I thought about awarding this to Deron Williams for his 27-point, nine-assist, seven-rebound effort in Utah’s 113-99 win over the Spurs, but then I remembered that Tony Parker isn’t exactly known for his defensive prowess. Tim Duncan is. So that makes Carlos Boozer’s line — 27 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots — all that more impressive. He went 12-20 (60%) from the field and regularly scored on Duncan, who has been named to the All-Defensive team 12 times in his illustrious career.

The final score should be no surprise. The game was in Utah, and the Jazz had their backs up against the wall a little bit as they started out the season with a 1-3 record, which included a home loss to the Rockets.

Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair had another nice game, posting 14 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes. He’s averaging 9.8 points and 8.5 rebounds through four games and is shooting better than 70% from the field. The Spurs will use him extensively during the season to keep Duncan as fresh as possible for a playoff run.

We hear it all the time. NBA analysts call one point guard “pass-first� and another “shoot-first.� Or they say one guy is “turnover-prone� while another “takes care of the ball.� But really, what makes a player a “pass-first� point guard? How carefree must he be with the ball to be considered “turnover-prone�?

Taking an analytical approach to these questions, I decided to bust out an Excel spreadsheet and try to come up with some answers. Below you’ll see a graph that attempts to classify the top point guards in the league. But first, a little background…

I chose to categorize each player based on two stats. First, to determine if he’s “shoot-first� or “pass-first,� I calculated the shot-to-assist ratio for each player. The bigger the number, the more of a “shoot-first� mentality the player has. Second, to determine whether or not a player is “turnover-prone,� I calculated each player’s assist-to-turnover ratio. I thought about using turnovers per 48 minutes, but I like the idea of including assists so that playmakers are rewarded for the positive as well as the negative. Next, I calculated each player’s Efficiency Per Minute (EPM) to see if there is any correlation between these other statistics and the overall efficiency of the player in question.

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With regard to Carlos Boozer’s future in Utah, Johnny Ludden of Yahoo Sports writes that the Utah Jazz “are expected to explore trading him and devote their resources to keeping Paul Millsap.”

Boozer angered franchise officials and teammates alike early in the season, when he spoke openly of wanting to test his free agency this summer. It didn’t help that he made the comments while he was nursing a quadriceps injury that cost him more than half the season.

After Monday’s season-ending loss, Boozer now says he’d like to return to the Jazz, adding that he feels like “one of those cornerstone people who brought this team back to prominence.� In truth, the decision might not be entirely up to him. Even if Boozer doesn’t opt out of his contract, the Jazz are expected to explore trading him and devote their resources to keeping Paul Millsap.

As if the Jazz needed any more evidence of Millsap’s value, he helped lead Monday’s comeback while Boozer watched from the bench.

“We’re not getting that effort every night from everybody,� [Deron] Williams said, “and we’ve got to have that.�

I may be wrong, but this sounds like the general feeling of the writer more than the actual position of the club. The key phrase is that “the Jazz are expected,” which only means that some nebulous person or persons is of the opinion that Utah will explore trading Boozer in order to keep Millsap. It doesn’t mean that that’s what the franchise is planning to do.

This summer’s free agent market is going to be tough on the players, so even though Boozer has previously stated that he plans to opt out, he may ultimately decide to play out the final year of his contract in order to prove to teams that he can stay healthy. Other than the Jazz, there are five teams that have the cap space to make an offer of $10 million per season or more — the Pistons, the Hawks, the Grizzles, the Raptors and the Thunder. He’d certainly help make the Thunder a playoff team, and he’d be a good fit in Detroit with their current problems along the front line. The Grizzlies have the need, but may not be willing to make the commitment. The Hawks don’t really need a power forward, but the Raptors could certainly use him as a complement to Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon (and it might ultimately keep Bosh in Toronto).

In addition to Boozer, Mehmet Okur ($9.0 million) and Kyle Korver ($5.3 million) can each terminate their contracts early this summer, so the Jazz might have a very different face heading into the 2009-10 season. My guess is that Okur and Korver will play out their contracts since they are unlikely to find that kind of money in free agency. Boozer is set to make $12.3 million next season, so he’ll probably be looking for a deal averaging somewhere in the range of $13-$15 million. But with his history of injury, will anyone be willing to pony up?

Every so often, I’ll be sitting at a bar, throwing back a few adult beverages with a buddy or two and I’ll pose the following question:

If you could have one current NBA player to build your franchise around, with the goal of winning a NBA title in the next five years – who would it be?

Since the 2009 NBA Playoffs are in their infancy, it seems to be as good of a time as any to kick around this question. My criteria are simple – a franchise player has to be able to carry his team, while being reasonably young and injury-free.

We’ll count down from #10 to #1. My top nine guys were pretty easy to list, but #10 was a bitch. Maybe you can help me decide. Feel free to provide your own top 10.

HONORABLE MENTION

Yao Ming, Rockets (28 years-old)
I love Yao’s post up game, and he is a skilled passer, but the chances are only 60/40 that he’ll be healthy for any given playoffs and those odds are only going to decrease as time wears on. He’s like Robert Downey, Jr. — he’s great at what he does, but you just don’t know if he’s going to be there when you need him.

Chauncey Billups, Nuggets (32)
He seems to be more responsible than ‘Melo for the Nuggets’ great play this season, but he’s 32 years old. Still, his effectiveness depends more on strength, steady play and good shooting than it does his (somewhat limited) athleticism, so he should be able to play into his late thirties.

Al Jefferson, Timberwolves (24)
Jefferson is one of the few young, back-to-the-basket post players in the league. He averaged 23/11 on a bad team, which leads me to believe he could post 19/10 on a playoff team, and should only get better with age.

Amare Stoudemire, Suns (26)
He’s four years younger than our next guy, but he’s already had two serious injuries in his career so one wonders if this is a trend. He also seems to be a little bit on the selfish side and has a rep for being a bad defensive player.

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There were three games last night and the best one was on NBA TV, so nobody saw it. The Cavs beat the Pistons (Cavs lead, 2-0), the Lakers beat the Jazz (Lakers lead, 2-0) and the Blazers nipped the Rockets (series tied, 1-1). Here are a few random observations about Tuesday’s action:

- It’s a bad idea by the NBA to schedule both 1/8 matchups on the same night. Moreover, TNT aired both games while the best action (Blazers/Rockets) was relegated to NBA TV. The Jazz made a game of it against the Lakers, but could never quite get over the hump. Deron Williams was outstanding (35 points, nine assists, four rebounds, four steals, two blocks), nailing six threes but turning the ball over seven times. Six Utah players scored in double figures, but when you allow the Lakers to shoot 60% from the field, you’re going to have a tough time winning. (Sorry, I just channeled Hubie Brown’s third-person shtick there for a minute.)

- Where in the world is Jordan Farmar? He played just four minutes last night, and has seen his playing time decline from 20.5 minutes per game in November to 16.1 minutes in April. Year to year, his PER has fallen off a cliff — 15.29 last season vs. 9.93 this season — and he’s being outplayed by Shannon Brown. Farmar is battling some tendinitis, but he’s looking less and less like a future starter and more and more like a career backup.

- Speaking of Brown, he has played at least 14 minutes in each of the last six games, averaging 8.0 points, 2.2 assists and 2.3 rebounds over that span. Brown is really athletic, plays pretty good defense and has an improving offensive game. Interestingly, he was originally drafted by the Cavs, so if he continues to play well, it might come back to bite Danny Ferry in the bum. Mitch Kupchak acquired Brown as part of the Vladimir Radmanovic/Adam Morrison trade a few months ago.

- After dropping Game 1, Portland was in “must-win” mode and they got a much needed victory to tie the series. Brandon Roy came up big (42 points, 7 rebounds) and LaMarcus Aldridge posted a nice game (27 points, 12 boards) after scoring just seven points in Game 1.

- The Rockets will be without Dikembe Mutombo for the remainder of the playoffs (probably forever, actually) after he suffered a knee injury.

- Greg Oden had a nice follow up dunk, but he’s a fouling machine. He had six fouls in 12 minutes. Wowsers.

- The trade that sent Rafer Alston to the Magic hasn’t hurt the Rockets at all. They also acquired Kyle Lowry from the Grizzlies and he and Aaron Brooks are providing good play at the point. The two combined for 33 points, six assist and five boards on Tuesday night.

- The Pistons cut the Cavs’ lead to eight with about four minutes to play, but a Cleveland 9-2 run put the game away. I get confused when I look at the box score and see the Pistons’ best perimeter defender — Tayshaun Prince — only played 26 minutes and wasn’t in any foul trouble. Meanwhile, LeBron goes for 29/13/6 — do you think Prince should get a little more run?

- In other news, there are reports flying that Derrick Rose will win ROY and Jason Terry will win the Sixth Man award. No surprises there.

The NBA All-Star Game is part meritocracy and part popularity contest. First, the fans vote, and the top five vote getters – two guards, two forwards and a center – from each conference are the starters. Then the coaches vote on the remaining seven reserves for each team.

The current vote count can be seen here, but I thought I’d put together my own list – five starters and seven reserves – for each team. To me, when it comes to naming All-Stars a winning record is just as important as great stats, so given two players with similar numbers, I’m probably going to give the nod to the guy on the better team. I’ll list the player’s Player Efficiency Rating, which gives a nice overview of the guy’s per-minute statistical production this season.

And off we go…

EASTERN CONFERENCE STARTERS

Dwyane Wade, Heat
PER: 29.14
D-Wade is back with a vengeance. He’s averaging 29.0 points, 7.1 assists and 5.1 rebounds, and is (almost) single-handedly keeping the Heat in the playoff hunt. With 24% accuracy, I don’t know why he’s shooting so many threes (3.0 per game), but that’s just nitpicking. He’s third in the league in steals (2.25).

Joe Johnson, Hawks
PER: 19.84
JJ is averaging 22.3 points, 6.1 assists and 4.6 rebounds, and has the Hawks in a battle for the #4 spot in the East. His three-point shooting is down two points, but his overall FG% is up a point. Remember when everyone laughed at the Hawks for giving up future MIP Boris Diaw and two first round picks for him?

LeBron James, Cavs
PER: 32.04
LeBron is the front-runner for the MVP thus far. He’s posting 27.7 points, 6.6 assists and 6.6 rebounds a game. His numbers are down, but that’s because the Cavs can afford to rest him an additional four minutes per game. It’s great to see his FG% over 50% (50.8%) and FT% approaching 80% (78.8%). LeBron has always been a statistical stud, but it’s the Cavs’ stellar record that has him leading the MVP race.

Here’s a quick list of the top 10 point guards under the age of 26, ranked in the order of a combination of current performance and trade value, and regardless of salary.

I’ll also list the player’s age and his Player Efficiency Rating.

1. Chris Paul, Hornets
Age: 23
PER: 30.99
He’s the best point guard in the league, regardless of of age.

2. Deron Williams, Jazz
Age: 24
PER: 16.82
Better jumper than CP3, but doesn’t have his quickness or vision.

3. Derrick Rose, Bulls
Age: 20
PER: 17.51
What he’s doing in his rookie year (18.7 points, 5.8 assists) is phenomenal.

4. Devin Harris, Nets
Age: 25
PER: 27.81
He’s absolutely blowing up – 24.8 points, 6.1 assists – right before our very eyes. That sound you hear is Mark Cuban grinding his teeth.

5. Mo Williams, Cavs
Age: 25
PER: 15.91
Mo is still figuring things out on the defensive end, but he’s a nice sidekick for LeBron, despite the so-so FG% (43.7%).

6. Rajon Rondo, Celtics
Age: 22
PER: 18.73
Handled the point during the C’s championship run. Does it with passing (7.2 assists) and defense (2.2 steals).

7. Ramon Sessions, Bucks
Age: 22
PER: 17.67
It was Sessions, not Ridnour, that prompted the Bucks to trade Mo Williams away. 15.6 points and 5.8 assists indicates he’s the point guard of the future in Milwaukee.

8. Jordan Farmar, Lakers
Age: 22
PER: 14.84
He’s struggling with his shot this season (41.9%) and is still playing behind Derek Fisher.

9. Nate Robinson, Knicks
Age: 24
PER: 17.88
He’s thriving in Mike D’Antoni’s system (14.5 points, 4.2 asissts), but at just 5’ 9�, is he limited in his upside?

10. Russell Westbrook, Thunder
Age: 20
PER: 15.06
He just joined the starting lineup, but is still averaging 12.3 points and 4.1 assists.

Before you blast me for missing a player or two, be sure to check his age. All these guys are 25 years-old or younger.

12/4 Update: Mo Williams is 25, not 23.

Other lists:

Top Young Shooting Guards
Top Young Small Forwards

There are a few interesting NBA games tonight:

Utah (5-1) @ Philadelphia (2-4)
The 76ers are off to a disappointing start. Offseason acquisition Elton Brand is more than five points per game off his career mark, and Andre Iguodala is shooting a miserable 38% from the field. Second-year swingman Thaddeus Young is lighting things up with a 16.5 ppg average on 52% shooting. This game will feature a great power forward matchup between Brand and Utah’s Carlos Boozer. The Jazz have been without Deron Williams, but Utah still managed to get off to a 5-1 start. He’s expected to make his debut tonight. Too bad the game is only available in local markets (unless you have the NBA League Pass). Game time is 7 PM ET.

Atlanta (5-0) @ Chicago (3-4)
Three of the Hawks’ five wins have come on the road and they hope to extend their unbeaten streak tonight in Chicago. Unfortunately, the high-flying Josh Smith is sidelined with a high-ankle sprain, but Joe Johnson has been doing his best MVP impersonation (25.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 3.8 apg). For the Bulls, Ben Gordon (20.0 ppg) leads his team in scoring, but it’s rookie sensation Derrick Rose (17.7 ppg, 5.1 apg) who is really turning heads. The game is on locally at 8:30 PM ET.

L.A. Lakers (5-0) @ Dallas (2-4)
The Mavs are off to a slow start, but in Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard, they can compete on any given night. They host the Lakers who are coming off a long stretch of down time in their schedule. L.A. is getting great play from Kobe (of course) and Pau Gasol, while Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom have been a little disappointing. Trevor Ariza and Jordan Farmar anchor a terrific bench. The game is on NBATV at 8:30 PM ET.

Offseason Movement: The Jazz exercised a couple of no-brainer contract options on Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap, and signed Deron Williams to a long-term deal. The other main acquisition was center Kosta Koufos via the draft.
Keep Your Eye On: Carlos Boozer
Boozer has another year on his deal, but it’s a player option, and considering he can make more on the open market, he’ll probably opt out. That doesn’t mean that he’s leaving Utah, but given Boozer’s history, the team is justifiably worried. Utah has a lot of money tied up in Andrei Kirilenko (three years, $49 million) and it would be much better spent on a new deal for Boozer. Complicating matters is Mehmet Okur, who can also opt out next summer. The good news is that the Jazz locked up Deron Williams, so that should encourage both Boozer and Okur to stay.
The Big Question: Is this group good enough to get over the hump?
Utah has a nice roster, but it’s unclear if the current core – Williams, Boozer, Okur, AK-47 – is good enough to get past the West’s elite. Can Williams and Boozer raise their respective games? Will another player (Brewer, Koufos) turn into a star?
Outlook: The Jazz are right on the cusp and they’ll always play hard for Jerry Sloan, so they’ll be in the thick of things come playoff time. That means that they’re likely to advance to the Western Conference Semis or Western Conference Finals and meet a roadblock like the Lakers, Hornets or Spurs. I’d like to see Jerry Sloan make another trip to the Finals, but the odds are against that happening this season.

Offseason Movement: The Bulls were relatively quiet this summer, but they did manage to sign Luol Deng to an extension. They were unable to sign Ben Gordon to a long-term deal, so it looks like he’s on his way out of town. He’ll be motivated for his next contract and would be a good candidate for an in-season trade. The team also signed Vinny Del Negro as its head coach.
Keep Your Eye On: Derrick Rose, PG
The #1 overall pick should see lots of action in the backcourt with Kirk Hinrich sliding over to shooting guard. Physically, he’s ready to play in the NBA and has the makings of an impact point guard not unlike Chris Paul or Deron Williams. He needs to work on his jumper, but once he gets that going, watch out.
The Big Question: When is this team going to fulfill its potential?
For the last few seasons, the Bulls have seemingly been on the verge of putting together something special. They shot themselves in the foot when they (way) overspent on Ben Wallace and sent Tyson Chandler to New Orleans where he’s now emerging as a star. With a starting lineup of Rose, Hinrich, Deng, Drew Gooden and Joakim Noah, along with a bench that includes Andres Nocioni, Larry Hughes and Ben Gordon, the team has the talent to compete with anyone in the East. The question is chemistry.
Outlook: The same old same old. Once again, Bulls fans look at their team’s roster and see a group of very good players. Deng is the closest that the team has to a star, so in a way, the Bulls lack an identity. Until someone emerges, whether it’s Deng or Rose (or someone else), the Bulls will be a mediocre team with the potential to be a contender. It’s not clear what Del Negro will bring to the table in his first season, so come April, it seems likely that the Bulls will be fighting for a playoff spot down the stretch in the weaker Eastern Conference.