Athletically: MVP Rose V MVP Westbrook

[GYK]

I never seen anyone faster, dexterous and quicker than Rose. Way he gets off the ground too.
Rose is probably 2nd only to Lebron as the greatest athlete ever.

[CobraCommander]

Rose had the power of a semi in the body of dirt bike-

I have never seen anything like him- jordan, Ja, Westbrook. Nothing compared to prime Rose-

AI quickness, Jordans hOps with Shaqs power -

and he didn’t have a basketball IQ when he was young-

He was just able to do indefensible stuff physically

[CobraCommander]

I never seen anyone faster, dexterous and quicker than Rose. Way he gets off the ground too.
Rose is probably 2nd only to Lebron as the greatest athlete ever.

Rose best athlete I ever saw-

I heard wilt was him but taller

[Pelly24]

I give this one to Westbrook. Their speed and quickness is the same, but I think Russ is a better one-foot leaper while also being an incredible two-foot leaper. Rose had better lateral movementswhild going north to south, but really wasn't a good defender (neither was russ to be fair). But I think Russ had two advantages over Rose. He was a more destructive, overpowering leaper. Rose could make crazy layups and stuff and he did crazy dunks on the fast break. Westbrook could go up and under defenders in the lane, but really, he could/can jump over and through them like peak athletic Michael Jordan. Rose was never quite that way as often. Westbrook's other advantage was his unstoppable motor. Westbrook could just keep driving and driving and driving and driving, bludgeoning the paint with a crazy concussive force that just left them demoralized. He wasn't really efficient, but he finished well enough and he got to the line a lot, and his missed shots created attempts for offensive rebounds and got more shot attempts. This opened him up to use his incredible court vision to create offense for his team. That's why his fg% and all that never told the full story. He was dominating in the playoffs when it was him and KD, even in his one series against the Rockets in last year of his peak/prime. Rose didn't have that motor and overwhelming force. Answer here is Westbrook.

[Lockdown504090]

Westbrook stay at the bottom of the league on drivers driving efficiency and his inability to control his explosiveness with coordination. Derrick rose. Athleticism is way more than open court speed and jumping

[BodieB]

Westbrook's athleticism was like a nuke. Rose's athleticism was any WMD that could be deployed for whatever purpose was needed.

[JN61]

Westbrook has edge on everything else than vertical leap I think. The thing which this board seems to overrate when it comes to overall athletism. But still the edge rose had on vertical leap was a few inches at most while the strength difference was enormous. Like comparing college kid to full grown adult. Even back then Westbrook could hold his own vs 95% of PFs in The league from the strength standpoint.

[GYK]

I never seen anyone faster, dexterous and quicker than Rose. Way he gets off the ground too.
Rose is probably 2nd only to Lebron as the greatest athlete ever.

Rose best athlete I ever saw-

I heard wilt was him but taller

Well I never saw Wilt to say.
As for bigs Dwight and DRob are the most athletic centers I ever seen. With Shaq and Kareem coming up next considering frame combined with traditional athletic gifts.

[JN61]

This is obviously Westbrook. Ask yourself this: would they have been close as players if Westbrook had Rose's bball IQ? No, Westbrook might have been the GOAT PG if that was the case.

Westbrook has superior bball iq to rose and superior court vision... There is a reason why rose has never been able to act as a real Pg making his teammates better. If you want to make that comparison you need to bring in all time greats like Nash, Kidd, Stockton, West, etc.

[Ice Trae]

Hard choice. To me this is an answer that can be changed on any given day. Russ athleticism was more imposing and destructive whereas Rose to me was more controlled and finesse

[NO-KG-AI]

I don't know if Westbrook is the better athlete in an open gym against cones and chairs or something, but he obviously leveraged his physical attributes to a far greater extent on the court. He used his athleticism to snatch more rebounds, get more steals, get to the rim and dunk the ball a lot more, draw more fouls, and collapse defenses and generate more assists.

Pretty much everything Westbrook did better, he did better because he used his athleticism to generate pressure. They both should have been much better point of the attack defenders for their athletic talents, so that's not a point in either's direction TBH.

I think Rose is smarter/better decision maker and Westbrook was still more dominant and it was mostly a physical difference.

I probably haven't given Rose enough credit for how his body strength and mobility could have still grown as he got older, if he put the work in (which isn't always a given). Westbrook was 28 with almost a decade of building his body in the NBA to overwhelm guys.

[DCasey91]

Both are listed at 1.91 which is obviously wrong. Westbrook seems larger than that and Rose definitely smaller. Pendlebury is listed at 1.91 and was like over half a head taller than Irving and much bigger when they met (saw them both live huge size difference).

Swimming
Running
Athletics
Footy
Soccer
Rugby
NFL
Hockey
Tennis

Etc etc any sport.

Westbrook’s athletic profile is perfect for sports in general. 6”3 guy that can run all day, physical, great frame, huge motor, fast hand eye the works.

Look at Antman and Wiggins for example for when you have your intensity and motor turned down to a fifth. It’s actually Westbrooks most understated advantage. People can’t just go all day at that intensity

I do put Wade above Rose as well in terms of general overall. Both are better equipped at handling the physical stuff (dude was basically prime Lebron at 6”4 in his younger days).

[ChartFiction]

Not sure about more athletic, but I find Rose more interesting athletically because of how rare and unusual his movements looked to me. Stood out the first time I saw him.

[NO-KG-AI]

Westbrook stay at the bottom of the league on drivers driving efficiency and his inability to control his explosiveness with coordination. Derrick rose. Athleticism is way more than open court speed and jumping

But Westbrook has 7 seasons at or higher FG% inside 3 feet than Rose's MVP season, and all but 1 of them have higher volume and higher total percentage of his shots at the rim, with a few being significantly so.

Russell Westbrook wasn't a great finisher at the rim, but neither was Rose, not even compared to other guards during his MVP season.

Rose's scoring ability has grown to mythic proportions over the years lol.

[pipfan]

Super close-can't go wrong with either
I have Ja with them, as the top 3

[Lockdown504090]

Westbrook stay at the bottom of the league on drivers driving efficiency and his inability to control his explosiveness with coordination. Derrick rose. Athleticism is way more than open court speed and jumping

But Westbrook has 7 seasons at or higher FG% inside 3 feet than Rose's MVP season, and all but 1 of them have higher volume and higher total percentage of his shots at the rim, with a few being significantly so.

Russell Westbrook wasn't a great finisher at the rim, but neither was Rose, not even compared to other guards during his MVP season.

Rose's scoring ability has grown to mythic proportions over the years lol.

So ask yourself, why is it that a a guy who has those seven seasons is scoring at a higher volume despite what I said also being true? Russ has more transition and more hustle buckets. Whether you want to say the difference is due to athleticism( I do not) is up to you. The numbers of his prime aren’t all available, but given the oercentages overall don’t change much with Rose and that he’s still better, I’d say prime rose had noticeably better driving numbers than Westbrook did. Considering Russ is again on the lower on end of half court drivers.

[Charlesareed]

Prime DRose was a monster what a shame we got robbed he was faster and more controlled and explosive Russ was more athletic and stronger

[sisibilio]

I have Westbrook by a clear distance. No slight on Rose amazingly explosive but Westbrook to me is the most transferable athlete of all time.

He’s not just explosive but bigger/longer, he’s basically a perfect build for any sport. Both dealt with injuries but guys Westbrook is above all else.

Massive feet, 6”3 solid frame with wide shoulders, great running gait, ideal for swimming, athletics, any fighting discipline and ball sports. Dude would walk into any environment that deals with this and thrive I do think he’s the superior athletic specimen.

He would be an amazing tennis player.

IDK teniis is all about hand-eye coordination.

[HearshotKDS]

I'm biased as hell but I think Rose had a more explosive first and second step and maybe high end vertical leap - both of which i attribute to his lighter weight - but Russ probably had the advantage everywhere else while doing it at 20-30 pounds heavier (?). I think many conventional definitions of athleticism would give the nod to the athlete doing more at a heavier weight but its my opinion so I voted Rose.

[Repeat 3-peat]

I think Rose's body control is what gives him the edge. His ability to stop on a dime was insane also.