NBA Sim | Best Guards All-Time

Max APP+
#	Player	Team	APP+
1	Chris Paul	2009 NOH	28.34
2	Magic Johnson	1989 LAL	26.73
3	Nate Archibald	1973 KCO	25.97
4	Dwyane Wade	2009 MIA	25.93
5	John Stockton	1991 UTA	22.40
6	Jason Kidd	1999 PHO	22.33
7	Allen Iverson	2006 PHI	21.63
8	Gary Payton	2000 SEA	21.52
9	Isiah Thomas	1985 DET	19.95
10	Kevin Johnson	1990 PHO	19.72

Average APP+
#	Player	Years	APP+
1	Magic Johnson	13	21.75
2	Chris Paul	4	21.53
3	Dwyane Wade	6	19.13
4	Jason Kidd	15	16.02
5	Allen Iverson	13	15.64
6	John Stockton	19	15.17
7	Brandon Roy	3	14.22
8	Kevin Johnson	12	13.60
9	Isiah Thomas	13	12.71
10	Deron Williams	4	12.64

Total APP+
#	Player	Years	APP+
1	John Stockton	19	288.31
2	Magic Johnson	13	282.80
3	Jason Kidd	15	240.23
4	Gary Payton	17	211.37
5	Allen Iverson	13	203.34
6	Isiah Thomas	13	165.28
7	Kevin Johnson	12	163.23
8	Rod Strickland	17	157.05
9	Ray Allen	13	156.96
10	Walt Frazier	13	148.71

Best Guards
#	Player	Max APP+	Average APP+	Total APP+	Points
1	Magic Johnson	0.9432	1.0000	0.9809	2.9241
2	John Stockton	0.7904	0.6975	1.0000	2.4879
3	Jason Kidd	0.7879	0.7362	0.8332	2.3573
4	Chris Paul	1.0000	0.9898	0.2987	2.2886
5	Dwyane Wade	0.9150	0.8794	0.3981	2.1924
6	Allen Iverson	0.7632	0.7190	0.7053	2.1875
7	Gary Payton	0.7593	0.5716	0.7331	2.0640
8	Nate Archibald	0.9164	0.4967	0.4872	1.9003
9	Kevin Johnson	0.6958	0.6253	0.5662	1.8873
10	Isiah Thomas	0.7039	0.5844	0.5733	1.8617

Average APP+ Per Position By Decade
Position	1950's	1960's	1970's	1980's	1990's	2000's
G	-3.47	-1.14	0.22	0.42	0.71	0.45
G-F	-3.71	1.36	0.93	0.55	0.17	0.77
F-G	-4.05	0.55	2.03	0.03	0.15	0.75
F	-4.94	-0.95	-0.61	0.29	0.64	0.94
F-C	-2.37	1.10	0.57	-0.16	0.19	0.34
C-F	-2.40	0.82	2.18	0.06	-2.30	1.15
C	-2.06	2.39	2.67	0.10	-0.27	-1.41
All	-3.35	0.07	0.72	0.29	0.26	0.41

Magic Johnson
With new rules in the league assisting speedy, small ballhandlers, the NBA has seen a renaissance at the point guard position very recently. Therefore, it's no surprise that outstanding young players like Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and off-ball guards like Dwyane Wade are slowly creeping up in the Best Guard ranks.

That being said, it's still the old guards (no pun intended) who still fill the ranks of the Top 10 list: Stockton, Payton, Archibald, Johnson, Thomas - all spectacular players from the past couple of decades who are the measuring stick for the new crop of young guns. However, there's still one who stands tallest of all amongst all these little men (I'm going to stop with the puns right now): Magic Johnson.

Magic is the only guard to appear in the Top 3 of all three criteria (highest season APP+, career average APP+, and career total APP+) - an amazing feat that easily puts him in the number 1 spot.

Magic's highest season APP+ came in 1989 where he was second in the league only to some guy named Michael Jordan. The 29-year-old led his Lakers to the NBA Finals, only to get swept by frenemy, Isiah Thomas and his Detroit Pistons. Johnson's scrubbed stats from that year were 22.4 PPG / 7.9 RPG / 12.8 APG while shooting 51% from the floor, 31% from downtown, and 91% from the line. Simply dominating!

It looks like Johnson's only main rival is the young, upstart Wake Forest product, Chris Paul. Given a few more years of his outstanding play and Magic's hold on the crown could loosen.