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Chris Paul

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Chris Paul 4 d-wade
miami heat
Positioncenter
Personal information
Born (1985-05-06) May 6, 1985 (age 39)
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
NationalityAmerican
Listed height4 ft 0 in (1.22 m)
Listed weight75 lb (34 kg)
Career information
CollegeWake Forest
NBA draft2005: 4th overall
Selected by the New Orleans Hornets
Playing career2005–present
Career highlights and awards
2008 NBA All-Star
2005-06 NBA Rookie of the Year
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Christopher Emmanuel Paul (born May 6, 1985, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays point guard for the New Orleans Hornets of the NBA.

Early years

Paul was born to Charles and Robin Paul. He has an older brother, Charles "CJ" Paul Jr. Paul played Pop Warner football for the Lewisville Titans and AAU Basketball. He attended John W. Moore Elementary School, Hanes-Lawrance Middle School and West Forsyth High School.

High school

Paul played at West Forsyth High School in Clemmons, NC, where he was a 2003 McDonald's All-American and was named North Carolina's Mr. Basketball for 2003 by the Charlotte Observer. Paul averaged 30.8 points, 8.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.0 steals per game as a senior in leading his team to a 27-3 record and the Class 4A Eastern Regional finals. While in a game during high school, Paul scored 61 points in honor of his grandfather, who in 2002 was beaten to death in his own carport during a robbery; one point for every year his grandfather lived. When Paul reached the 61-point mark, he intentionally missed a free throw, then took himself out of the game even though the state high school scoring record of 69 points was well within reach.[1]

College

Paul attended the unit in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He played there for two years leading the Demon Deacons to two NCAA Tournaments, and one Sweet Sixteen appearance. In his sophomore year he was named a Consensus First Team All-American. Chris had also received the ACC Rookie of the Year as well as ACC All-Defensive Team honors during his play at Wake Forest. He left Wake Forest with records near the top of nearly every offensive category.

Controversy

Paul was lauded for his competitive nature in ACC play, but was also known for letting this competitive drive get the best of him at times. The most popularized example of this occurred during the last regular season game in the 2005 season. While guarding North Carolina State player Julius Hodge from behind, Paul reached around and punched Hodge in the groin before running off. Despite replays to the contrary, after the game Paul insisted, "I don't believe I popped him ... It was just the heat of the game. I've got too much respect for him to try to pop him on senior night."[2] Hodge was initially indignant over the assault, stating "He punched me in the groin and the ref saw it ... I got suspended for that (as a freshman). ... I never play dirty like that." Later, Hodge was able to joke about the situation, quipping "At first, I just wanted to find out if I could still have children. Once I figured out I could have children, it was all good."[3] After reviewing the play, ACC officials elected to suspend Paul for Wake Forest's next game, the first game of the ACC conference tournament. Without Paul, the Demon Deacons lost in the second round after a first round bye, ironically to North Carolina State.[4]

NBA career

2005-2006 season

Paul was selected fourth overall by the New Orleans Hornets in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft. Due to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Paul never got to play his first full season in New Orleans. Instead, the team relocated to Oklahoma City for the season with the Hornets playing just 3 games at the New Orleans Arena. Paul led all rookies in points, assists, steals, and minutes, earning him the 2006 NBA Rookie of the Year Award. Paul was a near unanimous winner for the award, but one voter gave Deron Williams a vote instead of Paul. This, along with the fact that both were taken back to back in the draft and play the same position, has led to an on court rivalry between Paul and Williams. Their rivalry began on December 1, 2004 when Paul led his No. 1-ranked Wake Forest into Champaign to face Williams' Illini. Illinois thrashed the Demon Deacons 91-73 and took the top spot from there into their run to the 2005 NCAA Championship Game. Williams had 11 assists and 8 points while Paul was held to 10.

Paul finished the 2005-06 season averaging 16.1 points, 7.8 assists, and 5.1 rebounds. He was also the only unanimous selection to the 2005-06 NBA All Rookie First Team and was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month every month in the 2005-06 season. After the season, Paul won the ESPY Award for Best Breakthrough Athlete. He recorded his first triple-double on April 2 2006 against the Toronto Raptors with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists.

2006-2007 season

Still playing in Oklahoma City, Paul followed up his impressive rookie season with a solid sophomore season. He improved his scoring average to 17.3 points, and improved his assists average with 8.9 a game. He averaged 4.4 rebounds per game. Paul's season was riddled with injuries though, as he only played in 64 games.

Paul was not named an All-Star in 2007, but he was named to replace Steve Nash in the 2007 Playstation Skills Challenge during All-Star Weekend. He played in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge and dished out 17 assists and had 9 steals, both T-Mobile Rookie Challenge records. He now has 3 triple doubles for career.

2007-2008 season

The 2007-08 season brought the full return of the Hornets to the city of New Orleans. Headed to the All Star break, Paul is currently averaging 21 points, 11 assists, 4 rebounds, and leads the NBA in steals with 2.6 a game. He was selected by NBA coaches to play in the 2008 NBA All-Star Game which was hosted in the city of New Orleans. Paul's teammate David West was also named an All-Star reserve and coach Byron Scott coached the Western Conference All-Stars due to the fact that the Hornets had the #1 record in the West headed to the break with a 36-15 record.

Paul is a leading candidate for the MVP award (trailing only Lebron James and Kobe Bryant in commonly accepted rankings) and half way into the season, Paul was on top for the race to the MVP award.[5] Paul was also named Western Conference Player of the Month for December 2007.

During All Star Weekend, Paul again participated in the 2008 All-Star Playstation Skills Challenge winning the first round but losing in the final round to Deron Williams. Paul sparked a 4th quarter comeback for the Western Conference in the All-Star Game, but the East held on to win 134-128. Paul finished the game with 16 points, 14 assists, and 5 steals.

Paul has continued his stellar play following the All Star game, continuing to lead the New Orleans Hornets to one of the best records in the West. After a 37 point, 13 assist, and 3 steal performance from Paul against the Chicago Bulls on March 17th 2008 where Paul sparked a 4th quarter comeback win [6] , teammate Tyson Chandler said...

"I have never seen a performance like that in my life...I tell you if this man doesn't win MVP it's a damn shame."

International

Chris Paul
Medal record
Representing  United States
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Japan USA

Paul has earned 10 caps for various junior national teams. He made his debut for the senior United States national basketball team debut on August 4, 2006 in a friendly against Puerto Rico. Paul made the final cut and remained on the Team USA roster for the 2006 FIBA World Championship. Team USA finished with an 8-1 record and defeated 2004 Olympic gold medal winner Argentina for a third-place finish. Paul set a Team USA World Championship total assist record with 44 assists, to go along with 17 steals and 9 turnovers.

NBA career statistics

Year Team G GS MPG FG% 3P%0 FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG
2005–06 NOK 78 78 36.0 0.430 0.282 0.847 0.8 4.3 5.1 7.8 2.2 0.1 2.35 2.80 16.1
2006–07 NOK 64 64 36.8 0.437 0.350 0.818 0.8 3.5 4.4 8.9 1.8 0.1 2.52 2.40 17.3
2007–08 NOH 63 63 37.6 0.490 0.364 0.869 0.8 3.2 3.9 11.3 2.7 0.0 2.54 2.30 21.3

Personal life

Chris is also an avid ten-pin bowler, and was contracted in 2007 by the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) to be an official youth bowling spokesperson.[7]

Chris Paul is an official member of the Nike Team Jordan brand. He was one of only three athletes (Derek Jeter and Carmelo Anthony being the others) to have had his own shoe made with the brand.

Paul was the cover athlete for video game NBA 2K8.

Paul and Saints running back Reggie Bush are close friends and live in the same complex in Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. They also share a personal chef.[8]

Notes

  1. ^ Player Bio: Chris Paul :: Men's Basketball
  2. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=250650152
  3. ^ http://www4.ncsu.edu/~jphollow/julius.html
  4. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=250700154
  5. ^ "NBA.com: 2007-08 Midseason Awards". Retrieved 2008-01-30.
  6. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=280317003
  7. ^ Bowl.com United States Bowling Congress. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
  8. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3264267
Template:S-awards
Preceded by NBA Rookie of the Year
2006 		Succeeded by
Preceded by ESPY Award
Best Breakthrough Athlete
2006 		Succeeded by
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