Top 50: Chris Paul, no. 4

by Khalid Salaam Two years ago I started referring to Chris Paul as ‘The Definition.’ I wasn’t really feeling CP3 as a nickname (it makes me think of that corny gold-plated droid in the Star Wars movies) and I wanted to capture the essence of his game. So ‘The Definition’ was born. As in, he’s the definition of what you want in a point guard. It hasn’t really stuck, though. And his overall buzz has been on mute all offseason after that horrendous, hoc-spit of game the Hornets played to close out their First Round playoff series against Denver last spring. In last postseason’s 5-game series loss to Denver, his assist numbers were still respectable (10.4) but his scoring was down 6 points from the regular season and he averaged damn near 5 turnovers, which nearly doubled his regular season numbers. Point blank, neither he nor the Hornets played well and their outlook for the ‘09-10 season isn’t looking that hot either. This is a team with supreme li...