NEW ORLEANS — His own coach genuinely thinks the world of him.

Jazz point guard Deron Williams considers him a close personal friend, so much so that — even though their respective clubs have conflicting objectives — he spent plenty of time palling around with his little buddy during the recent NBA All-Star Weekend here.

When the two and their teams meet again tonight in New Orleans, in fact, the two are likely to exchange a heartfelt pre-game greeting that Williams' coach never would have considered sharing back in his NBA days.

Even Los Angeles Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant considers him a bona fide candidate to win NBA Player of the Year honors this season.

"Absolutely," Bryant said when asked just that. "He's a great player."

So who is this Chris Paul, the New Orleans Hornets point guard who became an All-Star in his third professional season while supposed rival Williams — taken one spot ahead of him at No. 3 overall in the 2005 NBA Draft — watched from the stands?

For one, he is the fiercest of competitors.

While at Wake Forest, which he left after earning consensus All-America honors in his sophomore season, he once threw a below-the-belt punch that floored then reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year Julius Hodge of North Carolina State.

Paul eventually apologized after television replays clearly showed the jab, which reportedly stemmed in part from his frustration that fans had been heckling him about his grandfather.

That would be the same grandfather who was tragically murdered in 2002 while Paul was in high school.

Three days after the tragedy, Paul proceeded to score 61 points — one for each year his grandfather was alive. He then removed himself from the game, even though he had a good chance at breaking North Carolina's high school scoring record.

Few folks may know that Paul is also an avid bowler, with an average in the 180-to-190 range and a high game of 250-plus. He's even a national spokesman for the United States Bowling Congress.

But he's made his name by ballin'.

To Bryant, in fact, the 22-year-old North Carolina native and Wake Forest University product is — along with Williams — one of the league's prospective superstar points of the future.

"He can shoot the ball, he can handle the ball, he makes passes," Bryant said of Paul, who was named North Carolina's Mr. Basketball in 2003 by the Charlotte Observer newspaper — quite an honor in a state that considers itself one of America's best for high school hoops.