A Tale of Two Chris's

Chris Paul and Chris Bosh have started this season making big-time headlines.

Chris Paul has led his team, the New Orleans Hornets, to a 7-0 start. Meanwhile, Chris Bosh has made the move from Toronto to Miami and has seemed to lost his game somewhere in the travel.

Bosh, along with the other “big 3,” have the Heat struggling with an unimpressive 5-4 record.

CP3 is leading the team to a 7-0 start, photo courtesy of thesportsbank.net

Chris Paul is coming off an injury-plagued season from last year, which he only played 45 games in. So far through seven games, CP3 is averaging 17.9 points, 9.9 assists, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.4 steals.

Paul is shooting a good percentage at 51% from field and 45% from 3pt, which is a career percentage for CP3. He is also turning the ball over less than two times a game, which is also a career low so far.

Paul has come out this season and reminded everyone why he is considered a top echelon point guard along with Deron Williams, Steve Nash, and Rajon Rondo.

In a Western Conference that is wide open, Chris Paul can lead the Hornets to perhaps a No. 2 spot.

CP3’s highlight game so far has been the Hornets' victory over Chris Bosh’s Miami Heat. Paul did not shoot well in that game, going only 5-13 from the field, but he had 19 assists with only 3 turnovers. He also had 5 steals that game.

Chris Paul took the challenge against Miami and truly dissected their defense to lead his team to victory.

The most impressive part of Paul’s game is his improvement in his 16- to 23-foot jump shots. Paul is shooting 50% on his long jumpers, which is up 5% from his numbers last year, and nearly 10% since Paul entered the league.

If Paul is able to keep up his good shooting along with his stellar passing and defense, he will have the opportunity to claim himself the best overall point guard in the league by the season’s end.

Bosh has been struggling, photo courtesy of articles.sun-sentinel.com

On the other hand, Chris Bosh has looked nothing like himself since signing with Miami.

Through nine games, Bosh is averaging 14.8 points, 6 rebounds, and shooting 48% from the field. To put that in perspective, Bosh averaged 24 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 51.8% shooting last year.

His numbers have taken a significant hit and he’s no longer looking like a $14.5 million player. Bosh has lost his aggressiveness in the post, and this could be a major issue for the Heat.

The team is clearly lacking in size, so rebounding is already a big disadvantage. Bosh may not need to put up his 24 points, but they do need his 10 rebounds a night.

It should be noted that Bosh’s shot attempts have gone down from 16.6 attempts last year to 11.3 this year, and that is because he is obviously the third option on Miami.

The struggle in Bosh’s game has come in the short-range jump shots under 10 feet (not at rim). Bosh is shooting only 35% from that range, down from 50% last year.

He is also only shooting 37.5% from 10-15 foot jumpers. Bosh hasn’t played well defensively either, and it is becoming more evident that he is a “softy.”

Bosh will have to change that reputation because their big competitors in the east, the Celtics and Magic, will tear the Heat up in the post.

With some time, Chris Bosh will come around, but it has to start with a sense of urgency on the boards. Aggressive big men always make good big men.

This is just an opinion…so please, Pardon My Bias.