Westbrook rookie of the year?

wiff · Post #1 » by **wiff** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:37 am

Here are some stats compared to one of the NBA's golden boys and a former ROY.

Brandon Roy rookie season age 22.
16.8pts
4.4rebs
4.0dimes
1.2thefts
0.2blks

35 minutes
fg% 0.456
3pt% 0.377
ft% 0.838

Russel Westbrook rookie season age 20
15pts
4.7rebs
4.9dimes
1.4thefts
0.2blks

31.8minutes
fg% 0.406
3pt% 0.286
ft% 0.809

So looks like to me Westbrook could very easily rival Roy's numbers by the time he is 24. He is two and a half years younger than Roy was during his rookie year and is nipping at his heels in production.

Roy got one more bucket a game and shot the ball at a bit better too his rookie year. But rebs, dimes and thefts Westbrook has the edge. But Westbrook gets three minutes less and again he is two and a half years younger than Roy was he rookie season.

Kind of crazy, funny how people were drooling over Brandon during his rookie season. Not too much has been made about Westbrook but damn those are some close numbers.

Post #2 » by **wizkid27** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 3:08 pm

I'm pretty amazed that their numbers are so similar. Not because I don't think Westbrook is that good, but because they seem like extremely different players. Neither one of their numbers are surprising, they just fill different roles for their teams.

One thing with Roy is how well he has continued to improve. If Westbrook can have the same learning curve as Roy, then I would be pretty happy.

The other big difference is that in Roy's rookie year, he was probably the best player on his team most nights. Westbrook is at best #2 on any given night, and often times falls far behind Green. So I would guess that most people would say, "well, he's the 3rd option on a bad team."

In any case, very cool to see that Russ is rivaling the rookie numbers of some of the best!

wiff · Post #3 » by **wiff** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:52 pm

Yeah I wanted to throw some gasoline on the OKC CORE>PORTLAND CORE thread over on the player comparison page.

So I threw out the Westbrook and Roy comparison.

Portland fan officially hates me now.

What is even more scary is that Westbrook's numbers when it come to rebs, dimes, thefts, and blks, are almost identical looking at THIS SEASON. Roy has a better shooting percentages that you would expect from a guy who is four and a half years older than Westbrook in total.

I'm sure Westbrook's stroke will improve and his numbers will go up.

OKC with Durant and a Westbrook with an equivalent game to Roy along with Green is scary. Plus add Thabeet???? Yikes.

boogydown · Post #4 » by **boogydown** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:53 am

Maybe that year he could have been ROY but not this year. They will look at how he improved his team, and overall stats. Unfortunately, Derrick Rose has better all around stats, plus while OKC has two 10+ scorers, Chicago has seven including Hughes, Gooden, Nocioni, Hinrich, Gordon, Deng, and Tyrus that eat away Rose's shot selection. Remember, Rose shoots 48% FG from the field, Westbrook 40% and still has 17/7 stats this season. As well Chicago looks like will make the playoffs as they are 8-3 with Deng/Hinrich returning. Rose is the clear pick right now.

Post #5 » by **wizkid27** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:53 pm

I'm not arguing with Rose as the ROY this year necessarily. But I always find it odd when people use the surrounding team in two different ways. You're saying that Rose is a better candidate because his team has a better record (agreed). But then say he's also a better candidate because he has several more scorers on his team than Westbrook does. It seems like it would have to be one way or the other... To me, if one guy is doing the same job with less guys around him, then he deserves more credit for it. For example, if Westbrook had Dwight Howard kicking out the ball for open 3's, his numbers would go up (especially points, assists and shooting %). Now, he would get credit for Howard on his team when taking record into account. But then I believe that Howard has actually made his job EASIER, and therefore he deserves to lose some of that credit for the wins.

Bottom line, Rose would probably get the nod for ROY. But while the Bulls have 25 wins and the Thunder have 13, Westbrook has had to have a good game in just as many wins as Rose. There have been a few of the Bulls games (that they have won) where Rose has been maybe the 5th or 6th best player... they can still win without him. If Westbrook has a game like that, it's nearly an automatic loss.

Post #6 » by **slick_watts** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:18 am

it's funny because even though i don't think westbrook is near roy's level yet, i think his future in the nba role-wise is similar. in my opinion, he'd be a lot more successful playing as a SG the same way roy does, and running the offense only sporadically throughout the game. to me he just doesn't seem to have the instincts to play PG in the nba, he's too reckless.

wiff · Post #7 » by **wiff** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:18 am

His numbers are really close to D Wade's rookie year too.

PTS 16.2
REBS 4.0
DIMES 4.5
STLS 1.4
BLKS 0.6

34.9min

wiff · Post #8 » by **wiff** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:05 pm

I know one of the big knocks on Westbrook is his efficiency. But if you crunch his numbers minus the month of November, the kid is shooting 0.436 from the field and 0.312 from downtown.

That's a bit more respectable. He could use a couple 7-10 shooting nights to help him out with this months fg% though.

And I think Rose will win the ROY award too but I think Westbrook should be mentioned in the conversation.

stillalive · Post #9 » by **stillalive** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:47 pm

i like westbrook. even though i'm a bulls fan i rooted for him when he played against rose in college. i really don't see him as a pure pg now, but things can change similarly to players like chauncey billups. if he can continue to get better, i don't see why he won't be considered as ROY.