Chris Paul has great vision.
You don’t need anyone tell you that. Just watch him play.
He whips passes to teammates in every direction. He shoots with pinpoint accuracy all the way out beyond the 3-point arc. He swipes for steals at just the right moment.
Except…
Dan Woike of The Orange County Register:Chris Paul, the Clippers’ sure-fire Hall of Fame point guard, listed them off one after another.
“F-E-L-O-P-Z-D. D-E-F-P-O-T-E-C”
He recited the 20/25 and 20/20 lines on the eye chart in rapid succession. He didn’t pause to squint. He didn’t strain a single muscle on his face.
There was a small catch, though. Paul wasn’t reading from anything at all. There wasn’t an eye chart inside the Clippers practice facility.
He’d memorized the 15 letters, maybe in an effort to convince eye doctors he didn’t need to correct his vision.
Paul underwent LASIK this summer, and the laser eye surgery appears to be paying off. He has a 5-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, is making 46% of his 3-pointers and averages three steals per game – all career highs.
Still, I’m reluctant to assume the surgery is the difference. After all, I thought he had great vision before, and that was obviously wrong.
But it’d be hard to argue the surgery has hurt.
