Rose vs. Westbrook a debate about two of the league’s best

There might be some who want to debate who’s better — the Bulls’ Derrick Rose or Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook — but there’s little argument that both are among the very best of the NBA’s young point guards.

The two train together in the summer in Santa Monica, Calif. They went first and fourth, respectively, in the 2008 draft, Rose out of Memphis and Westbrook from UCLA.

Rose came into Monday’s game averaging 25.7 points, 8.1 assists and 4.4 rebounds; Westbrook was at 24.1 points, 8.7 assists and 5.6 rebounds.

“It’s fun knowing some of the things we talk about doing to other people we see ourselves doing to each other,” Rose said before the game.

“But this is business, it’s basketball. We’ll both play hard, and there isn’t going to be trash-talking. The whole entire summer I was with that guy [Westbrook] every day. What makes the NBA the NBA is that you can try to stop certain things, but you can’t.

“Russell and I talked about what we’d try to do to other people. But in a game like this, we’ll try to do things to each other. We know each other pretty well. . . . And he is definitely harder to guard than most. And he is always going to the line.”

“Westbrook has great speed; it is something that makes him and Derrick special,” Bulls coach Tom Thibideau said. “We can’t give him any seam.”