Chris Paul
From Hoopedia
Christopher Emmanuel "Chris" 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.
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Professional
Paul was selected fourth overall by the New Orleans Hornets in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft. In his first season, he led all rookies in points, assists, steals, and minutes, garnering him the 2006 NBA Rookie of the Year Award. 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. Chris Paul recorded his first triple-double on April 2, 2006 against the Toronto Raptors with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists. He has currently recorded 3 career triple-doubles and is averaging 16.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, 8.1 assists, and 2.1 steals after 105 career games with the New Orleans Hornets. He was named to replace Steve Nash in the 2007 Playstation Skills Challenge during All-Star Weekend. On February 16, 2007, he played in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge and dished out 17 assists and 9 steals, both T-Mobile Rookie Challenge records.
In the 2006-07 season, he averaged 17.3 ppg, 8.9 assists per game, and 1.8 steals per game.
All-Star Weekend
During the 2007 Las Vegas NBA All-Star Weekend Paul set two Rookie Challenge records by recording 17 assists (11 of them were registered in 11 minutes off the bench) to go along with 9 steals (he also recorded 16 points in the same game).
High School
Paul played at West Forsyth High School, 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. In a high school game, 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.
College
Paul attended Wake Forest University from 2003–2005, and played under coach Skip Prosser. Paul was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year for the 2003-04 season. He was named the 2004-05 ACC Preseason Player of the Year and Associated Press Preseason National Player of the Year, and was a consensus first-team All-American in 2005. While at Wake Forest, he tallied career totals of 948 points, 395 assists, and 160 steals.
Paul owns the all-time ACC record for freshman season steals with 84, surpassing Duke's Jason Williams' 81 in 1999-00. One of Wake's best freshmen in history, lists No. 1 among all-time Wake freshmen season leaders in steals, assists (183), three-point field goal percentage (.465) and free throw percentage (.843), ranks third in both points (460) and scoring average (14.8 ppg.) He ranked third among all-time Wake single season steals leaders, fourth in three-point field goal percentage, fifth in assists and 15th in free throw percentage.
Paul was suspended in March of 2005 for one game for throwing a punch at North Carolina State's Julius Hodge that landed below the belt in the first half of a game in Raleigh, North Carolina.
International
Paul has earned 10 caps for various junior national teams. Paul made his debut for the 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. USA finished with an 8-1 record and defeated 2004 Olympic gold medal winner Argentina for a third place finish. Chris Paul set a Team USA World Championship assist record with 44 assists, to go along with 17 steals and only 9 turnovers.
Trivia
- He recently signed on to the famous Air Jordan brand, which is a subsidiary of Nike. The shoe label is headed by Michael Jordan and features prominent athletes from several different sports.
- He is nicknamed CP3, as Chris is the third person in his immediate family with the initials "CP". His jersey number is also 3.
- He is a big fan of the NFL Carolina Panthers and the Chicago Bulls.
- He has been compared to a young Isiah Thomas.
- He lists his heroes as the NBA legends, Michael Jordan, and Magic Johnson.
- In February 2007, he appeared in an ESPN This is SportsCenter commercial as the manservant of Stuart Scott because of his "Rookie of the Year" status.
- He is an avid bowler who recently entered into a partnership with the U.S. Bowling Congress.
