Paul's Biggest Assist Goes to New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS -- It was only the beginning of what could be the busiest weekend in Chris Paul's life. The NBA All-Star Game has come to town, his town, and aside from the usual social gatherings, the league has also made this event about community service for a place that is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

The New Orleans Hornets' all-star point guard spent Thursday afternoon with Michael Jordan, Carmelo Anthony and hundreds of children at a Boys & Girls Club in Slidell, La., where the Jordan Brand shoe company donated $500,000 to build an outdoor playground.

Paul, nattily dressed in a navy sport coat with a paisley handkerchief, smiled as he shook hands and posed for pictures.

"I have a different perspective from any of the other all-stars," Paul said. "Everybody else that's here for the weekend, they got to give back and do different things, then they go back to their cities. This is it for me. I'm facing these things every day. These are my people. I truly care about them. So to see all the things that have been donated and given to them, giving them hope and more inspiration, it's something I'm happy about."

Paul also is excited about being the de facto host this weekend. The NBA has decreed Friday as a day of service throughout the city, and all of the all-stars will be heavily involved in rebuilding homes and visiting hospitals. "It gives us the opportunity to put New Orleans back out there on the national spotlight," he said. "All-Star Game, a lot of times, it's a hit and run. All the building and different things going on, it's going to have a lasting impression."

But even before the league made the service day a mandate, Paul understood that his responsibility to the people of New Orleans went beyond how well he performs on the court. He is performing both tasks at a high level.

He could become the first player in league history to average at least 20 points, 10 assists and 3 steals. And he has lifted the Hornets (36-15) to the best record in the Western Conference. "Between him and [Steve] Nash, I think they are the best two point guards in the league," Memphis Coach Marc Iavaroni said. "He's got the right people around him, he's making great decisions. He's a great leader."

Hornets Coach Byron Scott, who will coach the West this weekend, won three championships as a teammate of Magic Johnson with the Lakers and advanced to two more NBA Finals coaching Jason Kidd and the New Jersey Nets. He said there isn't a point guard playing the position better than Paul right now, adding that Paul should be considered for the league's most valuable player award. "The top five guys that should be mentioned as MVP candidates, to me, [are] probably Kobe, Kevin Garnett, LeBron, Steve Nash, Chris Paul. He's meant that much to our team. He's the driving force," Scott said.

Paul has also become the face of the Hornets' relief efforts in the city. He is currently featured in a commercial with NBA legend Karl Malone for the Louisiana Office of Tourism, in which he is covered in beads and does a second-line dance with an umbrella over his head and musicians playing swinging jazz music.

He has helped build homes in New Orleans; and last week, Paul donated pairs of his soon-to-be released signature shoe, the CP3, to an area high school basketball team. Last month, Paul and Miami Heat all-star guard Dwyane Wade spent $10,000 to open a family resource center at Sylvanie F. Williams Elementary School. The center is meant to give parents a place to take an active role in their children's education. "It's not something I do for notoriety," Paul said. "It's because I want to, most of all. Giving back here is always a nonstop thing. It's not just giving [money]."

On the day Paul and Wade opened the center last month, not all of the children were Hornets fans. "You're going to get beat tonight," fifth-grader Israel Syprian, 11, told Paul. "Miami gon' beat you."

Paul laughed and told Syprian to watch the game. The Hornets drilled the Heat, 114-88, and Paul returned to the school the next week and sought out Syprian. "When we beat the life out of the Heat. . . . he didn't say too much," Paul said with a laugh.

Paul sat and talked with Syprian for several minutes about school and life. The short encounter left an impression. Syprian's mother, Tamsin, recently called the Hornets' vice president for community affairs, Steve Martin, to tell him that her son has been more focused in school receiving better grades ever since he met Paul. "She feels it has had such a great impact on the kid," Martin said.

Shortly after the Hornets selected Paul No. 4 in the 2005 draft, he was prepared to buy a house on Canal Street, but hurricanes Katrina and Rita canceled those plans and forced him and his teammates to move to Oklahoma City for two seasons. He had a modest three-bedroom house in Oklahoma City, but now that he is back in New Orleans for good, Paul has bought a riverfront condo near New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush. Paul and Bush are friends and they even share a chef.

"He loves being here and he loves the city of New Orleans," Paul's older brother and manager, C.J. Paul, said. "With Katrina coming through, the city needs somebody to pick them up. He feels it. He loves it."

He already knows that he will be touching almost every corner of the city this weekend. "I go from one thing to another one and to another one," Paul said.

Is he going to have any energy left for the game on Sunday? "I'm going to make sure I do," he said.