"What's happening to playmaking guards now is that they aren't just point guards, they're scoring guards," Carter says. "It's a small man's league now, and if a guy can dribble drive it's a tremendous advantage. It's very difficult to defend guys who can penetrate. And the new rules have really helped guys like this."

Here are five such guys.

MAD DOG'S TOP 5 ONE-ON-ONE PLAYERS
Iverson	Allen Iverson 76ers	30.1 PPG, 1st in NBA "Speed and quickness make it extremely difficult to guard him. And you really can't sag on him either because he hits the three really well now (second in league with 20 threes). He gets by everyone now."
Marbury	Stephon Marbury Nets	27.3 PPG, 3rd in NBA "He doesn't shoot from the outside as well as Iverson, but he has a deadly crossover. He gets into the lane great and finishes."
Hill	Grant Hill Pistons	25.2 PPG, 4th in NBA "Just a great one-on-one player, has always been. This is indicative of some of his games, he'll score 40, but then they make him shoot from the outside and he goes 4-for-15. You can't put a hand on him because he creates so much havoc. He now has the stamina to do it every night."
Carter	Vince Carter Raptors	22.4 PPG, 9th in NBA "He's creating for himself just fine, and the ability to create for others will come. The hangtime is definitely there already. He's beginning to develop an outside shot, and if he pulls up he's more difficult to guard."
Payton	Gary Payton Sonics	21.8 PPG, 13th in NBA "Has a deadly left-handed layup, hits the three, and has the physical and mental toughness to do it all every night. He doesn't expend a lot of energy either. Other guys look slow to him that are fast to everyone else. And with the 7 rebounds a game he's putting up MVP numbers."