NBA: The Derrick Rose and Russel Westbrook connection

The both of them have been instrumental, successful players. Both of them have the same explosiveness. Both were dunking specialists. Both went in the 2008 draft in the top four overall picks. Both were point guards meant to usher their franchises to a prosperous future. Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook have a lot in common. So what separates them?

Early Ascendance

There are very few players who polarize fans as much as Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook have done. They were never even given a chance to be normal. The Simeon Academy graduate who played collegiate ball in Memphis was always special.

So was the California native who couldn't dunk till high school. Rose battled against the Westbrook - Love UCLA duo for Memphis in college. A few months later, Rose would go #1 overall pick to the Bulls and Westbrook would go at #4 to Seattle.

From then onward, they had wildly differing trajectories. Seattle became Oklahoma, a notably smaller market, and OKC Thunder's ascendant star was undoubtedly Kevin Durant, not Westbrook or even Harden whom the Thunder drafted a year later.

Rose, however, was thrust into the Eastern conference at its most competitive in recent memory. The Boston superteam reigned supreme, Dwight's Orlando were perpetual contenders and James' Cavaliers had reached the Finals in '07. Wade lurked in Miami as a playoff contender, albeit a weakened one.

Who did the Bulls have other than Rose? Deng, Taj Gibson, Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah (who won a DPOY after Rose injured himself in 2014), a rookie Jimmy Butler. The stage was set for a God-gifted athlete like Rose to assert himself and so he did, winning the ROY award and going on a rampage against the Celtics in the playoffs as well.

Westbrook had a quiet couple of years, except when he received immense flack for his Finals performance in 2012. Then Harden was dealt with the Rockets and Russ was thrust into a larger role alongside Durant.

Injuries

Philadelphia 76ers v Chicago Bulls - Game One

Every Rose fan feels an inevitable twinge of sadness when this part of his career is mentioned. Everyone cites reasons, the chief of them being Thibodeau's eagerness to push his starters to the limit to his bad landings, whatever, the ACL tear and meniscus injuries he had continually troubled him.

Then there was the ankle injury that hurt during his troubled time with the Cavaliers. This offseason, as he claimed, was the first time he could practice ball instead of rehabbing from an injury in seven years.

The sad truth is that those injuries didn't take away time, they took away athleticism. His amazing vertical and blow-past-you pace was robbed by his hamstring injuries and cartilage wear and tear.

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Houston

Rockets v Oklahoma City Thunder - Game Two

Westbrook, for all his explosiveness, relatively has not suffered any major injuries except when Pat Beverley took out his knees in 2014. After that, the injury bug hasn't really bitten him until this offseason, when he sat out the first five games and then had an ankle injury against the Pelicans.

His game relies on one much known but equally unstoppable quantity: penetrate and either finish the dunk/layup or kick the ball to perimeter scorers. It's tough to imagine any center actually deterring Westbrook, since by the time they close in to block his dunk he's usually already airborne and coming at them at some serious miles an hour.

Finishers In the paint

Los Angeles Lakers v Minnesota Timberwolves

Both Russ and Rose are rim finishers. Westbrookian finishes are uber-athletic dunks and scowling faces while Rose's layups are twisting, body bending, ankle-breaking beauties.

Rose has this way of breaking ankles the old school way - by finishing the play rather than drawing a foul in this unbearably soft league.

Oklahoma City Thunder v Brooklyn Nets

Westbrook is real steel inside the paint - the real mind-boggling fact about his triple-double stats is how he manages to average double digits in rebounding as a 6'3 point guard. Unbelievable. At thirty years old with a 108 career triple-doubles, Westbrook is the only real challenger to Robertson's throne as Mr. Triple Double.

Both are effective with the ball, and Westbrook has posted some mind-boggling usage statistics during his MVP campaign. The wisdom in taking as many shots as he did may be debatable, but what he did was still great. The same goes for Rose.

It's the off-ball threat they represent that actually matters.

Off ball threat

NBA All-Star Game 2018

Paul George re-signed long-term with the Thunder this offseason. Melo left in the offseason too - a notable addition considering his unimpressive defensive performance on the floor. The team has improved, and there's a new defensive identity to the team.

Now, as someone with a career percentage of low 30s in 3 point shooting, some would expect Westbrook to do what he does best - drive inside and kick out the ball to more distinguished shooters.

He doesn't do that. He takes 3s - at a 29% clip. He does move more off the ball - he has to, now that OKC has three ball handlers in George and Schroder - and his movement is clean and crisp, but that 3 point percentage is inexcusable.

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Minnesota

Timberwolves v Dallas Mavericks

Rose, meanwhile, was considered washed. However, he jacked up some major number of shots in the gym this offseason, worked on his three-pointers after being armed with the knowledge that he could no longer be any team's first option, and has become a real threat off the ball too.

He is shooting the ball at a career-high .485. That's more than some Wolves starters' total FG percentage. He's so effective that he buried seven threes against the Lakers. The recent Wolves - Rockets game had Houston throwing double teams at him to force him to adapt - and he just started facilitating instead of shooting.

Westbrook needs to work on his off-ball movement and skills, and that's facts.

Conclusion

Oklahoma City Thunder v Chicago Bulls

Both of them are amazing players, and no team can really stop them from doing their thing. However, they are on a timeline, and Russ has to take advantage of George's presence to try and deliver a title to Oklahoma while Rose has to maintain the momentum he has in winning

6 MOTY and a possible fat paycheck as a bench player to a real title contender. Sustained play at this level might be a bit more difficult for Rose, as KAT and Wiggins - franchise cornerstones - will demand more touches, and Westbrook's problem is with assimilation than consistency.

He has been consistent at every facet of his game, be it his three-point shooting or triple-double average for two straight seasons. At this point, though, he might just need to take a seat back and let the OKC motor hum along smoothly on its own. Rose, however, might need more touches, ironically, to sustain an average good enough to challenge for the 6th Man of the Year award.