Golden era of point guard is past us

It’s been said that if the NBA Western Conference playoffs are compared to the NCAA tournament, the Eastern Conference is the NIT. Current Vegas odds show that the Lakers and Kings are favored to win the championship at 2-1. The Spurs are right behind them at 5-2. The Mavs are next at 8-1. To find an Eastern Conference team, you need to travel down to the depths of odds at 20-1 before finding the favorite, the New Jersey Nets, a team not as good as the one that got swept in the Finals last year.

SO WHY EXACTLY is the East the Republican Guard of the basketball world — an undermanned cluster just waiting to get routed by the mighty forces of the West? At last check there still appears to be talent east of the Mississippi, particularly at the all-important point guard position (see: Iverson, Kidd, Payton, Baron Davis), so why can’t these All-Stars lead their teams over the West on the big stage?

It wasn’t always like this. Point guards in the not-so-distant past were essential to winning an NBA title. The great championship teams of the ’80s always featured great talent at the point: Magic’s Lakers, Isiah’s Pistons, and DJ’s Celtics. And who could forget Mo Cheeks running the Sixers’ offense so effectively with sight in only one eye?

In today’s NBA, the mantra for champion point guards is similar to Super Bowl-winning NFL quarterbacks of the new millennium: Make the smart play and DO NOT turn the ball over. Let the defense and real playmakers (in the NBA’s case, forwards and centers) win the game. The last three winning Super Bowl quarterbacks — Brad Johnson, Tom Brady and Trent Dilfer — are exactly those kinds of players: Good, but not spectacular. The same characterization can be given to the championship point guards of the past dozen years.

A recent ranking on About.com of NBA point guards lists the owner of more championship rings than any active point guard in the league — the Lakers’ Derek Fisher — at No. 29. With Kobe and Shaq handling the scoring duties, Fisher averages only 10 points per game. Still, when applying the aforementioned mantra, Fisher does his job by only turning the ball over once a game. On the offensive side, Fisher’s biggest asset is hitting timely, nobody-within-10-feet-of-him 3-pointers when Shaq and/or Kobe are double teamed.

Nevertheless, would the Lakers have dominated with almost any other point guard in the league?

Uh, yeah.

The last point guard to win a championship before Fisher was Avery Johnson with the Spurs. Johnson averaged 9.7 points per game but had the league’s second lowest assists-to-turnover ratio during San Antonio’s strike-year run to the championship in ’99.

Now Johnson backs up Nick Van Exel in Dallas, who backs up Steve Nash (see: third stringer). The Spurs, owners of the best record in the league, have apparently overcome the loss of Avery.

Before Johnson, who was the floor general that won three consecutive rings with the Bulls from 1996-’98? Ron Harper, of course.

Harper, however, was not a true point guard (the Bulls originally signed him to replace Jordan at two guard after his first retirement), and only played the position because no one else could. With Jordan and Scottie Pippen carrying the offense, was there any doubt where the ball was going after breaking half court? (Hint: Not Luc Longley or Dennis Rodman).

Despite not being a natural at the position, the list of point guards Harper held his own against during this run included future Hall of Famers Gary Payton and John Stockton (twice).

When Jordan decided to give baseball a whirl in ’94 and ’95, the Rockets were the NBA champions by default. Kenny Smith, a tremendous foil for Charles Barkley on the TNT NBA studio set but not someone that could be confused for an All-Star point guard, ran the show for Houston during those seasons. Smith’s only All-Star appearances occurred in the 2003 NBA All-Star Celebrity game (as coach) and on the NBA All-Rookie team in 1986. The Rockets were clearly outclassed in the backcourt, but to Smith’s and Sam Cassell’s credit, neutralized the superior Derek Harper (Knicks) and Penny Hardaway (Magic), respectively during those seasons.

Before Jordan’s first retirement, the Bulls ran off their first three championships with BJ Armstrong at the point. Armstrong averaged 12 points per game, but played hard and rarely turned the ball over (1.2 per game). The effectiveness of Armstrong as an individual talent, however, is reflected in the fact that he only started for one other team (Golden State) for one year after leaving the Bulls in 1995, relegated to the bench during the final six years of his career.

Regardless, at least in terms of wins and losses, Armstrong was better than point guards Magic Johnson (Lakers), Terry Porter (Blazers) and Kevin Johnson (Suns) in the Bulls first three Finals victories.

The last celebrated point guard to win a championship was Isiah Thomas and the dominant Detroit teams of 1989 and 1990 (8-1 in the Finals those two years). Amazingly, Thomas is the last point guard to win a championship and make the All-Star team in the same season. He also won the Finals MVP award in the 1989-90 playoffs. No point guard has won it since.

“I think that there are more good, big players in the Western Conference,” Nets GM Rod Thorn told me. “When you talk about Shaq, hands down the best center in the league, Divac, still one of the top centers in the league, Garrnett, Webber, Duncan, Rasheed Wallace … you got some of the best players in the league with size. I think that’s what makes the Western Conference, right now, superior to the Eastern Conference.”

Having a quality point guard to run the offense used to be a cornerstone of NBA championships. But if the last dozen titleholders are any indication, point guards have become anything but the focal point.

Joe Concha is a New York-based writer and a regular contributor to NBCSports.com. Please send questions or comments to joeconcha@yahoo.com.