Comparisons of Russ Smith and Russell Westbrook

Louisville's Russ Smith has a shooters mentality
such as former UCLA standout and current
Oklahoma City guard, Russell Westbrook.
Picture Courtesy: zimbio.com

Besides having the same name, Russell Westbrook and Russ Smith of Louisville have amazing similarities. Westbrook was a quiet college player, averaging just 3.4 points per game in nine minutes as a freshman, and 12.7 points per game as a sophomore. Despite the small production in college, Westbrook sure produced as soon as he hit the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder, formerly the Seattle Sonics.

Westbrook was a decently explosive guard for the UCLA Bruins during his two year span there. In the NBA, his explosiveness hit a whole new planet. Westbrook is also a tremendous shooter, as is Russ Smith of Louisville. Smith is a junior this season and has really led his team to the Final Four, where they will take on Wichita State on Saturday. The knock on these two stars? They can both shoot the lights out of the ball, but when they're on cold streaks, they both continue to shoot and force bad shots.

Not only can Smith dominate on the offensive end, but also the defensive end by playing the passing lanes and forcing turnovers, as Russell Westbrook also does. These two players also do a great job of playing on-ball defense on the perimeter and denying the lane to the opposing stars and point guards. Smith is an undersized two-guard in college, but may be able to play some point guard at the next level. Westbrook was also undersized in college as a two-guard but is now in the NBA at point guard, and excelling at it.

The comparison between Russell Westbrook and Russ Smith are extremely obvious to me when I watch them play. The shooters mentality, playing the passing lanes, forcing turnovers, and providing the energizer for their clubs are all similar between the two, and as Smith moves forward, I believe the comparison may become more obvious.


Smith can certainly be a lottery pick in the upcoming NBA Draft this June if he declares for the draft. It's all up to him on waiting one more year, or taking the money now.