Joey Wheeler wrote:Curry averaged more than 25.5ppg once in his career. He never averaged more than 8.5 assists. He mostly plays about 34-35mpg. There's absolutely no evidence of him being able to carry a massive load on his own.
By swapping them, OKC does gain better shooting and spacing just by having Curry. OTOH, no one in the history of basketball has ever attacked the rim as relentlessly as Westbrook has this season, so that'd be lost. Teams would invite Curry to drive into packed paints as they did Westbrook, but since Curry can't play above the rim that'd not be viable.
Curry's skillset would give his teammates open shot chances, but... Westbrook did it too. People thinking OKC role players can't shoot because Westbrook doesn't get them good looks at the basket have simply not watched the games this season. Westbrook's most impressive achievement in this triple double season was averaging 10 assists while being surrounded by offensively challenged teammates. Guys like Roberson, Oladipo, Christon... are simply not good shooters and there's nothing that can be done about it. The only other positive offensive player in the roster is Kanter, but you can't have him on the floor due to how much of a liability he is.
Russ only had one season of over 25.5 ppg prior to this last one.
Per 36, both steph and westbrook has each had 3 seasons of over 25.5 ppg.
Steph has had significantly less usage each season as well. The one year he had over 30%, he averaged 30ppg (russ each season is consistently over 30%).
I do agree that westbrook has the physical profile that better suits the role of having to be "the man" on a talent stricken team than curry. However, I would argue Curry's skillset can compliment just about any system and set of teammates better than westbrook.
