WINNING- THE CHRIS PAUL WAY

Anthony Marinoff

Many think that you need an NBA championship to even be considered an all-time great, however there are numerous players who have not won a ring and yet are regarded as all-time greats. Allen Iverson, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, the list is longer than some may think.

But there is one player who I would say is the winningest player without a ring, and that is Chris Paul. Now, in year 17, CP3 is leading the Phoenix Suns to an NBA best, 48-10 record while sitting atop the league in assists, and more recently holding a seat at this past All-Star game. Paul has a history of winning wherever he goes- so let's dive into it.

When Chris Paul came out of high school and evolved into the NCAA, he attended Wake Forest University. In his freshman year at Wake Forest, Paul brought his club to the round of sixteen where they eventually lost to the number one seeded St. Joseph Hawks. He went on to win ACC rookie of the year. In his sophomore year, he led the Demon Deacons towards the program’s first ever number one ranking in the country.

While they did not win the NCAA championship, Chris was named to the First Team Consensus All-American. An overall successful college career when talking about winning and improving a college basketball team.

After college, CP was drafted fourth overall to the New Orleans Hornets (now known as the New Orleans Pelicans). In his first year, Paul improved the Hornets record by 20 games finishing 38-44. In his third year, he led the team to a franchise record 56 wins. The Hornets were never notorious for punching their postseason tickets- having just won two playoff series in its history, but CP’s team is responsible for half of those.

In his first ever playoff game, Paul threw up 35 points, fifth most ever in a debut playoff game. The following game, he dropped a franchise record 17 assists. He was that guy in 2008 despite the Hornets dropping the Western Conference Semi Final in seven games to the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs.

Two seasons later, Chris faced his first significant injury with torn cartilage in his left knee, forcing him to miss 37 games. The team’s record without him was 14-23 versus 23-22 with him that season, showing just how valuable he was to the team’s success.

The following season, Paul had a matchup against the reigning champions, the Los Angeles Lakers but lost in six games. While Chris Paul did not have much playoff success with the Hornets, he helped David West become a two time All-Star and have the best two years of his career. On top of that, Paul paved the way towards the team’s only division title, helping the Hornets achieve it’s longest win streak of ten games (twice).

After a sour ending in New Orleans, Chris Paul demanded a trade and shortly thereafter was shipped to the Los Angeles Lakers where he would have been teamed up with Kobe Bryant if acting commissioner David Stern did not veto the trade. Some say that if the trade had stuck around, Paul would have won at least one championship. Instead, Paul got traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, pairing up with the Rookie Of The Year at the time, Blake Griffin.

In his first year with the franchise, he ended a six year playoff drought and improved the Clippers record by eight wins. In years two and three, Paul helped capture the team’s only division titles in franchise history while setting a team record for wins in a season at 57. In five out of six seasons with LA, Paul led the Clippers to five straight 50-win seasons, something the team has yet to come close to achieving. The previous record was 49 wins.

In six years, Chris Paul helped Deandre Jordan lead the league in field goal percentage and make three All-NBA teams and one NBA All-Star team; a feat Deandre has yet to accomplish with any other team. Blake Griffin was a six time all star, with four of those coming with Chris by his side. JJ Reddick led the league in three point percentage and set a career high in the same category with CP. The list goes on and on for what Paul has done throughout his career to elevate everyone’s game. Not only did he help everyone get better but he helped the team win, assisting the Clippers in setting a new franchise record for wins in a row at 17.

You may be asking how did the Clippers fail to win a championship that season despite the clubs regular-season success stories; and there is a very simple answer to that: injuries. In four straight years, either Chris Paul, Blake Griffin or both got injured. In such a loaded western conference, it was extremely hard to move on.

With all of the playoff disappointments starting to add up, tensions began to rise and Paul was the victim of it’s brute force, eventually getting traded to his third NBA team: the Houston Rockets.

With the Golden State Warriors signing Kevin Durant, it looked impossible for anyone to beat them, yet Houston was the closest in doing so. In the point god’s first season in Houston, Chris Paul helped the Rockets post an NBA best and franchise record 65 wins.

In the conference finals, Houston was up 3-2 in their series against the Golden State Warriors but in game five, Paul’s injury bug finally arrived from LA as he pulled his hamstring. Golden State went on to win games six and seven before dominating in the NBA finals. Had Chris Paul not gone down, we would be looking at him very differently and I probably would not be writing this, but we cannot base history on ifs, only on facts.

The next season in Houston, Harden averaged a career high in points and the second most points per game in NBA history with 36.1. However, the playoffs did not end well and the Rockets were bounced in the second round. Chris was having chemistry issues with James and was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. In just two years, Chris won two of Houston’s division titles, helped Harden become a prolific scorer and played a leading role in helping the franchise win in so many different ways, including a team-best 17 game win streak while also leaving behind one of the NBA’s biggest what ifs.

Once CP was traded to OKC, everyone thought his career was done, that he was washed. The Thunder had a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs at the beginning of the season. The team was just a bunch of old veterans and a ton of really young guys but that did not change Paul’s mindset, he wanted to win. The Thunder ended up making the playoffs and posted their best winning percentage in four years while finishing fifth in the west.

They lost in seven games in the first round to Paul’s ex-team, the Houston Rockets but for a team that was built to tank, to take a contending team to seven games is unheard of. Chris revived not only his own career but helped Dennis Schroeder have the best and most efficient year of his career, but most importantly, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took that next step in his career with the help of the Point God himself.

After a one year stint with OKC, Paul’s value skyrocketed, leading to him being dealt to the Phoenix Suns. The Suns were a young and hungry team who had just missed the playoffs a season prior but with CP there, they made it no problem. Chris and the Suns marched all the way to the finals and improved the team’s record by 17 wins. They lost in six games to the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antentekoumpo’s historic finals performance.

Even though they lost, that was the team’s first finals in 28 years, something the city of Phoenix has been waiting for. This season, at age 37, CP has guided the Suns to an NBA best 48-10 record while leading the way to their franchise record 18 game win streak earlier this season. They are one of the favourites to win the championship this year but as we know, availability is your best ability.

Chris Paul has put his hand in every cookie jar across the league. He has been on five different teams and has improved every single one from the year before. He’s taken several teams to new heights, set franchise records across the nation, and does not look like he's slowing down anytime soon. He is the only player in NBA history to lead three different teams to 17+ game win streaks. He is the only player to have a 20 point-20 assist game with zero turnovers. He has the best assist to turnover ratio of all time. He is the second oldest player to drop 40+ in a playoff game. He has a career 65% win percentage. All this dude does is win but due to a lot of bad luck in his career, he has never gotten that coveted championship. If the Suns can stay healthy, this team can go deep.

They are my pick to win it all.