Russell Westbrook and Point Guard Progression

[ALL HAIL]

Unless he is allowed to log some big minutes playing in front of, behind, and/or with a "seasoned" veteran point guard he will end up being a fantastic third guard much like Jamal Crawford.

It cannot be understated the role that Terrell Brandon played in making Chauncy Billups a real PG.

I was very adament about OKC signing Mike Bibb this summer. He would've given the team an outside shooter, a veteran leader, and a guy to really push Westbrook -- plus they could've played together rather easily.

[bgassassin]

Hey guys. Just thought I would mention that Billups was playing SG most of his early career. The improvement he showed was due to Minny finally committing to playing him at PG full time. So using him in a comparison is kinda misleading. The main reason I know this is because Mayo currently reminds me a lot of Billups when he was at this early point of his career so I did some deeper research on that.

[slick_watts]

Here's a December update. Russ is killin' it right now, last five games his A:TO is 4:1, with 8.6 assists to 2.2 turnovers. Those are elite numbers. Through the entire month so far he's at about 2.75:1 which is a very good number.

However, his shooting has been horrible. He shot 43% from the field in November, which was decent, but is currently shooting just over 36% from the field in December.

If you took his shooting in November and his play making in December I think you'd get what could be described as a very successful season for Russ.

I get the feeling he's on the cusp of figuring something out and getting to another level as a PG. Hopefully he can do it.

[dream_catcher_9]

I have to admit Russ has been playing at a different level the past couple weeks or so. He still has brain freezes where you are like WTF, but he has reduced those and is making smarter decisions with the ball AND is hitting that midrange shot. The scary thing is he isn't even close to being at his prime. He could realistically be a elite PG in the NBA sort of like Rondo but a better shooter.

Im also at a cross roads because I LOVE Maynor and what he brings to the table....Leadership, BBall IQ, Clutch play, vision/passing, feel for the game. But his lack of elite quickness/athleticism and strength will always hinder him from becoming an elite PG like Russ. Although I still think he can become a very good starter in this league. I could see him leading this team to a Championship as well as Russell as long as Westbrook continues to improve his decision making and feel for the game/BBall IQ.