Steve Francis was never the shooter Westbrook is. Francis relied heavily on his athleticism. That's why he fell off the cliff once the athleticism was gone. Westbrook is a smaller version of Kobe Bryant. Anyway, he is looking like he wants to make up all the scoring he has missed due to his injury.
Their stats show otherwise. Just look above where the poster posted all the career numbers. Westbrook is not a great shooter. And all these people say "Look at what Westbrook is doing this year." It's TEN GAMES. Pump your brakes.
Career numbers are a horrible comparison, and you should know it. Francis played several years at the end when he was a shell of himself. Face it. They are very darn comparable. Athletic, score-first point guards without the best shooting percentages and without great assist numbers for a point guard. I heard so much about Westbrook in years past that I checked his stats out. I was very surprised at how low his FG% and 3P% were. All I could think was why doesn't he pass to Durant more.
Well, in general, playmakers are necessary, and is something for AD to take the next step. Alas, we both digress, let's not discuss anymore. Westbrook is absolutely killing it right now. Everybody who said the Thunder wouldn't make playoffs is looking absolutely foolish right now.
I agree with his coach Scotty Brooks, best PG in the game. Want someone overrated that would be Rajon Rondo.
Westbrook plays defense and isn't as dumb on offense. Also, Westbrook has upped his scoring volume and efficiency to elite levels this year. Let's see if he can keep it up.
The stats show they're pretty much comparable, WB has a marginal FG% vs Francis so any increase in pts has more to do with WB chucking up a lot of shots. Plus Francis has to put up points with Mobley as his sidekick, WB has been a Robin lifer who pretty much mooches off Kevin Durant's greatness. If WB hadn't been playing with KD all these years he'd be branded a selfish ballhog just like Francis, Iverson, Melo and Brandon Jennings. Calling WB a superstar is a stretch simply because the dude hasn't done anything by himself yet, his stats are due to high volume rather than high efficiency and while he has moments of greatness, it's not consistent enough to last all season. We call Dwight a superstar because he brought a crappy Orlando team to the finals. We call Harden a superstar because he brought a crappy Houston team to the playoffs a couple years ago and then he's willing the team to wins this year. What has WB done by himself without KD the savior to bail him out? This was supposed to eb the year he proves his haters wrong and wills OKC to the playoffs without KD, instead he injures himself and only recovers at the same time KD recovers lol. Maybe if he fixes his dumb IQ on offense and works on his broken J you can consider him a superstar, personally I think he plateaued already 2 years ago, this is the best and only WB we're gonna be seeing until his athleticism goes away and he becomes perpetually injured and/or washed up.
Wait so now we're comparing Westbrook with Steve Francis? I thought it was determined long ago that Russ was Stephon Marbury 2.0?
This year it's been Westbrook tbh. The thing with Westbrook is he plays great defense. So Harden's offense has to overcome his disadvantage on defense.
The thing that worries me is that the Thunder will probably be a 4th-6th seed(unless they have an incredible hot streak and get higher) and the Rockets will have to play them in the first round
Westbrook's play so far has been amazing. It's like watching a mini-Lebron out there, if Lebron's agression were amped up to 11. If he keeps this up I'll take back every bad thing I've said about him.
WB's playing at a historic pace right now. He would be better than Durant last year if he kept this up.
Westbrook is what Francis *should have* been, if Francis was smarter on the court / improved more during his career