The man in the middle won’t be with the Phoenix Suns from now on as Steve Nash was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. There are big shoes to fill in the desert. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

In the midst of the upcoming season four of the five teams in the Western Conference’s Pacific Division improved on paper. The odd man out — the Phoenix Suns.

With this said, I think it’s quite simple who can win the match up between the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix — it isn’t the Suns. Last season, with a superstar who created the offense in Steve Nash, the Suns finished at .500 with a 33-33 record. Phoenix’s lost seven-more games than the Clippers, which finished at 40-26, and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Like the bounty hunters they are, the Los Angeles Lakers swiped Nash, the 38-year-old point guard, for three first-round draft picks. In my opinion, this is good for the Lakers now, good for the Suns later. However, this is here nor there since this conversation has been going on for over a month.

At the same time, this trade is awesome for the Clippers when they go to Phoenix or invite the Suns to the Staple Center because Nash was all they had to win games. In 62 games of the 66-game lockout season, Nash averaged 12.5 points and 10.7 assist per game. Without him, the Suns don’t have one of the most efficient shooters in the game and one of the best passers.

In an attempt to replace Nash the Suns brought in Goran Dragic. Last season with the Houston Rockets he averaged 11.7 assists and 5.3 assists in 26 minutes per game.

I’m a fan of Dragic, but I don’t think he can carry an offense into a playoff berth. He can shoot, but not quite as good as Nash. He can make a great pass, but does he know when to make it? I’ve seen glimpses, but not enough to make me say yes. Filling the shoes of Nash is a lot to put in front of a four-year player, especially when the mission is to play fantastic from the get-go. Dragic is going to have people looking over his back from the first tip-off of the season. It is not easy to play to expectations when you could get the axe at any moment.

Can Goran Dragic fill the shoes of Steve Nash — even if it’s just enough to win? Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-US PRESSWIRE

Rookie Kendall Marshall is not a good shooter but he can push the tempo of a game and find an open man better than anyone in the NCAA could last season when he was with the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Besides Nash, they lost Grant Hill — who the Clippers signed in free agency — Josh Childress, Michael Redd, Robin Lopez, Ronnie Price and Hakim Warrick.

Hill will be missed because of his experience and leadership. I know, I know leadership and experienced are overrated when the player is in his 40′s. In a few weeks, Hill will be 40-years-old. On the other hand, Hill can still run, grab rebounds and play a solid level of defense. I wouldn’t count the man out.

Childress has never been one of my favorite players and was overrated in Phoenix. The Suns are probably better without him since they have Jared Dudley and Shannon Brown. Both are better shooters and can do more than him elsewhere on the court.

I was surprised Redd could still play. When I say play, I mean come in the game for 15-minutes and fill up his portion of the box score with points. He scored 8.2 ppg in 51 games last season. However, he isn’t the player you keep on a team that is trying to find itself. See how I kept myself from saying rebuilding.

Lopez, Price and Warrick are replaceable and they were.

The remaining players could put up the numbers they did last season, but I think Nash’s 10 assists per game had a lot to do with their success.

Marcin Gortat averaged 15.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Dudley averaged 12.7 points, Brown 11, Channing Frye 10.5 and Markieff Morris 7.4. I guarantee a few of these players struggle this upcoming season because they are not getting as open shots.

What the Suns did do is bring in some supporting talent who could have/should have/might be All-Stars — Michael Beasley, Wesley Johnson and Luis Scola.

Michael Beasley is now the best scorer, arguably best player, on the Phoenix Suns. I don’t think he has matured enough to lead a team to tough victories, especially against the Clippers. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE

Beasley is a physical upgrade to Hill, but can he keep his mind in the game long enough to make a difference? The pick-up of Johnson allows Dudley to move to the three and come off the bench, which the Suns will need him to be big. The Johnson/Brown shooting guard duo could be something special — if they can make it work.

Scola is definitely an upgrade over Frye. I think Frye is one of the worst players in the league for his size of 6-foot 10-inches. He was the second leading rebounder for Phoenix last season with 5.9, behind Gortat’s 10.5. You can’t tell me a man that tall shouldn’t grab a few more rebounds per game.

The pickups, drops, trades and the returning have the Phoenix lineup looking like this:

1) Dragic

2) Johnson

3) Beasley

4) Scola

5) Gortat

This means Scola and Beasley are the heartbeat of the team.

Can anyone trust Beasley to be a team leader or a main guy for a winning franchise? Can Scola ever become more than a good second or third fiddle? I honestly don’t think they can.

Beasley is going to chuck up a lot of shots and score points. He isn’t a great rebounder or defender and when his shot isn’t falling, he’ll disappear. The Suns don’t have enough behind him to let him fall into the abyss.

At the same time, Scola is exactly what I said he was, a second or third fiddle. When Beasley disappears Scola will be asked to step up. He will sometimes, but he is not always a guarantee to lead his team to victory. See the Houston Rockets last season or the season before in which he was the No. 1 guy for the most part. Scola puts up good numbers as an above average role player, not as the No. 1 option.

If Scola wants to change his NBA legacy, he needs to make some playoff appearances. Can he be a top tier guy for the Suns? Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

The Sun’s lack of leadership or guys to step up when they need to makes it easy for me to pick Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Paul is the formidable leader Dragic only hopes to be. Caron Butler is the highly productive player night-in and night-out that Beasley is whenever he wants to be, DeAndre is a better defender than Gortat and Griffin steps up to take over games at a level Scola only dreams of. Plus, the Clippers bench of Hill, Lamar Odom and Jamal Crawford could school Dudley, Brown and Frye any day.

Phoenix may win one game, maybe two, but I’ll have my faith in Los Angeles every game since they have the better overall list of talent.

Chris Paul can lead any team to an NBA Championship or an Olympic medal.

The best point guard in the NBA debate has been going on for the last five years and will probably continue until the end of time.

Luckily for the Los Angeles Clippers, they have one of the few point guards who is on everyone’s top three list — Chris Paul. The other combination of players includes the Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose, the New Jersey Nets’ Deron Williams, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Steve Nash and the San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker.

To each his own, but my top point guard list is in this order:

1. Chris Paul

2. Derrick Rose

3. Deron Williams

4. Russell Westbrook

5. Tony Parker

6. Steve Nash

7. The rest of the NBA’s point guards…the Philadelphia 76ers’ Jrue Holiday and the Toronto Raptors’ Kyle Lowry are at the top of the rest.

For those of you who know me, I’m from the Chicago-Land area and have been a huge Rose fan since the Bulls drafted him in 2008. However, Paul has opened my eyes to prove he is the best point guard in the league. Rose is a close second.

When it comes to scoring points Rose could be one of the best anyone has ever seen at the position. He takes it to the hole like no other, can hit a three and creates his own mid-range shot as well. Hopefully for NBA fans, he can come back from his ACL injury with the same dynamic style of play.

But when it comes to every other part of the game, Paul has Rose and every other point guard beat.

Derrick Rose going to the hole is an ongoing NBA saga. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

Nash has more assists and could still have more by time Paul retires, but it isn’t because he is a better passer, it’s because he had better talent around him. I bet Paul wishes he could of played with a Amar’e Stoudemire at the top of his prime. Nash also had shooters in Quentin Richardson, Joe Johnson, Leandro Barbosa and Jared Dudley.

Mike D’Antoni’s run and gun offensive system didn’t hurt any either.

I can’t think of one relevant shooter or scorer Paul played with in New Orleans except Peja Stojakovic and maybe David West.

Still, without offensive threats beside Paul , he was a league assist leader year in and year out. I think that is more impressive than what Nash did, although, he is too impressive.

If Paul stays with the Clippers — he is a free agent after the upcoming season — he could surpass Nash because of the caliber of players he is now aligned with in Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Chauncey Billups, Grant Hill, Jamal Crawford and Lamar Odom.

With that said, he is the best passer in the league. He can get any type of player, whether they can score or not, 10 points on the box score. If you don’t believe me, see Tyson Chandler’s stats when he played with Paul on the Hornets.

Paul is the best defender out of this group. A close second would be Deron Williams, but the rest of the bunch are offensive minded players and can not hold Paul’s jock when it comes to defense.

He’s quick enough to stick Rose, physical enough to guard Westbrook and has quick enough hands to take the ball away from Parker and Nash.

Chris Paul mans up Tony Parker in the semifinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-US PRESSWIRE

The Clippers’ point guard has incredible court vision on both sides of the floor and knows how to perform the little details/intangibles needed to win a game. Paul is the kind of guy that sneaks behind an opposing ball handler and pops the ball out for another guy to get a steal. He then runs the court for an easy lob to Griffin or Jordan.

To not have Paul as a top point guard is ridiculous. I can’t see him out of the top two, but like I said, in a league with as many caliber PGs as the NBA has — to each their own.

If you see me as a captain picking a playground team and all of these guys are options to be on my team, opponents better believe, I’m grabbing Paul first in order for me to look like an All-Star caliber player.

Put YOUR top 3 point guards in the comment section.