Chris Paul: Overly reliant on Big Men?

I just read this in Marc Stein's power ratings:

They look like the Hornets again with Chandler back -- 30-13 when TC plays, 11-11 when he doesn't -- but you wonder how much Chris Paul and D-West will have left for the playoffs given the loads they're lugging.

This helps my assertion that a small point guard who loves to get steals is a major defensive liability if there isn't an athletic big man waiting in the middle to clean up his mistakes-- not to mention catch lob passes to bail him out when he gets in the lane with no where to go.  

I would be the Hornets are likely to fail to cover the spread any game that Tyson Chandler sits out....

Tyson Chandler Traded: The end of the Chris Paul Era?

Tyson Chandler, the athletic 7'1" big man of the Hornets was traded today to the Oklahoma City Thunder.   And the question is: does this mean the end of Chris Paul's MVP chances and high level of winning?

The answer is yes.  

Chris Paul is a 6'0" point guard known for his aggressive defense and steals.  But steals often come at a price of leaving one's man to play passing lanes.  The steal is a powerful play but when it fails there is often a clear lane to the hoop.  Tyson Chandlers, as an athletic big man who defends and blocks shots, was often able to bail out Chris Paul. 

That won't happen any more.  I think the ramifications of that are that his assists will go down (less lob-dunks) and the team will lose more even though he will probably still get steals at the same rate.  Its his failed steal attempts that will hurt the team and cause them a few more losses than they would have had previously.