Russell Westbrook Will Not Be Playing the Role of Stephon Marbury

Player A:

Rookie Season: 15.8 ppg,  7.8 apg, 41-35-72 Shooting



Second Season:  17.7 ppg, 8.6 apg, 42-31-73 Shooting

Third Season: 21.3 ppg, 8.9 apg, 43-33-80 Shooting



Player B:

Rookie Season: 15.3 ppg, 5.3 apg, 40-27-81 Shooting

Second Season: 16.1 ppg, 8.0 apg, 41-22-78 Shooting

Third Season:  21.9 ppg, 8.2 apg, 44-33-84 Shooting

These are the stats for both Stephon Marbury and Russell Westbrook to begin their respective NBA careers.  After Westbrook's recent 30 shots for 30 points performance against the Nuggets, questions of Westbrook's ability to lead a team grew even stronger.  Does Westbrook know that he has the best scorer in the NBA on his team? 

Starbury had his own logo.

The wild shooting and lack of solid decision making draws a clear parallel to another young, athletic point guard from the mid-90's.  Marbury came into the league with a lot of attention, that he was happy to have.  He joined Kevin Garnett in a flurry of photo opps to try and promote this "up-and-coming" Timberwolves team.  Eventually, Marbury's on the court problems paled in comparison to his off the court issues.  It became an accepted fact that Marbury would never be a key player on any championship teams.

Now, Westbrook has similar questions being raised about his on the court decision-making.  Will he start to think he is too big for Oklahoma City and the Kevin Durant shadow?    I don't think that is how the Westbrook story will play out.

Marbury came into the league with it was players were trying to be hard.  The more street a player was, the more that meant he was a killer on the court.  Westbrook and Durant are the best two players on the be best high school team ever assembled.  You can see it in every picture.  Marbury was a mean-mugging, me-first point guard.  Westbrook is a tough kid, that plays with a smile.  The maturity will continue to grow, and so will the Oklahoma City Thunder.



Try finding a picture off the court that Westbrook isn't smiling.