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#9 Chris Paul
Chris Paul has been recognised for a long time as an elite defender. He's the all-time leader in steals titles with six, all of which came in a seven-year span from 2007-08 to 2013-14.
He has seven All-Defensive First Team selections (he's currently on a streak of 6 consecutive seasons and is on course for a 7th) and two Second Team selections over the last 11 seasons. Therefore, there is no scope for argument about his pedigree here.
However, since we're looking at metrics from this season, let's start off with the obvious stat - Paul has 1.7 steals per game and is playing lower minutes per game than he has in the last 11 years due to the fact that the Rockets have been so dominant this regular season.
He has a whopping net rating of 15.1 points per 100 possessions and owns the Rockets' second-best defensive rating of 103.8. With his offensive production of 18.5 points and 7.9 assists per game on 45.5% shooting from the floor and 37.9% shooting from three-point territory, Paul is playing as well as he ever has, and is on his way to another All-Defensive team selection.
