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.

DeAndre Jordan could be a beast, but he hasn't had any kind of consistency to this point in his 4-year NBA career.

Last season, I was sure DeAndre Jordan was going to have a breakout season with unbelievable rebound and blocked shot numbers. This thought process had me reach for him in the fifth round of my fantasy basketball league.

He scored 7.4 points per game (.3 higher than 2010-11), grabbed 5.2 rebounds per game (.6 higher) and blocked two shots per game (.2 higher). The only statistic even close to being called a breakout performance was he improved his free-throw shooting from 45% to 52%. I would hardly call barely .500 from the charity stripe something spectacular.

With the stats as proof, my thought process was off — to say the least.

However, Jordan is still young and could have a monster year during any season. With that said, I’ll probably do it again this year if given the chance, which I’m sure I will be.

The upcoming season is only his fifth season. He is young, can run the court, has exceptional athleticism, is showing improved knowledge for the fundamentals of the game and by the way, he plays with one of the best point guards in the league — Chris Paul. If Paul made Tyson Chandler look like an offensive minded center with the New Orleans Hornets, the sky is the limit for Jordan.

The question is, when will he mentally get his game to the level of his God given athletic gifts? Every Clipper fan is screaming this for the 2012-13 NBA season.

For all of his highlight dunks and blocks, Jordan takes plays off mentally. One minute he looks like he could be a top five center and the next he looks like he went to the Shawn Bradley school of basketball. I hope Bradley doesn’t have a school, please, tell me he doesn’t.

He gets frustrated to easy, looks lost on offensive plays, doesn’t seem to know how to get open for a beautiful dime from Chris Paul unless it’s an alley-opp and is out of position for rebounds, even though he is 6-foot 11-inches and 250 pounds of muscle. Sure, these flaws are not shown on every possession, offensively or defensively, but they show their ugly face enough to be recognized.

This is where DeAndre Jordan should step in, accept the pass and dunk all over the competition.

Jordan desperately needs to take this season as an opportunity to show he deserves to be mentioned with other NBA All-Star centers.

There isn’t a doubt in my mind he could be mentioned with Al Horford, Roy Hibbert and Marc Gasol. Do I think he is now, no way, he’s in a tier or two underneath them. But could he be before his career is over, definitely.

Right now I would probably put Jordan right outside of the top 15 behind the likes of (In no order except for by tier):

Tier A: Dwight Howard, Andrew Bynum, Al Jefferson, Greg Monroe and Marc Gasol

Tier B: DeMarcus Cousins, Roy Hibbert, Al Horford, Marcin Gortat, David Lee

Tier C: Nene, Tyson Chandler, Joakim Noah, Andrew Bogut (only because of injury, should be higher), Brook Lopez (same as Bogut)

Tier D: DeAndre Jordan, Channing Frye, Chris Kaman, JaVale McGee, Spencer Hawes

Like I mentioned before, there is no doubt Jordan can move up the ranks. I can easily see him at the top of tier B or at the bottom of A by the end of this season or by the end of the next. He simply has to take 2 (mind) + 2 (physical ability) to = 4 (a complete NBA center).