The Deep 3 Podcast - We Picked Which NBA Point Guard Is Better: Old vs New | TD3 Clips

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

Which generation of NBA point guards are you taking? #nba Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Mo's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm going to name two NBA players, both of which are point guards. One is old, one is new. You let me know who you'd rather have on your team. Who's better? Not who's better all time, not always a better resume, who is better at basketball at their peak. At their peak. Yep. Something we've done before.

Bring you back with point guards. Do some names we haven't done yet. First off, Jeff Teague versus Tyrese Maxie. Tyres Maxi. Both made an all-star team. Both, you know, like complimentary players to their superstars. Actually, not even superstars in Jeff T's case. Compromote two players to Damari Carol and Paul Mills.

Yeah. And I think that's the, that's kind of where we're at. Tyrese is a complimentary piece to Joelle and B. Jeff T. Also, Jeff Tick has done, and many people have said that, he's done negative PR by telling us like how regular he was. But that's so genius though, too. But guess what?

I'm going to believe you. I'm taking Tyrese maxi. Yeah, it's easily Tyrese maxi. Yeah, it's easily Tyrese maxi. Because Jeff Teague, I will say a strength of his game is that he has a fan tag. He's so great when it comes to having this in-between game is mid-range pull-up was genuinely, it's better than Tyrese for sure. But when it comes to like

he's a middle of the tier point guard. Better playmaker. But only only made one on the start team on that team when they made like the whole team on there. He's a better playmaker for sure. He processes the game probably better right now, but Tyrese maxi still has like star qualities. I think this is closer than you think.

There's, I think Teague is just a tier below Tyrese max. He's a tier below in terms of like a dynamic score for sure just because he's not the shooter that Tyre's. But I don't know like he's a better playmaker I don't know how to parse their defense Tyrese is so young He's not a good defender yet I mean neither of them are like

Locking him wasn't like yeah Teague wasn't like that I feel if yeah I feel there's probably clips with there of Teague been like I can go fuck about defense I wasn't playing defense I think further at their age Tyrese is definitely better than Jeff Teague was at this age Yes so we'll talk about Tyrese

For sure it's Tyrese but I feel like there's some elements of like Teague's ability as a as a driver and playmaker that I'm like Hold on, it might be kind of close, all things considered. Nah, I think Tyrese's suiting ability and how DP can pull it up, pull it from two, this is a big separator. Okay. And the day, I'm stuck on

Tyrus Maxie. I'm saying as close as you might think. Next one, Tony Parker or Tyrese Halliburton? This is very hard. That's weird to parse. One is a member of a legacy team playing off of Tim Duncan, amazing in his role as a tertiary player. Could be the best player on a team if needed. I don't know if they'd win championships.

Tyreys Halliburton, you know, done a lot of winning, but not at the highest level yet hasn't finished the job both one thing I can say that they have in common other than them being less skin is that they're not like the most impressive defenders at all yeah I'm sure there's years that Tony Parker

was a better defender than Tyreus Halliburton I'm sure there's years when he was younger where he was a passable solid defender this is a conversation that we might be the first people to ever have this conversation we're making human history right now bro so it's hard to say like one for one situations I don't think Tony Parker could

the Pacers team to the finals. But that's also, you know, like a specific-ass scenario. I don't know if Hallibur would probably win championships in Tinnukin, too, but I don't want to take away what Parker did. Yeah, it's just hard because, like, if you're playing off of Tim Duncan and you're going and you're not playing this super up-and-down style of basketball, can you score in the half court the way that Tony Parker did? I'm not sure.

He was so perfectly suited for that, and that's not Tyrese's game. I think if I'm rebuilding a team from scratch, I'm doing a fantasy draft across history, I'm picking Tyre's Helleburdon first, but it's a tough conversation. Obviously, okay, so I think, like, based on, I don't, this is, I think I'm going Tyrese. I think I'm going Tyrese because. All right, well, I got to stand it for Tony Parker. I'm going to Tony Parker. I think the shooting outweighs it for me and also the playmaking is so, like, incredibly generational, incredibly generation.

Yeah. And like, Tyrese has scaled to scoring up when needed and gotten buckets in a way you don't really think of it for his archetype. And I'm Parker also can make plays and step into a bigger role on a different team of needed. So, like, they can both do their other specialty to some extent. Yeah. I'm not having a clean sweep because it is closer than that Yeah, so I'll go to Tony Ponce.

Yeah, I'm not mad to either. I'll come here, but is it really, would you really like, I guess it's hard because in today's NBA for you said the shooting, you're definitely taking Tyrus Halliburton, but that's also a little unfair because Tony Parker didn't come up today.

He'd probably shoot the three better if he came up today. Most definitely. It's, Tony Parker's, he's quick and he can get downhill and all that. Like his floater game, his in between game was also,

was also disgusting. Is he Darius Garland in today's NBA? He probably, What's out of a three-point shot? He'd probably develop three a little closer to Garland. Even if Garland's a better three-point shooter, he's better in-between guy. I don't know. Maybe.

That's hard. Yeah. All right. I want to see him with today's NBA. That'd be interesting simulation. Okay. Raymond Felton or Josh Giddy. What are you talking about right now, man?

We're talking about Raymond Felton versus Josh Giddy. I'm going to Raymond Felton. Why? Vibes. Just want a cool guy to get along with. Have a couple laughs. Hell yeah. All it comes out of here.

Hell yeah. What do you want Josh Giddy for? Tim, he's a good passer. He will feed my young prospects. Raymond Felton average 7.4 assists in 2008. That's amazing for 2008 basketball. As a member of the Charlotte Hornets. Or was that Bobcats at the time?

Bobcats. Bobcats, I mean. Yeah. Close conversation. But I'm taking Giddy. This is probably the only and last time I'm taking Giddy on anything. I will never take Giddy on anything. No, I'm taking Raymond Feltsch.

Give you Raymond Felon. I don't want to pay Josh to get you $30 million. Raymond Felton will play for the league minimum. Rajon Rondo or Cade Cunningham. Ooh. That's a hard one because obviously Rondo, for what he does as the slashing amazing playmaker, one of the best at that.

Complainix of superstars can be a step in a bigger role like we saw it later in that Southeast tenure. Cade, a little more well round as a score, but doesn't dual his strengths of the strength of the strength of Rondo. See, okay, so the jumper from Rondo is the thing where it's really separate because Vrano had any semblance of a jumper.

He did towards the back half of his career. But it was never like super, super consistent. Yeah, but after you couldn't slash it anymore. Yeah, like Prime Rondo did not have that jumper. And it was something where every game, like every big playoff game, you're like, hey, Vrondo can give you 14 the night. Yeah. We can be good.

But I do think, I think if you're starting a team from the ground up, you would take K just because he can score a little bit more and you can kind of feel things. in around it, but if you have one other All-Star on the team, I would take Rondo. I think I would take Rondo. Rondo had years where he was all defense on DPOI ballots while still being the primary

ball handler averaging 10 assists a game. Like, he's such a unique player that doesn't check as many boxes as Cade who can do a few more things, just not as well. But I think maybe K. gets there eventually, but I think right now Prime Rondo is still better. And even with, once he was past his prime, you still had like the playoff Rondo stuff.

Yeah. Where he can go and he was going places where the Bulls about to win a playoff series yeah the the the lakers got got playoff rondo you got the pelicans that had their run with rondo as well he goes into places and he does elevate their their floor kade might have a year where he can test for an MVP and is better but i think so far kade's won all-star year versus rondo's four-year all-star run give me rondo yeah exactly it's unfair for kade because we haven't seen the finalized version of him we did see him take a huge leap as a score specifically but there's still some things that will hold him back from a general like oh my god like

all-time thought process when it comes to Cade Cunningham compared to Rondo. Okay. Those, man. Pretty soon. He might get there. We'll see.

Gilbert Arenas versus Trey Young. Yeah, I'm not taking Gilbert Arinas in anything right now. Give me Trayon. He beat the case. What you mean? Let's out bed on Trey-O. That's funny.

No comment. Gary Payton versus Damian Lillard. Ooh. I like this combo. Maybe the best defensive point guard of the last 40 years. I like this combo. A lot.

Versus Lillian is honestly top 10 offensive point guard of all time, potentially, like just on pay by his peak. I'm not even thinking about it. I think he's easily, I don't know about easily, but he's definitely top 10. He's in that conversation of all time. Offensive. Like not accolades, just like at their peak 2023 Dame. There might not be 10 better offensive point guards they've ever played.

This is incredibly close. Payton was not a slouch on offense. He wasn't, but the level that Dame is at offensively, it's, it's so rare. And some of the teams that we were seeing him play with. where you go back and if they got a little bit more from their front office they could have done some

they could have made some runs but I think the fact when you look at shooters Dame is probably one of the five best shooters of all time his off the dribble stuff his ability to shoot from deep it provides a scoring floor

that I don't think not not I don't think I know like GP doesn't have the deep the two way ability is still crazy but even GP couldn't shut down Dan and I think like that's That's the best version, that's the best option that you have to shut down Dame.

I think Dame still gets 20, at least 23 on him. He's a DPOI, average in 28 assists a game. Like, that's one of the more well-rounded primitive players you've ever seen. Get tough, man. Made the finals. It's so incredibly tough, so incredibly tough. New combo. Would you rather have C.J. McCollum or Sean Camp?

What? What are you talking about? For counterfeit, fair counterpoint. I'll go Gary Payton with the caveat that I'll run. I'd rather have a close thought experiment, though. Yeah, that's close. Isaiah Thomas or John Morant. John Morant, no matter what.

But that one year of all NBA, Isaiah Thomas? Yeah, I'm taking John Morant. You're taking 22, John Moran over that, Isaiah? I don't know if I would. If we're going peak for peak, best year versus the best year, I'm taking Isaiah Thomas. They're both obviously defensive liabilities. But Isaiah Thomas's level of being a defensive liability is, like, indefensible. Isaiah Thomas was scoring 50 in the first.

playoffs he was i'm going i'm not going to lie that one year of it there's a lot of players i pick over that john moran hasn't quite hit that level where i say you have to pick job like there's not one single year of jah where he was that prolific of a score and the clutch scoring from it that year where he was averaging he was averaging like eight or nine points in the fourth quarter alone it was ridiculous true engine of a half-court offense we've never seen jah lead like a true high-level offense they've always won despite their half-court offense they got to the conference finals i understand that they beat john wall and there's one you versus one year. We're not talking about body of work here.

I know. For a singular year, I think I'm still taking job. Pick the small guy. Listen, you guys got a result with your king. I'm taking job. Y'all reside with Joe King. I'm taking job. Stay over there. I'm over here. No, I do think that level. Like, jaw hasn't hit that strip. That level, I don't think. Chris Paul versus Kyrie Irving. This one was debate all over Twitter. I saw this and it's like, oh, you guys are clearly 12.

Yeah. You guys clearly have not seen. Or you've clearly never listened to somebody to talk about basketball outside of points. game. I put this here just to talk about it. This is not a conversation. Chris Paul is a light years ahead of Kyrie. Yes. Yeah. Congratulations, Kyrie. He is the better ball handler or whatever. He has better handles. Flash your handles. Sure. He is the better three-point shooter. Absolutely better. But also that's the thing. Chris Paul got it and is by like a large chunk. You mentioned all those things that he's better at. Chris Paul is also great handle. Also a great shooter. And then everything he does well, thousand times better at.

Great defender. Yeah, that's the thing. People forget that he's also like an all NBA level Defender as a young guy. So one of the best position as Defender, top three passer of all time, great score, great at elevating stars next to him, great at elevating stars next to him. Great at elevating teams.

It literally is like Chris Paul goes to a place and instantly they win 10 more games and he boosts up every single franchise. It's the complete opposite. They're like three, like in an all-time conversation, they're like, Chris Paul's three tiers above Kyrie. It's that much of a gap.

Salute to Kyrie, He's a great player all time, obviously, top 65 player of all time, wherever you want to put him. Chris Ball, because he played for so long, and so many young people remember the watched version of him, is probably going to go down as, like, the most underrated player of all time. I hope that doesn't happen. I hope that is false.

It is true, though, because he doesn't have the rings. He doesn't have an MVP. It is going to happen. And maybe not most underrated player, but most underrated, like, all-time legend of all-time. There's role players, people forgot about probably more than him that, like, whatever underrated means to you. But among legends that are clearly top 40 players of all time,

Chris Ball is the most disrespectful. If you watch more than just highlights, you're taking Chris Paul. Easy. It's not even a conversation. Yeah. And like, and it's not even just like, even at their, even at their best. Like even if you go 2015 Kyrie versus 2015 Chris Paul, I'm still taking Chris Paul in that moment. It's baffling this conversation.

And it's like, there's real people that think that besides 12 year olds. So I don't want to just dismiss that as like only children because it's not just children. It's just like. But it is a childlike opinion. Yeah, it's not smart. I'm not here to say it's a good opinion. I'm not here to say it's defensible. But, like, there's enough people that I feel this way

that I'm like, it's worth talking about. People put so much... The strengths of Kyrie, people really, really value those strengths in particular in all-time debates. Scoring on-ball buckets as, like, the only thing end-l-b-all. The game's about a bucket. And the day, score more points than the other guy. Why would I not pick the better score?

That's such a prevalent mindset that I can't just, like, write it off. But it's so crazy. Because Chris Ball, people, like, the value of playmaking is so underestimated by so many people. And I think another layer of this conversation, too, is that it helps so much considering the situational differences between the two. Carey's made it to the finals multiple times. Of course, one of the best, maybe even the best player of all time in LeBron. And also, he happened to play one of the most talented players that we've ever seen, period. And Luca Donchins was able to make it to the finals as well.

but when you take a step back outside of that it's just been a whole lot of misfortune. And CP3's career you could say has been misfortune to a degree but the level of talent that he's been able to play with is so night and day like worse. Brother, we keep trying to put context to it.

We have eyes. We've watched the game. That's the thing. Some people's eyes stink and they think only scoring tough mid-range buckets is what makes a player better. But Chris Paul, all he does is take from his own budget. like what are we talking about here like if we're talking about running a pick and roll and getting

to the elbow and taking that mid-range jumper and it going in every single time it's chris paul like there's no we should not be having that that conversation we talk about handles like you said yes kairie best handles of all time chris paul is on the short list in the top 10 whatever like he's he's there as well this is this is chris paul and like i'm glad that we have given these people their time they have taken too much of our time it's chris paul and we should move on there is certain that like I don't want to shame like being 12 years old you know like some people like get like certain entry level opinions you but this is one that I was going to say that I think this is one of those opinions you have to shame to like make people realize like you shouldn't

be saying the shit like it's that ridiculous I think this is our first time being on the back half of the conversation and being like wow like there's actually young people who think like this and this is our unc stage for real yeah our most unc opinion is respecting Chris Paul most definitely yeah yeah this is one's opinions that like certain 12 rules need to be shamed to maturity. And this is what I call community service. This is leading the youth into a positive direction. And that's the problem, right?

We're just trying to pass on recipes. We're just trying to make sure that we, that everyone understands. We live in a society. Exactly. See, when I was 13, I needed to be shamed out of thinking Carmelo Anthony is a top five player of all time. I need to be told that was fucking stupid. Some of certain times you need to have some like formative insults thrown your way

so you learn more about the game. I don't like the exact. I don't like the example you used, but the point is valid. You actually thought he was top five of all time? No, I used that point on purpose. Oh, man, I was about to say. Next one, Jason Terry versus DeAngelor Russell. I'm going Jason Terry.

Jason Terry, bye. No conversation? No conversation. What are we talking about? You don't think D. Lo, if he could have played in that team, he could have gotten that off the dribble shoe in a lot. Nope. Too inconsistent.

Okay, well, I thought maybe it was a conversation. Never mind. J.J. Berea versus T. T.J. McConnell. This is, this is a conversation. This is a conversation right here. And I'm going, J.J. These are comments need to be had.

I'm going JJ Barreya. I don't know. Only one of these guys locked up LeBron. Only one of these guys sent LeBron into the worst moment of his career. I'm going to Jay J.J. Brayorne. This other one was real close to sending

Shade Gilles, Alexander, to the worst moment of his career. Real close. This guy actually did it. Okay, fair enough. I don't know. Listen, we're getting nasty into this. J.J. Bray got a ring. We used a ring's culture on backup point guards.

I'm taking J.J. Bray. I don't know. This is a hilarious conversation. Which 10 point score was better at their peak. Fuck, man. Also, I always respect JJ Brad because he took one

for the team after Andrew Biden him plus just knocked him out the air. They were whooping him. I had no idea. I thought he like played for some random team towards the back half of his career, but he was on the Mavericks forever. He left for a couple years, yeah.

No, he wasn't. He was only on the Mavericks forever. He went to the Minnesota Timbules. What? Mm-hmm. For four years. Yeah, I came right back. Yeah.

I don't see that on his basketball reference page. Because he was there, when Luca was there, too, right? He was there at, yeah, in like 19. He was in Minnesota from 2012 through 2014. Okay, wow. Yeah, they blew the team up after the shit.