Ranking The Point Guards of 2010

It’s not the practice of ACCBasketballRecruiting.com to "rank" players, because we try to evaluate players based on long term prospects and not so much on their rank within their graduating high school class.

There are several reasons for this; first, because there are a lot of ranking services around, and our rankings would not be much different in the top players.

Secondly, because ranking players between classes makes an unbalanced comparison between graduation years.

Would the number one point guard in 2010 be as good as John Wall of 2009? It’s not really a fair comparison.

That said, we will take a few moments to talk about the top point guards in the 2010 class, and only the position within this class.

This year’s best point guard is probably Kyrie Irving (PG, 6′1″, 2010), a Duke commitment and a speedy ballhandler who can push the ball extremely well in transition. In all of the all-star games this season, Irving has shown he can play on the biggest stages and has had solid outings every time.

Now, a bit of controversy: almost every scouting service out there has Brandon Knight (PG/SG, 6′3″, 2010) as the top point guard in the country, but we don’t agree with that. The reason is not Knight’s ability, which he has loads, it’s the fact that Knight looks too much like a streaky shooting guard.

Can he play the PG in college? Yes, he can. He’s certainly a solid ballhandler and passer.

We’ve yet to see that one distinct difference between an off guard running point and a true point, which is, actually running the offense and knowing where players are going to be before they arrive at the spot.

Irving has it. Ty Lawson, Chris Paul, John Wall and Raymond Felton all had it.

The thinking is that Knight will need to use his athletic talents at slashing to the hoop and develop his point guard skills so he can move to the NBA, but only time will tell if he’s able to do it.

Just behind Irving is Cory Joseph (PG, 6′3″, 2010), an as-of-yet uncommitted player from Nevada who plays the point with intensity and presence. Although he’s behind several other players on most lists, our opinion is that he’s solid and the second best in 2010 right now.

Probably next after Joseph is a tough call between Josh Selby (PG, 6′2, 2010) who just committed to Kansas, and Kendall Marshall (PG, 6′3″, 2010), a North Carolina commit. Selby is a little too much combo guard right now but is tough and can get to the hoop, while Marshall is a pure PG who should flourish in the UNC system.

We’d put Brandon Knight next and then Joe Jackson (PG, 5′11″, 2010), a Memphis-bound player with gifted offensive moves but who will need to prove they can defend effectively at the collegiate level.

The next four to round out the top ten would be Ray McCallum (PG, 6′1″, 2010), an extremely solid PG who will play for his father at Detroit, Ryan Harrow (PG, 5′11′, 2010), headed to NC State, Phil Pressey (PG, 5′10″, 2010) and Ian Miller (PG, 6′2″, 2010), a Florida State commit.