An Outsider's Questions About Chris Paul's Health

Was there a confidence issue?
There most certainly was. Paul didn’t seem comfortable with his knee brace, he seemed restrictive and rarely took anything but a jumpshot. It was terrfying to see because we all knew he could be so much more. (I guess that answers your question about the knee-brace).

Did Monty Williams install a new system?
Defensively, yes. The Hornets jumped something like 10 teams in defensive ranking. Offensively, there were slight tinkers here or there. But it pretty much still relied on Paul creating for himself and others. CP actually does a lot of the play calling when on the court. Something that was being installed a bit more throughout the season was utilizing off-ball screens. It didn’t really work, it was more for show, but none the less it was a slight adjustment. Nothing that would have hampered his production.

Did he play better once the brace was off?
He did, but it was obvious that his explosiveness had been lost. He seemed much more crafty than fast. People who think he’s a fast break point guard are quite wrong. He manipulates. It’s tough to watch him not be aggressive towards the basket. I’m not sure what his attempts at the rim look like, but they must have gone down.

We all hope Paul can return to form which is why it was so pleasing to watch the NBA playoffs. In the games that he played in the regular season, not one could be considered “dominating.” He constantly under-whelmed and really didn’t show us why he was the best point guard. Honestly though, coming off a serious injury like he had, it was to be expected for him to take some time.

I think the LA series reminded him how good he could be. Hopefully he can get back to throwing up 30/15/5 nights for the next few years.

P.S. Could you tell your Knicks friends to back off? hehe :)

He’s still, far and away, the best point guard in the game. Those two can be exclusive. Fact of the matter is Paul has lost a step with that knee injury and that’s to be expected. He was a lot more athletic when he came into the league (anyone remember the dunk on Dwight Howard) and the fact that he’s not now can’t always be seen as a bad thing. At the end of the day, that limits a lot more reckless injuries that could affect Paul long term and he’s definitely responded to the new limitations by becoming a smarter player. He also controlled the pace for the Hornets a lot this year and that offensive pace being slowed definitely affected his numbers. He struggled mightily around the February/March timeline but I don’t think it was just Derek Fisher that had Chris Paul playing great against the Lakers. The Lakers tried many different defenders on Paul; all of them failed. It was Paul. It wasn’t Fisher.