Who’s Better: Russell Westbrook Or Kyrie Irving?

If you didn’t catch Cleveland’s recent upset win over OKC, you missed out. Badly. That was the night Kyrie Irving officially announced himself as a superstar. Yes, we all knew he could play before then. He’s an All-Star, a plus-20-a-night scorer. But to take on perhaps the best team in the league and one of the best players at your position in Russell Westbrook, and turn them into mush on the way to 13 points in the final three minutes of a close game? That’s big time. That’s how you start a legacy.

Irving isn’t as accomplished as Westbrook – his team is complete garbage (and some of that has to fall on his shoulders as a point guard). But he’s captivating basketball fans around the world with his clutch play and his already legendary ballhandling. And while Uncle Drew came up with Chris Paul comparisons, he’s actually closer to Westbrook. The dude’s played a lot of two guard since he was a teenager, and feels perfectly at home taking 20 shots a night.

As for Westbrook, we know he has no problems putting ’em up. Perhaps the most aggressive point guard in the league, not even the world’s best scorer can quell Westbrook’s insatiable scoring desire. That used to be a problem. But more and more folks are coming around to Westbrook’s side, realizing that hunger is what makes him so good. That hunger is what drives him. Westbrook will never be satisfied, a rare quality in an age of overabundance and monster contracts.

Both players can dish the rock, but both are at their best breaking people down and dropping buckets.

Yesterday, we came with James Harden versus Dwyane Wade, and the voting results were actually somewhat close. Today, it’s even more of a toss up between two All-Star point guards, two leaders who are more similar than you thought. Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving. Who’s better? We argue. You decide.

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Russell Westbrook
Take a stroll around Twitter and it’ll become clear that Russell Westbrook is much hated and Kyrie Irving is much loved. And while Westbrook is often ridiculed for good reason (he has questionable shot selection, he occasionally hogs the ball and he wears fishing lure shirts), his effectiveness for the Thunder offense is too often ignored. Irving is a phenomenal player and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the best player in the league by 2018. But to say he’s better than Westbrook right now is premature.

Westbrook is in the midst of his most complete season as a pro. He ranks seventh in league in points at 22.6 per game, fifth in assists at 8.2 per game and fourth in steals at almost two per game. He’s finding teammates in much more creative ways than he normally has and he’s the leader of the league’s best offense for the second year in a row. He’s been around for five years and he knows what he’s doing.

The passing ability of Westbrook is above Irving’s at this point, but it’s honestly close. It’s hard to evaluate where Irving would be if he actually had NBA-level talent around him, just as it’s hard to evaluate what Westbrook’s scoring would be like if he wasn’t teammates with Kevin Durant.

The stats Westbrook critics cite most about him are his shooting percentages, as he currently shoots .421 from the field and .323 from behind the arc. This is bad, and to make it worse, he’s taking 19 shots a game at these percentages on a team with Durant, Kevin Martin and Serge Ibaka. I bring it up because it’s a problem. But it’s also a new problem for Westbrook, who has shot above .440 in his previous two seasons. The difference this year is that Westbrook is lacking effectiveness in isolation, where he’s making only 32 percent of his shots, according to Synergy Sports. This is way below Irving’s absurd mark of 49 percent, but, again, it’s a new problem for Westbrook that I wouldn’t expect to continue.

Around the rim, Irving lacks Westbrook’s explosiveness and finishing ability. Irving is a rim grazer while Westbrook is a rim destroyer. It’s an ability that defenses cannot plan for and it’s another check in the Westbrook box.

The defensive end is where Westbrook clearly separates himself from Irving. And it’s not because Westbrook is especially good at it. It’s because Irving is especially poor. Since his rookie year, Irving has improved on a defensive ability that John Hollinger labeled as a “horrifying flying train wreck” before this season. It just hasn’t improved enough to make him better than Westbrook. Irving still struggles to stay in front of opposing point guards, he takes plays off and he’s often lost. If he wants to be rated above Westbrook, then he can’t be such a liability on the defensive end.

It’s possible to make a case for either of these players over the other, but I just can’t convince myself that Irving is better right now. When Westbrook’s shooting percentages come back to career norms, he’ll be nearly impossible to stop. Uncle Drew is great, but Westbrook should be appreciated for what he is: one of the most explosive, unpredictable and aggravating point guards in league history. Irving isn’t there yet.
-JON HARTZELL

Hit page 2 to check out the argument for Kyrie…

Kyrie Irving
Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving is the best point guard playing in the NBA right now. In the words of Atlanta rapper Trinidad James, “Don’t believe me, just watch!”

With point GOD Chris Paul sidelined for the last nine games, Irving has dominated game after game on his way to the top of a league saturated with great point guards.

At just 20 years old, Irving is taking the league by storm. Just look at what he did to the best of the best this past summer as a member of the USA Select team. The reigning Rookie of the Year is a fearless competitor, one that is starting to ease the pain of some Cavs fans after the heartbreaking “Decision.”

Now Irving is nowhere near the freak athlete that Russell Westbrook is, but who on this planet is? Westbrook is definitely a talented player, yet in his first two seasons, Irving is proving he’s the better player.

While Westbrook relies on his otherworldly athleticism for most of his production, Irving has a much more multifaceted game. Uncle Drew has one of the most well-rounded games in the league. He has one of the most lethal crossovers in basketball. He gets to the rim at will and finishes with either hand. He sets up his teammates for easy looks. He can knock it down from deep. He does it all.

The main difference — and the reason why I say Irving is the better player — is the different mentality between these two. Westbrook is the definition of a wild card. He’s had tantrums on the bench during timeouts, shouted at coaches and teammates during games, and plays with one of the biggest chips on his shoulder you’ll ever see. Irving is much more levelheaded. He plays with passion, but he rarely plays with his emotions on his sleeves like Westbrook.

Cavs coach Byron Scott recently told reporters: “One thing I love about Ky at 20 years old is that he really is more mature than most 20-year-olds… His maturity level is totally different from most guys I’ve coached at that age.”

Unlike Westbrook, Irving’s game is adaptable to whomever he shares the court with. Westbrook found himself in the perfect position with the Oklahoma City Thunder: to be successful, they need him to play the way he does. Put Irving on the Boston Celtics and they look like world-beaters; put him with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers troubles disappear; put him on the Indiana Pacers and they have a legitimate shot to come out of the East. Basically, place Irving on the court with four other players and you have a chance to win the game, PERIOD.

As far as perceived weaknesses, Irving’s 5.4 assists per game don’t jump off the page and scream playmaker, but when the second-leading scorer on your team is Dion Waiters, assists will come few and far between. The most glaring deficiency after his rookie season was defense. All he’s doing this year is rack up 1.7 steals per game (almost a full steal more than the previous year), which ranks ahead of some renowned defenders like Tony Allen, Metta World Peace and LeBron James.

Any talk about Irving being injury-prone can be tossed out of the window. Since December of 2010, Irving has had five different injuries, and while that number sounds alarming, a closer look at the specifics shows there is more than what meets the eye. Irving’s most serious injury came during his freshman year at Duke when he damaged ligaments in his right big toe. He has not experienced another foot related injury since. This offseason, he broke his right hand while practicing in the Las Vegas Summer League and was back on the court for opening night. The three remaining injuries — concussion, sprain shoulder, fractured left index finger — were things he could have played through, but with the Cavs not in playoff contention he was held out for precautionary reasons.

Finally, in a “What have you done for me lately” league, players are always judged for their most recent performances. Irving’s latest performance against Westbrook was a one-man show when the fourth quarter came.

Irving has to shoulder the load for the 15-34 Cavaliers without it’s second-best player, Anderson Varejao. Though the record is one of the three worst in the NBA, Irving is one of the most feared players because his ability to combine athleticism, handle, shooting, maturity, and late-game heroics is rare. The numbers are there to back it up, via Synergy Sports: with a minimum of 100 possessions this season, Irving is the best player in isolation.
-BRANDON JEFFERSON