NBA Draft: No One Will Face Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook is one of the great X-factors in this year’s NBA Draft - he could go anywhere from No. 5 to No. 10.
DraftExpress.com says that Westbrook has been trying to get some of the guards ahead of him to match up with him in workouts but they’ve refused:
-Russell Westbrook’s reported “promise” (according to one internet rumor) ended up being a whole bunch of hot air it turns out. After initially telling teams such as Milwaukee, Indiana and Phoenix that he is shutting down workouts, Westbrook traveled to Charlotte this weekend to work out for the Bobcats. Westbrook has suffered a number of minor ankle injuries that forced him to rest and reevaluate his situation and the teams he would like to be picked by, but with his stock being as high as it is at the moment, that’s really of little consequence. Westbrook was frustrated by the fact that he could not get any of the more highly touted guards ranked ahead of him—O.J. Mayo, Jerryd Bayless or Eric Gordon—to work out against him, as they saw little to gain and were too concerned about hurting their own stock. Bayless would not work out with Eric Gordon either yesterday in Minnesota reportedly. It’s interesting to note that ex-UCLA head coach Larry Brown finally got his wishes of seeing Westbrook in person, after making a fairly large stink about agents trying to control the draft process. He reportedly is in love with Westbrook (and Kevin Love) and this appears to be the furthest he’ll fall.
While it’s disappointing that those guys won’t go against him (if it’s true), from a business standpoint, it’s understandable. What do guys consistently ranked ahead of Westbrook have to gain from matching up with him? If they best him, they’re supposed to. If he kills them, they might be out serious money.
June 24th, 2008 at 11:25 am
doc says:
He played all of the guards ahead of him except Gordon this year anyway.
June 24th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Dime Magazine says:
That one-on-one setting in a controlled workout environment is totally different though. if he repeatedly beasts or blows by those guys in drills, it could change everything.
- PC
June 24th, 2008 at 11:33 am
shake&bake says:
I’m not surprised that Bayless wouldn’t workout against Gordon. He would have a hard time with Gordon’s strength and if Gordon is on, Bayless wouldn’t be able to touch him. I guess you can pick and choose who you want to go against before you get drafted, but once you are in the League, it’s a different story. I do however completely understand, from a money standpoint, why they wouldn’t workout against Westbrook.
June 24th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Kobeef says:
I like Westbrook more than Bayless and Gordon because he could actually be a PG in the NBA, has long arms and big hands and is an awesome athlete
Both Bayless and Gordon look like undersized 2 guards (Bayless is more undersized than Gordon who is stronger and longer)
If I was drafting for one of the lotto teams I’d take Westbrook ahead of both of those guys. Remember in the NCAA tournament Westbrook was one of the only guards who could hang with Rose.
June 24th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Celts Fan, "Kobe, Tell me how my @$$ tastes" says:
Kobeef, I agree on Eric Gordon, but Bayless is going to be a PG, so he won’t be undersized for his position. Gordon looks like he’ll be undersized at the 2. I think Bayless should be the 4th pick (full disclosure: I’m completely sold on the kid.) To me, he’s only definitively behind Mayo, Rose, and Beasley and I think he’s an Agent 0 clone, especially if he’s on a team like Seattle where other guys will be handling the ball plenty and he won’t be asked to run the point on every single possession.
I’m also kinda on the fence w/ Westbrook. He’s amazing defensively, but has he played point enough? Can he be a good 2 guard? I like him, but top 5 seems a bit much. He never really jumped out at me to the extent you’d expect a top 5 pick to when I watched UCLA this year…
June 24th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Celts Fan, "Kobe, Tell me how my @$$ tastes" says:
So I just clicked on the “Draft Russell Westbrook” link and watched the video and remembered why he’s shooting up the boards. Who has 2 thumbs and feels like an idiot? This guy…
June 24th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Kobeef says:
@Celts
The video shows a few of the reasons that Bayless would not workout against Westbrook.
- Bayless is hyped because he is a good athlete but Westbrook is as good an athlete or better than Bayless (Westbrook has a 37″ vert, Bayless 38″)
- Wesbrook plays bigger than his 6′3 size because he has a 6′8 wingspan - Bayless plays small for his 6′3 height because he has a 6′3 wingspan (JJ. Redick should be the cautionary tale here).
- Westbrook played the point for 1/2 the season at UCLA when Collison was out with an injury. During that time UCLA was ranked at or near the top of the NCAA. Bayless played for an Arizona team that was much worse than expected.
June 24th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Celts Fan, "Kobe, Tell me how my @$$ tastes" says:
very true. I don’t think wingspan matters that much for a PG (again, JJ’s a 2 and everyone questioned if he’d be able to get his shot up in the pros, those questions don’t follow Jerryd) except defensively (where Westbrook makes his claim to the top 5 spot.) I think Bayless will be a hell of a player and think he’ll be better than Westbrook, but I see why the debate’s popping up. Again, see post 6. I basically took back everything I said after watching that video and remembering more from the year (I have been thinking about the Celtics and only the Celtics pretty much since April.)
June 24th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Celts Fan, "Kobe, Tell me how my @$$ tastes" says:
*I don’t think wingspan matters that much for a PG as much as it does for bigs (it’s obviously great for Westbrook and his defensive potential, but it’s not a kiss of death to have short arms at the 1 or the 2 like it is for big guys)
June 24th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
yallallreadyknow says:
this coverage is draining…
just get to the draft already
June 24th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
nerditry says:
I genuinely can’t believe that people in the lofty position of coach or GM is vulnerable to workout wonders or workout crashes.
Take Mayo. There’s hundreds of hours of tape from HS, AAU, and UCLA and the fact that a single event can change all that is insane. The NBA needs to nut up and have a legit combine in multiple locations around the country and stop all of the ruinous behavior and politicking that agents and managers bring.
June 24th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Kobeef says:
@Nerdity
I see both sides of the issue. Sure college and high school tell you a lot but in some cases these guys have never gone head to head so you can’t compare the past of one player to another.
As for Mayo - he is a good example of how he has shown he can succeed at every level. I think Minnesota takes him because he is a more skilled version of Brandon Roy (the player they traded last year) and pairs him with Foye as their backcourt of the future.
June 24th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
Chris Paul is not tall or lengthy. I agree height and length do not matter very much at the point position. Even DJ Augustin is considered to be a lottery pick and he’s not tall or long either. If you have skills you have skills. I’m not saying these guys are Chris Paul but you can make it in the L as a shorter point if you have skills.
June 24th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
JC says:
Westbrook’s stock is soaring and he’s the reigning defensive player of the year in the pac-10. HE CAN GUARD… nobody wants to get scored on and their cookies taken in front of the “bank”
June 24th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
AY says:
one on one is not basketball: it’s a make-believe situation. Was reggie miller any good one-on-one? is rip hamilton as good as he is one-on-one? If you want in game situations, you got at least one year of ncaa action you can check out. If they didn’t play enough on their college team for you to make a decision, let someone else take a chance on the unknown. You take some physical measurements to gauge their potential like reaction time and vertical and reach, and you let them play with a bunch of cba guys. I can tell you what happens in a one-on-one: the bigger guy wins most of the time.