Westbrook finally has the same personal Steve Nash had in Phoenix. Amare Stoudamire = Enes Kanter Phoenix shooters = Durant/Novak/Morrow/Ibaka Mike D'Antoni = Billy Donovan I predict OKC will have the #1 offense in the league and Russell Westbrook will lead the league in assists. You'll see flashes of this in preaseason when Westbrook has 10+ assists in limited time and OKC offense scores 120+.
westbrooks field goal attempts per game (FGA) (last 4 seasons) 19.6 19.3 20.2 23.0 nash's attempts (FGA) (highest 4 seasons out of 18 years) 13.6 13.4 13.3 12.8 westbrook is a machine but i'm pretty sure you can not lead the league in assists and shoot that much. but perhaps
Um, no. First, on a normalized basis, RW has never come close to hitting Nash level assist numbers. Per 36, per 100 possessions, etc. Maybe RW gets better there. But he won't approach Nash's level. Dig deeper. Look at usage. Russell's usage has been 32% or higher consistently, including a league leading 38% plus last year. Nash never had a usage % higher than 24.4%. Some/a lot of that is because Russell is also just more of a scoring PG. But however you look at it, Russell has the ball in his hand more. Nash is a historically great playmaker for others. One of the best ever. Russell is NOT the new that. He is a great player in his own right, but completely different.
Their games could not be more opposite. They have almost zero in common. If you asked me what top level current point guard has the exact opposite game of Steve Nash, I'd probably say Russell Westbrook.
To say Westbrook doesn't pass is disingenuous. You don't get 9 assists a game if you don't pass. He just takes a lot of shots.
They remind me A LOT of the Yao Ming Rockets. Kanter = Yao Ming Durant = Ron Artest Westbrook = Kyle Lowry Ibaka = Scola Novak = TMac Morrow = Battier Donovan = Adelman
BTW, people make to much of Nash's passing. His passing only looked special because he had two guys that could finish pretty much any pass, and a lot of really really good 3 point shooters. His passing in Dallas wasn't special at all. What made him special during the MVP years was his ungodly efficiency numbers. You just couldn't give him any room which made a lot space for his teammates.
Chuckbrook aint getting double digit assists with Durant back when he will take it as a personal competition to score more than KD
....And he was one of the very best outside shooters in the league in his prime. One of the very best in the league. This made the whole "[melanin deprived player] is the next Steve Nash!" trope that was popular in the mid 2000's so frustrating - not unless he becomes one of the most elite outside shooters in league history does he become such.
Spreading your filth across 2 of my favorite forums. Russell Westbrook Is The Next Steve Nash-OKCFanSinceJune2012 edit-you posted it on inside hoops too, "JohnMax" lol.
One thing I've noticed is that all these dudes bounce an orange ball. And they throw it towards an elevated net. So I agree, very similar.
