Russell Westbrook: Hero or Legend?
By Rich Condon
Russell Westbrook is an amazing basketball talent. But does his ego stop him from being an overall great player?
He is a lean, mean basketball machine. His snarl makes babies cry. His roar makes the hairs on the back of a lion’s mane stand up. He soars to the rim as powerfully as an eagle. His fashion sense is…ahead of the curve? Questionable? Seriously, what is it? Never mind, let’s move on. He is Russell Westbrook, and he is about to be fully unleashed on the NBA for the first time in his career. But, is that a good thing?
On the surface, the answer is a resounding yes; the trail of posterized victims left in his wake will rival only the body count of Cersei in the Season 6 finale of Game of Thrones (oops…umm…spoiler alert? Yeah, sorry about that. This is awkward now). Now, or should I say for now, as Westbrook may be gone by the beginning of the 2017 season, the Thunder are his. His own. His Precious.
However, it’s a fair question to ask: Can Westbrook be the guy on the Thunder? If 2015 is any indication the answer is no. He came close, and it was a heroic epic to rival Beowulf and Odysseus, but the Thunder were eliminated from playoff contention on the last day of the season.
Is Westbrook a team guy? He’s well liked by his teammates off the court by all accounts, however he appears to be difficult to get along with on the court. I know what you’re thinking: the dude averages 10 assists a game, how isn’t he a team player?
His assist totals don’t tell the whole story. Although Westbrook was one of only four players to average 10 assists or more per game last year, Westbrook also finished third in the NBA in shots after 7+ dribbles, behind only Damian Lillard, and former teammate Reggie Jackson. Digging a little deeper, Westbrook led the league in shots after 5-6+ dribbles, and was also third amongst guards in shots where his defender was within two feet of him, behind only Andrew Wiggins and Demar Derozen. So in addition to not always letting the play develop around him, Westbrook is often settling for inefficient, contested shots.
When they do find the bottom of the net, the snarl comes on and the roar comes out and they add to the mystique that is Westbrook. But they’re like those cheap necklaces that shine nice when they’re on but leave a green ring around your neck when you take them off. Westbrook is one of the four worst three point shooter to have attempted at least 1500 three point shots OF ALL TIME. (P.S., thanks to Bill Simmons for repeatedly pointing that nugget out on his podcast.)
Every team has learned by now that Westbrook is at his most dangerous driving to the rim, and most, if not all, sag off of him, daring Westbrook to beat them with his jumper. Sometimes, he does. Most times, he’ll shoot 7-21 from the field.
The allure of hero ball is too much for Westbrook sometimes, which was evident during Games 6 and 7 of the Western Conference Finals when Westbrook had four turnovers (3 in the last 55 seconds), and ZERO assists during the fourth quarter of Game 6 and shot 7-21 from the field in Game 7. Some of those shots were absolutely horrendous too, coming at the beginning of the possession at times, and most times playing right into the Warriors’ hands.
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It’s sad because the Thunder were THE team this year. They should’ve won it all, and this was a year when a team won a record setting 73 games during the regular season. The Thunder were better than the Warriors, and even Andre Iguodala admitted that.
Bottom line is this: if Westbrook, and the rest of the Thunder, had stuck to the gameplan that had absolutely stymied the Warriors during Games 1-4 of the Western Conference Finals, the Thunder would’ve won. Easily. Instead, they deviated, and when it came time to close out those 73-win Warriors, Westbrook appeared to want to be the one to do it, everyone and everything else be damned.
We know how bad you want to win, Russell. You show us that every second of every game you play. Nobody, and I mean nobody, has a motor like you. But, at the end of the day, it’s a team game. One man isn’t going to get the job done alone. Not Michael, not Lebron, not anybody. Trust the guys around you just a little bit more.
Next: The Thunders silence has not gone unnoticed
It’s like Babe Ruth said in The Sandlot: “Remember kid, heroes get remembered, legends never die…”
Which do you want to be, Russell?