(The original article was published on December 8 by Doug Haller of The Athletic website. The content of The article is mainly The interview records with Chris Paul)
Four minutes after the opening ceremony of the 2005-06 season of the New Orleans Hornets (Pelican predecessor), Chris Paul broke through the left with the ball and pulled up a jump shot. The rookie point guard did not have any room to play. King striker bonky Wells judged Paul’s intention and jumped up to seal it. Paul, who stopped in the air, had a brainwave and passed it to PJ-Brown one by one. The veteran striker adjusted it and hit a jump shot with a distance of basketable nets and 4 meters. In this way, Chris Paul got the first assists in NBA career. At that time, no one would have thought that he would still stay on the court and give assists to his teammates 17 years later.
Not long ago, the game in which the Sun lost to Celtics was impressive. Paul had just recovered from the heel injury and sent out four assists. Since then, the well-established point guard has ranked third in the NBA history assist list with 11075 career assists, only behind John Stockton (15806) and Jason Kidd (12091).
Recently, with the help of NBA official statistics, I counted Paul’s assists and listed the list of teammates with the most assists. At that time, Paul had not come back from injury. Before a Sun home game, I met this future Hall of Fame player and asked him if he could name the top ten teammates with the most assists.
The following conversation was conducted by Paul and I outside the Sun dressing room:
Paul: do I want to name the top ten?
Doug Haller: Yes, if you can, you can also talk about the relationship between you and everyone.
Paul: Let me first think about who is the first one. You can tell me whether the answer is correct. The first one may be Griffin.
Doug Haller: Yes!
Paul: The second is David West, and the third is…… Reddick, right?
Doug Haller: there is a big gap between West in the second place and Reddick in the third place. What you said is right. Reddick is the third place.
Paul: in the future, Jordan and I played together for six years. He was in the top 10, but he should not be the fourth.
Doug Haller: in fact, he is the fourth. Don’t you want the little friend of “The city of empty connections?
Paul: The fifth is…… Tyson-Chandler?
Doug Haller: Chandler tied for 7th.
Paul: He was in the top 10. What about Peja stojacovic?
Doug Haller: Peja is the fifth, and it has become difficult to guess since then.
Paul: I only played in the Rockets for two years, so it was impossible for my teammates to enter the top 10, all of which were my teammates during the Clippers and Wasps (New Orleans).
Doug Haller: Eric Gordon, who assisted you most during the rocket period, was ranked 14th.
PAUL: Yes, I know the most is either Gordon or harden. How many have I guessed so far?
Doug Haller:6 digits.
Paul: Matt Barnes is not the top 10 either.
Doug Haller: Yes, but he is very close. He is the 12th.
Paul: Lasu Butler?
Doug Haller: Yes, he is the sixth.
Paul: Rest in peace, my brother (Rasu Butler died in a car accident in 2018). Bobby Jackson is not in the top 10 either.
Doug Haller: Yes, he is not here.
Paul: Morris Peterson?
Doug Haller: he is the 17th and not the top 10.
Paul: Willie Green shouldn’t be either.
(At this time, assistant Sun Coach Jarret Jack walked past. He and Paul were teammates in New Orleans Pelicans for one year.)
Paul: I know Jarret-Jack is definitely not in the top 10 either.
(Paul only assists Jarret-Jack 10 times)
Jarret-Jack: What is not in the top 10?
Paul: I have the top 10 teammates with the most assists.
(Jarret Jack guessed the most obvious people: Griffin, West and Chandler)
Jarret-Jack: is emica okafu in the top 10?
Doug Haller: he’s not here.
Paul: Oh, my God, I think my head hurts.
Jarret-Jack: Clint-Capella?
Paul: No.
Doug Haller: Capella is the 18th.
Paul: Chauncey Billups is not the top 10 either.
Jarret-Jack: Marco Bellinelli?
Doug Haller: not here either, but I like your guess.
Paul: Dude, I should know the answer.
Doug Haller: You still need three.
Paul: Are all the rest defenders?
Doug Haller: there is a big player.
Paul: Carl Landry? No!
Doug Haller: One of them is one of the sixth best in NBA.
Paul: Jamal! Jamal-Crawford! I am so stupid!
Doug Haller: he is the 10th.
Paul: dude, he is the 10th. No problem. He hasn’t played with him for so many years.
Doug Haller: the player who tied for the seventh with Chandler played in the same position as Chandler.
Paul: in the same position as Chandler, my partner is too little Jordan, Emeka-okafu……
(At this time, Sun Coach Monty Williams passed by)
Paul: Coach, guess the top 10 teammates with the most assists in my career.
Jarret-Jack: We have guessed 8.
(Paul and Jarret-Jack passed the names of these eight players)
Monty Williams: emeca okafu?
Paul: No, he is not in the top 10!
(Monty Williams and Jarret Jack discussed okafu for a while, then Monty Williams went into the dressing room and disappeared)
Paul: give me a hint.
Doug Haller: the last two players rose very fast in the list.
Paul: Booker? No, Booker can enter the top 10?
Doug Haller: German-Booker is the 9th.
Jarret-Jack: I didn’t expect Booker to be included.
PAUL: What about Elton?
Doug Haller: Elton is the seventh one.
Paul: they and I have only been teammates for two years! (Actually a little more than two years)
Jarret-Jack: I tell you something interesting when I was a warrior. They told me that it only takes one year, I will give Curry more assists than Monta Ellis has given curry more assists over the years.
(At this time, it is less than an hour before the sun’s match against the bull starts, because Paul, who is absent from the match due to heel injury, also needs to enter the dressing room first)
Paul: when I finish the team meeting, I will come out to find you.
While Paul enters the dressing room for a meeting, let’s review Paul’s career.
New Orleans Pelicans took off Chris Paul with the fourth sign at the NBA draft conference in 2005. They saw something special from the pre-draft test of the point guard. Byron Scott, then head coach of the Hornets, said: “Paul’s football dealer is ridiculously high. No matter what we throw him, he doesn’t need much time to digest it and apply it to actual combat. His shooting was much more accurate than we expected, and then Paul was allowed to play 2 v2 with a coach. He was the only player who won all three matches.” Paul wasp-time teammate Spidy Clarkston said, “when Paul came in, it was very quiet. I felt that he didn’t want to disturb anyone. But as long as he walks on the court, he becomes outspoken and loud. I knew from the first day that he would become a very special player.”
After six years in New Orleans Pelicans, Paul was traded to the Clippers and became teammates with Griffin and Jordan. “The city of empty connection” ushered in the dawn, but Paul also sent a lot of assists to shooters like Reddick and Landy Faye. Faye, who worked with Paul as a teammate on the Clippers for a year, said, “Do you know what I like? When Griffin stepped forward to split the ball-free block for us, then he would kill to the basket, and Paul’s ball came directly. Reddick lived by this trick, and I got the contract by this. It’s like having to choose a bottle of poison to drink on the opposite side. Either Griffin picks up the dunk empty or we throw three points empty. Most of the time, the other side didn’t want to see Griffin dunk, so the defense would keep up with him, so Paul would pass the ball to our vacant hands, so I threw a lot of three points.” Armond Hill, the former assistant coach of the Clippers, said: “Most of the time, some angles and gaps can pass through. Opportunities appear in an instant, and you must spread them immediately. Paul can not only see these passing opportunities, but also pass the ball. Many people can’t see these opportunities. Even if they see them, they dare not pass them on like this.”
In 2017, Paul was traded to the Rockets, where he played for two seasons. In 2019, he was traded to thunder again. A year later, he was sent to the Sun by thunder. He helped the Sun realize the qualitative change of the championship team. Paul turned 38 in next May, but those close to Paul thought he would not retire in the short term. Magsi Boggs, a former NBA point guard and alumnus of Paul Wake Forest University, knew Paul when he was in high school. Boggs said: “At the end of the season, there should be no bad luck happening to him, such as hamstrings. But these things are beyond control. His figure has always been very good, and he has done a good job in keeping his body in the game. I hope that those unfortunate things will not happen at the end of this season. I think he can continue to play as long as he is willing.”
Sun’s in-team meeting was over. Paul came out of the dressing room and we began to have a deeper discussion on the top 10 list.
Doug Haller: Let’s start with Griffin in the first place. For a point guard, it must be very interesting to partner with Griffin.
Paul: all kinds of things always happen in life. After so much experience, I appreciate Griffin more. I will watch the highlights of our playing together on Ins and Youtube. I think no one can match Griffin’s explosive power. I remember there was a ball, and I remember it was a quick break. I like to lead people with the ball, and then there was a photo of Griffin’s buckle. In the photo, I turned around and left directly. It’s really interesting. There is another year to play at jazz home. We started with the first 12 points or 14 points, all of which are dunks.
(Paul remembered correctly. In the Clippers victory over Jazz on February 1, 2012, the first five goals of the Clippers were all Paul assists and all dunk)
Doug Haller: I feel David West is your Carl Malone.
Paul: No doubt. West is the best distance shooter I have ever seen. Interestingly, I used to be angry because he didn’t vote for three points. He would say it was the golden distance to make a foul, but West was really relaxed at a distance of 17 feet. I don’t know if you know about it. West and I once played under the same college coach. West went to xeville University, and Coach Skip Prosser taught us. When I was in college, one day I walked into the coach’s office and David West was sitting there. I never thought we would meet again one day, and he became one of my favorite teammates.
Doug Haller: Before Riddick joined the Clippers, you had been there for two years. What changes did his joining bring to you?
Paul: Dude, the story that Reddick and I met was crazy. We hated each other during college (mainly the contradiction between Wake Forest University and Duke University). I clearly remember coach Rivers (then the coach of the Clippers) called me and told me that the team had a chance to get Reddick. My reaction was, “fight for him.” Reddick is a person who pays great attention to details, so we get along very well. We are all the kind of people who care about details. I remember that at that time, I played the whole first quarter. In those years when I worked with Reddick, he had always been the scorer with the highest score in the first quarter of the league. In the first quarter of every game, Reddick can get 12-14 points. He is like the engine of the game.
Doug Haller: Coach Rivers moved the tactics formulated by Celts for Ray Allen.
PAUL: Yes, Rivers is very experienced in formulating tactics for shooters.
Doug Haller: Let’s talk about little Jordan. Do you only need to throw the ball on the rim to play with him?
Paul: everyone thinks that little Jordan can only dunk. In fact, the angle of cover is very particular. After the training, we spent a lot of time practicing footstep movements and high hanging ball together, telling him what kind of cover angle is more conducive to helping me get rid of defenders. After I threw off the defender, he also went to the basket. There was no player as tall as little Jordan who could jump better than him.
Doug Haller: how does it feel to partner with Peja-stojacovich?
Paul: His son is great! (Andre stojacovich, the top small forward of 2023 senior high school students, recently joined Stanford University) I remember his son came to the dressing room and I have been trying to talk to him, but he ignored me, but now his performance on the court is crazy. Speaking back to Peja, I didn’t realize that he was 2.08 meters high. His shooting action was not conventional and he was a bit crooked. He is the most effortless player I have ever seen. I remember there was a game in Los Angeles where Peja scored 10 points against the Lakers and I gave out 21 assists. Tyson-Chandler, the big man of our team, told me that if I got 20 assists, I would be satisfied with whatever I wanted, and finally Chandler gave me a necklace.
(Paul remembered correctly that in the 118-104 victory over the Lakers on New Orleans Pelicans, November 6, 2007, Peja stojacovich scored 10 out of 13 in the three-point game)
Doug Haller: I don’t remember much about Lasu Butler.
Paul: since my rookie season, Rasu Butler has been my teammate. He played the flank position and was a shooter. Before he died, we trained together in Los Angeles several times. Lasu Butler and David West, they should be the teammates I have worked with for the longest time.
Doug Haller: “Empty City” actually started from Tyson-Chandler, right?
Paul: Do you know the ball-free cover action of “the snake? This was invented by Chandler in the second year after I entered the league. When I was young, I didn’t shoot so accurately, and my opponents often followed me around the cover. So Chandler would cover me like this, and then I went this way (Paul said while demonstrating in the corridor outside the dressing room), and the opponent would chase me, then Chandler would pull out of the block, and the chance of empty pick came.
Doug Haller: Now Elton is a big man with a completely different style of play.
Paul: 9 of Chandler’s 10 balls are empty or hanging ball high. Elton is completely different. You can send the ball to him from the gap. Elton’s throwing is great, and it can also be vacant. He can do many different things.
Doug Haller: When you first came to the Sun, did you know how great Booker was?
Paul: I know how good he is. For me, when I first came to the sun, I felt that I could make him stronger and make him play easier.
Doug Haller: why would Jamal-Crawford be surprised to enter the top 10?
Paul: because he is a player like me, and he is also a basketball expert and a ball nerd, we often chat now.
(Paul’s teammates came out of the dressing room at this time, ready to play, and now start to high-five)
Doug Haller: Yes, micalar bridges is only seven assists behind Clifford, so soon Clifford will not be in the top 10.
Paul: Wow, that’s crazy.
The following is a list of teammates with the most assists in Chris Paul’s career:
Original: Doug Haller
Compile: Li Taibai
Interview with
Characters