses himself off the dribble or the jumper.

Paul is second on the Clippers in scoring at 17.5 points per game, but averages more assists (9.7 assists per game, fourth in the NBA) than the rest of the Clippers’ starting line-up combined (7.5 total assists per game). This illustrates how much the ball is always in his hands as the primary decision-maker. In addition to the volume distributing, he also takes excellent care of the ball with very few turnovers (2.4 turnovers per game). He is excellent at probing defenses off the dribble, and keeping that dribble alive until either a teammate comes open to shoot or else he can unbalance the defense enough to get his own shot.

When he does look to score himself, he does so extremely efficiently (61.1 true shooting percentage, 18th in the NBA) as well. With his high scoring efficiency and high assist-to-turnover ratio (4.0), Paul maximizes the scoring opportunities for his team. It isn’t at all surprising that the Clippers’ offense with Paul on the court has an offensive rating of 118.1 points per 100 possessions, 11.2 points better than when he isn’t on the court and higher than the 115.9 points per 100 possessions of the leading offense in the league (Golden State Warriors).