Was Westbrook career ruined by him being developed as a pointguard?

dirkdiggler4177 · Post #1 » by **dirkdiggler4177** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 12:03 pm

Westbrook, as far as I know, played shooting guard in college. When he came into the NBA, he played point guard, and every commentator was so impressed by this. For me, his career is summarized as doing too much.

What if he took the Dwayne Wade or Iverson route, becoming a shooting guard and developing a mid-range game?

Edit. Replace ruined with damaged

remiga007 · Post #2 » by **remiga007** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 12:09 pm

He's been in the league for like 17 years and still has no jumpshot to speak of. Even big guys develop their jumpers now late in their careers.

He either didn't care to develop it, or was unable to. I do not think position had anything to do with it.

Bergmaniac · Post #3 » by **Bergmaniac** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 12:11 pm

Ruined as in "Won an MVP, was a Top 10 player for several years and earned 350 million total from salaries alone"? I wish my career was ruined like this.

In his prime he was always better at passing than at shooting and he is Top 8 All-time in career assists, just got past the 10,000 mark and will most likely soon pass Magic at this so I am not sure why you think him becoming a shooting guard would have helped his career. He tried to develop a mid-range and he had a decent 16 footer in his prime, but that was never his main strength.

JHFVF07 · Post #4 » by **JHFVF07** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 12:12 pm

The guy was many times all star, all nba teams and have a MVP, I dont know about you, but to me he had a great career.

Calvin Klein · Post #5 » by **Calvin Klein** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 12:15 pm

He's a first ballot hall of famer, MVP, etc, etc.

I think he's done quite well. Also, Iverson? I'd say both Westbrook and Iverson have quite similar careers.

dirkdiggler4177 · Post #6 » by **dirkdiggler4177** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 12:18 pm

Bergmaniac wrote:Ruined as in "Won an MVP, was a Top 10 player for several years and earned 350 million total from salaries alone"? I wish my career was ruined like this.

In his prime he was always better at passing than at shooting and he is Top 8 All-time in career assists, just got past the 10,000 mark and will most likely soon pass Magic at this so I am not sure why you think him becoming a shooting guard would have helped his career. He tried to develop a mid-range and he had a decent 16 footer in his prime, but that was never his main strength.

JHFVF07 wrote:The guy was many times all star, all nba teams and have a MVP, I dont know about you, but to me he had a great career.

Calvin Klein wrote:He's a first ballot hall of famer, MVP, etc, etc.

I think he's done quite well. Also, Iverson? I'd say both Westbrook and Iverson have quite similar careers.

You have to look at it in context. Of course, he had a good career, so ruined might be the wrong word. Changed it to damaged.

Godymas · Post #7 » by **Godymas** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 1:20 pm

He has 3 assist titles, are you serious?

kingr · Post #8 » by **kingr** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 1:34 pm

Ruined? He's had an absolutely GREAT career.

Post #9 » by **og15** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 1:43 pm

dirkdiggler4177 wrote:Westbrook, as far as I know, played shooting guard in college. When he came into the NBA, he played point guard, and every commentator was so impressed by this. For me, his career is summarized as doing too much.

What if he took the Dwayne Wade or Iverson route, becoming a shooting guard and developing a mid-range game?

Edit. Replace ruined with damaged

Both those other guys played point guard at different times too, but what does being a shooting guard or point guard have to do with developing a mid-range game?

Nothing about playing one position or the other prevents that. Westbrook won an MVP and will be talked about as one of the best PG's of all time, not really sure what you think he would have been doing differently playing SG.

Your assumption is that if one somehow moved him to the other guard position, now he would be a better shooter, the assumption doesn't actually make sense, his shooting ability has nothing to do with which guard position he played. Also, Westbrook had a decent mid-range game for a while, and it fell off just like his FT shooting fell off.

The answer to the thread question is a HUGE NO!

7seventynine9 · Post #10 » by **7seventynine9** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 1:55 pm

I openly admit I'm not an Iverson guy, but aren't Westbrook and Iverson roughly on the same tier of player? I know there are a lot of Iverson stans out there, but there are also a ton of Westbrook stans so maybe they even each other out.

Iverson didn't really have much of a mid range game either? He was ok from 16 feet-3pt range but he mostly made his living at the FT line.

Just looking at their adjusted shooting
Iverson FG+ 94, 2p+ 95, 3pt+ 88, eFG+ 94, FT+ 104, TS+ 98 FTr 131
Westbrook FG+ 95, 2p+ 94, 3pt+ 86, eFG+ 92, FT+ 101, TS+ 95, FTr 133

Iverson seems like a bad example since he's just as much a chucker as Westbrook. They have pretty similar shot selections and results too.

Post #11 » by **tsherkin** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 2:02 pm

dirkdiggler4177 wrote:What if he took the Dwayne Wade or Iverson route, becoming a shooting guard and developing a mid-range game?

Being a point guard wasn't what stopped him from developing a mid-range game. He was an on-ball scoring guard, which wasn't really a lot different from the guys you named.

LockoutSeason · Post #12 » by **LockoutSeason** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 2:12 pm

Westbrook would play the same as a SG. He also takes a lot of midrange shots. His problem was always shot selection and taking too many shots. Same as Iverson.

Chokic · Post #13 » by **Chokic** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 2:14 pm

On the contrary, he massively overachieved.

TheGeneral99 · Post #14 » by **TheGeneral99** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 2:19 pm

Wtf, lol.

Not sure how an MVP, 9x all-star, 2x all-star game MVP, 2x all NBA 1st team, 5x all NBA 2nd team, 2x all NBA 3rd team, 2x NBA scoring champion, 3x assist leader, and being named as one of the 75 best players ever, is a career "ruined."

I think people forget how **** incredible Westbrook was in his athletic prime...he wreaked havoc on the floor, was a relentless aggressive machine, made incredible defensive plays, and had an insane motor.

ATLTimekeeper · Post #15 » by **ATLTimekeeper** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 2:28 pm

I think like Rondo he had the curse of having a defensive reputation simply because he created turnovers and rebounded on great defensive, successful teams early. Once around the block the gambles those players repeatedly took just compromise integrity and frustrate coaches.

Mallie · Post #16 » by **Mallie** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 2:52 pm

His shooting might be the key to him not being played as a shooting guard.

That being said, his career might have been saved by being played as a PG, since he's pretty useless off ball.

PistolPeteJR · Post #17 » by **PistolPeteJR** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 2:54 pm

What baffles me with Russ is that his first 9 seasons in the league, he averaged 82.3 FT% on 7.2 FTA/g. Very respectable.

The following 9 seasons, including this season, 68.6 FT% on 4.9 FTA/g.

How does that happen? It's beyond me.

Post #18 » by **nate33** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 2:58 pm

Mallie wrote:His shooting might be the key to him not being played as a shooting guard.

That being said, his career might have been saved by being played as a PG, since he's pretty useless off ball.

This.

In today's NBA, only two players can get away with not being a shooter: the guy who runs the offense, and one big man in the dunker's spot. If you can't be one of those two players, and you can't shoot, you are a total liability for your team on offense. Learning how to be the guy who runs the offense is what saved Westbrook's career.

LascelleL · Post #19 » by **LascelleL** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 3:04 pm

PistolPeteJR wrote:What baffles me with Russ is that his first 9 seasons in the league, he averaged 82.3 FT% on 7.2 FTA/g. Very respectable.

The following 9 seasons, including this season, 68.6 FT% on 4.9 FTA/g.

How does that happen? It's beyond me.

He got old and he hasn't really compensated his mechanics for the age and decline in athletic ability.

Black Jack · Post #20 » by **Black Jack** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 3:19 pm

OKC just had to put Westbrook at sg and let Harden run point. It was right there.