Orlando Magic: Is Victor Oladipo The Next Russell Westbrook?

In the middle of this summer, I found an old notebook. As I rummaged through the pages, I noticed some expert analysis from 18-year-old Mike De Moor of the 2008 draft. Shockingly, 18-year-old Mike De Moor was seriously wrong about one thing (and partially wrong about about 15 other things).

To this day, I can remember watching the 2008 NBA Draft. Derrick Rose went first to the Chicago Bulls. Michael Beasley went second to the Miami Heat. O.J. Mayo went third to the Minnesota Timberwolves (and was then traded for the fifth overall pick, Kevin Love). Then, the Oklahoma City Thunder sat with the fourth pick (everywhere I look keeps saying that the Seattle SuperSonics made the picks, but they turned into Oklahoma City for the next season anyway, so let’s just call them Oklahoma City for the sake of consistency).

Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez and Kevin Love were all still on the board. In my mind, I was dreaming of who Kevin Durant future star was going to be, thinking that Gordon would give Oklahoma City the one-two punch they were looking for but that an inside-outside combination of Durant and Lopez or Durant and Love wouldn’t be too bad either.

It turned out, Sam Presti decided to go with a 19-year-old shooting guard from UCLA, Russell Westbrook. As I watched the highlights and listened to Jay Bilas praise Westbrook’s athletic prowess and defensive ability, I wrote down my opinion on the pick in that old notebook: “Russell Westbrook was easily the worst pick in the lottery… I highly doubt he can be the team’s point guard of the future.”

Sorry, Russell. I didn’t know you back then like I do now.

Since then, Westbrook moved to point guard (which was apparently Sam Presti’s plan when he drafted Westbrook), and has become a top-10 player in this league. I was wrong about Westbrook, but that’s not why I’m writing this. I’m writing this to prove to anyone who is doubting Victor Oladipo’s ability to become a star, because heading into his first season, Oladipo’s career is extremely similar to Westbrook’s.

First of all, both Westbrook and Oladipo played on top-flight college teams. Oladipo’s Indiana team lost in the Sweet 16 in last year’s NCAA Tournament, despite being the No. 1 ranked team in the nation at one point, and Westbrook’s UCLA squad made it to the Final Four in 2008, before losing to the Chris Douglas-Roberts-led Memphis Tigers (okay, they were led by Derrick Rose, but I loved CDR).

In college, both Westbrook and Oladipo posted underwhelming numbers the season before they were drafted (which was the main complaint of 18-year-old Mike De Moor in 2008).

Oladipo (2012-13): 13.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 28 MPG
Westbrook (2007-08): 12.7 points, 4.3 assists, 3.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 33.8 MPG

Obviously scouting comes down to a lot more than numbers. These guys were both filled with intangibles and upside, which explains why they were both selected in the top five (even though Oladipo might have been a top-eight pick in the 2014 draft, we’ll overlook that fact). However, something that you can’t overlook is how very good players are able to take on specific roles on their college teams, harness that role and help the team. Both these guys did that and both these guys played on very good college teams (even if Indiana did mess up your bracket last season, you have to admit, they were a solid squad; the one-and-done rule has brought parity to college basketball).

The similarities don’t just end in college, though. On draft night, both guys were pretty much explained to me the same way (Jay Bilas, you live on in my brain; for better or worse). Both guys were said to be slashers, great on-ball defenders and team players with freak athletic skills. Also, the Orlando Magic have said over the summer that they plan to move Oladipo to the 1, where his length will be an advantage (like Westbrook), even if he’ll have to go through an adjustment period.

Like Westbrook, Orlando should hand their team over to Oladipo right away because, why wouldn’t they? This team isn’t sure how many foundational pieces they have right now, which means they’re at least one or two drafts away from having enough talent to start moving forward, so why wouldn’t they throw the rookie into the fire? Westbrook was thrown into the fire in the 2008-09 season and the team went 23-59. Then, they drafted James Harden and Serge Ibaka and the following season, the team won 50 games.

Last season, after injuries hit, Orlando handed the team to their youth. Hopefully, they’ll do the same this year. I’m not sold on Oladipo being a great point guard yet, but I can’t say a single bad thing about the guy until I see him on the court in an NBA game. Maybe he’ll turn out to be a scrub and maybe he’ll turn out to be a Westbrook-type player. Either way, it’s worth tuning in for.

And for all you kids out there who were shaking your heads at the selection of Olapido (which shouldn’t be too many, but there are probably a few), if you wrote it down anywhere, you might want to throw the notebook out; I know from experience.

[slider_pro id=”22″]