Rose And Westbrook Battle For Point Guard Supremacy

I never thought I'd say this, but in tonight's season opener, fresh off a FIBA World Championship this summer, leading the league in scoring last year, and pretty much crowned this year's MVP, Kevin Durant will not be the center of attention in tonight's game. At least not my attention, anyway. Although I do have a low attention span.
Don't sleep on Durant and Deng's match up. Deng had the best preseason of any Bull, showing the ability to consistently hit the three. That should be a great match up. But no match up shall be greater than Derrick Rose and Russel Westbrook.
Team USA teammates this summer, Rose and Westbrook seemed to have been linked the entire offseason. The question being, who is better?
Westbrook has received overwhelming support. All of a sudden, I began hearing a lot of "Westbrook is better than Rose" opinions, when that wasn't even mildly feasible after the 2009-10 season.
So I wondered where this opinion was coming from. So I went to the source. The place I always go when questionable opinions seem to have a strong following - Bill Simmons.
Wrote Simmons on ESPN.com:
"We went into this tournament thinking Rose and Rondo were the two best under-24 point guards in some order. Rondo got sent home, then Westbrook outplayed Rose so convincingly in the tournament that, at some point, everyone who loves basketball glanced around in confusion and said, "Hold on, does Oklahoma City now have the best young point guard AND the best young player in the league?"
For whatever reason, Simmons' opinions seem to gain steam quickly and are rarely questioned. Especially amongst college-aged sports fans such as myself.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but hopefully I can dispel this Westbrook > Rose myth. Yes, Westbrook scored more points than Rose in the FIBA tournament. Seventeen more to be exact, and 1.9 more points per game. Their overall shooting percentages were almost identical, Westbrook shot better from behind the arc and on the free throw line. Rose had slightly more assists, Westbrook slightly more rebounds.
Really the only thing that distinguished Westbrook was his scoring total and ability to get to the basket. People are acting like Rose hasn't show the same ability - in the NBA.
Rose switched off from point guard to shooting guard playing alongside Chauncey Billups in the starting lineup. The offense ran through Durant in that starting lineup.
Krzyzewski frequently emptied his entire bench, bringing in five new players rather than playing the starters with the reserves. Consequently, Westbrook was given more free reign on the offense. Who was the go to guy on the second team? Rudy Gay? Who ever it was, that player didn't demand touches like Durant. Westbrook was able to create for himself and penetrate, while Rose was expected to be more of a distributor.
The only time in international play that I can remember Rose playing his NBA game was in the exhibition match against Spain. On Team USA's last two possessions, Rose drove the lane, hung in the air and scored, then drove to the basket again and drew the foul. He knocked down both free throws and won the game for the USA.
The point I'm trying to get at is that international play should not be used to determine who is a better NBA player. Not only is the style of play different, but players are expected to play different roles than they normally would. I believe that Westbrook's role was fairly similar to his NBA role, whereas Rose's was not.
While both are not yet on Rondo's level, tonight's match up should add more to the best young point guard discussion. Kevin Durant deserves a day outside of the spotlight.