Top 5 Point Guard Rankings: Russell Westbrook
Westbrook vs Kyrie
Now this might break a lot of Kyrie Irving fans heart. But, when breaking down these two players there was an uncomfortable realization. Kyrie doesn’t match up with Westbrook in any statistical or advanced analytical category.
Not one.
Now we love Kyrie for his flashy dribbling. In my opinion he has the best ball handling in the league and finishes at the rim better than most point guards.
And we love him from those classic Uncle Drew Pepsi commercials.
But, when it comes to point guard play it doesn’t look good.
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This might sound like I’m hating or a joke, however, I’m completely serious. Kyrie Irving doesn’t come close to Westbrook in any category. To be honest, he doesn’t come close to Steph Curry, John Wall, or Chris Paul.
He’s not top 20 in any advanced analytical category last season. Not plus/minus rankings, player efficiency rating, value over replacement player, or win shares. Kyrie doesn’t crack the top 20 in any of these, while Westbrook ranked top five in each of these categories last season.
To make matters worse Kyrie isn’t much better at 3-point shooting than Westbrook. Westbrook shot 29.6% from 3-point range while Kyrie shot 32.2% last season. But, when it came to overall field goal percentage last season Westbrook’s was slightly higher.
Also, Kyrie didn’t average as many steals as Westbrook or points per game.
Now you can argue that Kyrie plays alongside Lebron so that effects his assist per game. Lebron ranked 9th in assists at 6.8 per game and Kyrie had 4.7 assists per game But, there’s one problem Draymond Green ranked ahead of Steph Curry in assists at 7th, but Curry still ranked 10th in assists last season.
Plus, playing with Lebron shouldn’t negatively impact all of the other advanced analytics. Especially, since playing with Durant didn’t negatively impact Westbrook.
Next: Westbrook vs Curry