You read that Enes Kanter is just as good as a young Amare Stoudemire and that Steve Novak is essentially the same as either Joe Johnson, Boris Diaw, Leandro Barbosa, Shawn Marion, or Quentin Richardson. You heard that a team that shot .393 from 3pt land is the same as .339. Nevermind that you read that a shoot first point guard is suddenly going to change his entire game and become a passer. Honestly though, the OP has a little bit of a point in that the Thunder should score a lot of points, but how they do that is probably not going to come from Westbrook averaging anywhere near 11.5 assists per game like Nash did that one special year.
Westbrook never averaged 9 assists a game, last season was his highest at 8.6. In fact WB's career average at 7.1 is actually just a bit higher than Allen Iverson who averaged 5.2 assists a game and less than Marbury who averaged 7.2 assists a game, I bet those guys were also pass first guys just like Westbrook http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/westbru01.html Like what another poster said WB is the complete opposite of Nash, he's athletic, extremely aggressive, loves contact, amazing defender, low bball IQ, extremely inefficient and crappy outside shooter. The guy is ridiculously talented but he is also immature as far as basketball goes, you can see this when he shot more than the rest of the team's starters combined when KD was out. If you want the next Nash you already have a better version in Curry, GSW is also better coached and has more talent than 7SoL PHX.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Right answer! Westbrook sees Durant as competition not a teammate. He finally had a taste of Alpha Dog last year and was rolling out triple doubles like the second coming of Oscar Robertson (who his game is much more like than Nash 's), won the scoring title and nearly led them into the playoffs. Expect some real tension over who's the better player because Durant's ego is on the same level as Westbrook's and he has been fighting to take over the number 1 player spot in the league over LeBron for years and is sure as hell not going to play second fiddle on his own team. Durant is not Robin. Ever. OKC will be very interesting to watch this next year simply for the Durant - Westbrook fued which I believe will ensue by the start of the regular season.
Are you kidding me? The better player is obv Durant, he lead a worse cast to the 2nd round WB shot his team out of the game multiple times last year.
Dallas' offense was ranked #1 or 2 when he was there too. In fact, Nash's offenses were ranked 1 or 2 for 9 straight years spanning 2 teams, including the year when everyone was injured.
Go back and read my post. I never said Westbrook is the better player. I said there is going to be tension between them over who the better player is and who is the alpha dog on the team. Durant is and has been the better player and I mentioned that in my comment about him aiming to dethrone LeBron as the number 1 player in the league for the better part of a decade. Westbrook is not and should not be someone he should or would normally be competing with for rank but with Westbrook's ego and his taste now of the top dog on the team last year with Durant sidelined, he's going to try to maintain that and he is going to try and outshine Durant to prove it because he is a hot head with a huge ego. Durant won't put up with that type of behavior and I forsee sparks. Get it?
Stephen Curry is closer to Steve Nash than Russell Westbrook. Literally! Nash now works for the Warriors.
Steve Nash is no where near westbrooks athelticism. Also Nash was much more passive. I recall games where nash scored like 3-4 points and had 15+ assists
Having 15+ assists cannot be passive. It's called setting up your teammates. That's what PGs are supposed to do.
Ibaka was hurt too last year. The year that durant played without wb they had a top seed and where playing the rockets. Also Westbrook played a couple game before bev injured him. I think durant is better than wb but I think you are making an unfair comparison.
He doesn't need to be Nash. He's Westbrook and his brand of basketball is unique to him as well. Nash never won a championship. Never even made it to one. At least Westbrook can say he had a shot.
Closest thing to Nash right now is Curry due to both being amazing shooters. Curry is the better shooter, Nash is the better playmaker. Both are very skillful and very textbook, neither are particularly athletic.