Guards that average a large number of points in the paint tend to excel at dribble penetration (duh). And dribble penetration is one very basic way of creating offense — by getting an easy basket in the paint, or getting fouled and shooting free throws, or making the defense collapse and passing to get an open perimeter jump shot.
One of the best in the business at dribble penetration is Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs — and if there is one video you need to watch today, it is this one:
Parker, who probably has the best spin move in the game, also is incredibly agile, crafty, and an excellent finisher in the paint — in case you didn’t figure that out. While the majority of the video is devoted to his scoring, the last two minutes or so, are devoted to his passing highlights (which are almost as good as his scoring highlights). I emphasize this because Parker creates as much offense off his passing and the focus the opposing defense has to give him, as he does by finishing at the rim.
Without further ado, here are your six guards that averaged the greatest number of points in the paint during the regular season:
While most of these players are shooting guards (which is not surprising), they also averaged a decent amount of assists per game (Tyreke Evans was the only guard that had a bad assist average) — which backs up the intuition that dribble penetration creates offense.
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Who do you consider the best dribble-penetrating guard? Vote now!