The NBA’s Endangered Species list
By John Likanje
3. True point guards
The ideal modern NBA lineup involves both guards being effective shooters. Point guards especially must be able to shoot because their primary responsibility is to dictate the tempo and score if no other offensive options are available. (This is mostly the case for teams in which the starting point guard isn’t the primary scoring option.)
Before the current era, most true guards played a pass-first style and rarely looked to the basket. Defenses adjusted with various schemes, such as daring them to shoot or setting up zones to cut off passing lanes. Chris Paul is the exception to this player archetype with deadly mid-range shooting. The 10-time All-Star has shot 50.7 percent from inside the arc for his career, including 47.1 percent between 10-24 feet. Paul has developed into a 3-point shooter as well, converting 37 percent of his long-range looks for his career.
But Rajon Rondo, who exemplifies the definition of a “true point guard,” is on the fringes of his playing time in the association. The four-time All-Star has shot 31.6 percent from distance in his career and only averaged 1.4 attempts per game. His career-high average in attempts for a single season is 3.1 per game in 2018-19.
Current “endangered” true point guards: Rajon Rondo, Ricky Rubio