Russell Westbrook’s season has been so impressive that he’s rendering James Harden’s otherworldly numbers an afterthought. Can he do the same to LeBron, Durant and Curry?
By now, everyone knows that Russell Westbrook is having a historically great season. Debates of Westbrook vs. Harden and Westbrook vs. Robertson have been overly exhausted. With fatigue from these debates setting in, I’d like to propose a fresh one.
Since 2010, four individuals have provided us with some of the best statistical seasons of all time — LeBron James (2012-2013), Kevin Durant (2013-2014), Stephen Curry (2015-2016), and Russell Westbrook (2016-2017). Of these four, which season is the best? Which is the worst? Let’s go by the numbers and find out.
*Note: This article is strictly numbers based. Why? Because men lie, women lie and numbers don’t.
The Efficiency Exhibit
Fresh off his first NBA title, LeBron was as hungry as ever in the 2012-2013 NBA season. He had tasted the steak and he wanted more. What’d he do to ensure he got his much-needed entrée? Oh, he just put together perhaps the most efficient season in NBA history. Here are LeBron’s numbers from his efficiency exhibit:
Regular season: 26.8 points-per-game (PPG), 8.0 rebounds-per-game (RPG), 7.3 assists-per-game (APG), 31.6 player efficiency rating (PER), .640 true shooting percentage (TS%), .322 win shares per 48 minutes (WS/48), 11.6 box plus/minus (BPM), and a 9.8 value over replacement player (VORP)
Playoffs: 25.9 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 6.6 APG, 28.1 PER, .585 TS%, .260 WS/48, 10.2 BPM, and a 2.9 VORP
The Buckets Bonanza
Durant did a lot over the course of his 2013-2014 campaign, but if you had to sum it up in two words they’d be ‘got buckets.’ Durant was on a mission to put the ball in the basket that year and boy, did he succeed. His buckets bonanza numbers are as follows:
RELATED STORY: Russell Westbrook is a better player than Kevin Durant
Regular season: 32.0 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 5.5 APG, 29.8 PER, .635 TS%, .295 WS/48, 8.8 BPM, and an 8.5 VORP
Playoffs: 29.6 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 3.9 APG, 22.6 PER, .570 TS%, .145 WS/48, 4.3 BPM, and a 1.3 VORP
The Shooting Spectacle
Much like LeBron in 2012-2013, Curry went into his jaw-dropping 2015-2016 fresh off his first title. Also like LeBron, he apparently grew a major appetite over the preceding summer. Hungry for more, Curry built on his 2014-2015 MVP campaign with a season for the ages. Here are the numbers from his shooting spectacle:
Regular season: 30.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 6.7 APG, 31.5 PER, .669 TS%, .318 WS/48, 12.5 BPM, and a 9.8 VORP
Playoffs: 25.1 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 5.2 APG, 22.3 PER, .603 TS%, .152 WS/48, 6.4 BPM, and a 1.3 VORP
The Triple-Double Triumph
Spurned by Durant last offseason, Westbrook came into this season with an even bigger chip on his shoulder than his already unusually large one. He’s turned his anger into one of the most captivating displays of triple-double accumulation and winning determination. Russell Westbrook’s triple-double triumph numbers are as off the charts as anyone to ever step on the hardwood:
Regular season: 31.9 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 10.4 APG. 30.8 PER, .555 TS%, .227 WS/48, 15.6 BPM and a 12.4 VORP
Playoffs: N/A
Related Story: The true story behind Westbrook’s 42nd triple-double
Rank em:
We’ll start with which candidate is the worst. When looking at the numbers, it’s obvious that Durant’s season is the worst of the four.
Durant posted the worst APG, PER, BPM, and VORP in the regular season. In addition to these poor showings, his playoff performance was absolutely abominable in comparison to his regular season performance; he experienced a major dip off in almost every statistical category. A drop in production from the regular season to the postseason is expected due to ramped up intensity and defensive effort, but one of this magnitude is alarming.
We now have the Westbrook vs. Curry debate. Both Westbrook and Curry had stellar regular seasons for completely different reasons — Curry for his absurd display of offensive wizardry and Westbrook for his all around dominance.
The problem when comparing their seasons is Westbrook has yet to partake in the playoffs. Luckily for him, however, Curry absolutely bombed in the playoffs last year.
I’ve already pointed out that a drop in production is to be expected in the playoffs — see LeBron’s statistics — but much like Durant, Curry’s dip is of such great proportions. Except for increasing his rebounds from the regular season to the playoffs by a whopping one-tenth of one rebound, Curry’s numbers tanked as hard as Wall Street in 1929.
Because of this, Westbrook edges him out. Why? They had similarly great regular seasons and it’s almost unfathomable that Westbrook plays as bad as Curry did in last year’s playoffs, in the impending playoffs. If Westbrook flames out as hard as Curry did, I’ll renege this take. But otherwise, 2016-2017 Westbrook reigns supreme over 2015-2016 Curry.
More from Thunderous Intentions
- Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
- Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
And then there were two.
We already know how this is going to go, however. Westbrook’s Triple-Double Triumph and LeBron’s Efficiency Exhibit are on the same level of greatness in the regular season. But, LeBron was phenomenal in his 2013 playoff run. So phenomenal that he capped it off by dropping 37 points and 12 rebounds on the San Antonio Spurs to bring home his second title.
Now, I obviously know Westbrook’s current supporting cast could not touch LeBron’s in 2012-2013, but Westbrook will still have to perform optimally and probably win at least one series (maybe two) for him to even have a shot at putting a chink in the King’s armor.
It’s been settled. The four best seasons of the 2010s in order are: LeBron (2012-2013, subject to change), Russell Westbrook (2016-2017, subject to change), Curry (2015-2016) and Durant (2013-2014).