OKC Thunder star Russell Westbrook voted NBA’s most overrated player by his peers.
“The Athletic”, a subscription based website, put together an anonymous player poll, or should we say a coward poll? Sam Amick put the data together, as the Athletic NBA Beat writers talked to 127 players in the NBA, and asked them a few questions. Some, where very fun and informative. Others, well one in particular, were maddening. There are also some fun tidbits involving the OKC Thunder in the piece.
Since The Athletic is a subscription paid site we’re just sharing the news they made public. Let’s start with a happy development.
The MVP race:
44.3 percent of the votes went to James Harden. 38.9 percent of the votes went to Giannis Antetokounmpo.
You starting small forward, Paul George, grabbed 12.7 percent of the vote. It is important to note the votes were cast anywhere from March 16th until April first.
Joey Embiid earned 1.7 percent while Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, and Kawhi Leonard all grabbed 1 percent of the vote.
Best defender:
Paul George also garnered 16.2 percent of the votes in the best defender category, behind just Kawhi Leonard.
Build your franchise around?
Paul George and Russell Westbrook both got 1.6 percent of the votes when it comes to who would you build your franchise around?
Most overrated player?
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And here we go, the most controversial revelation of this article, this anonymous poll that no one will put their name on.
Russell Westbrook and Draymond Green were voted as the most overrated players in the NBA (17 percent).
Yes, you read that right. No, it is not a typo, they were voted the most overrated players in the NBA.
I mean give me a break. Overrated? You can call Russell Westbrook a lot of things, and believe me people have, but overrated is not one of them.
Who overrates Russell Westbrook? There is a section of his own fanbase, and hometown media, who pick apart everything he does and if you did not know any better would think they hate him!
The National Media is against Russell Westbrook, that is just a fact. They care about shooting percentage and efficiency, non-counting stats, not what a player actually provides on the court when you actually watch him.
So who is left to overrate him? Sure, Westbrook has a few “stans” but it is far less than any superstar player in the NBA.
The most underappreciated, taken for granted athlete in sports, who the media actively tries to diminish his accomplishments, cannot be overrated.
Only 47 of the NBA players surveyed elected to answer this question. Both Green and Westbrook have a hot temper and are known to get in feuds on the court. There is a good chance that those feuds are what sparked the idiotic vote.
Russell Westbrook has averaged a triple-double for three straight seasons and won an MVP in that span, and there are active, credible media members who play coy as if he is not good at basketball. That player cannot be overrated. People tried to literally say triple-doubles do not matter because Westbrook has racked so many up.
Rant over.
Most underrated player?
OKC Thunder players did get some run as the most underrated players, though, as Steven Adams and Terrance Ferguson were able to get 1.7 percent, and 1 percent of the votes respectively. 116 votes were cast for that category, and even Paul George earned one vote.
Avoid in a fight?
Steven Adams was behind only James Johnson in the “Who do you not want to fight?” category. Understandable.
Trash talking:
Westbrook ranked third in the NBA as far as “who talks the most trash?” behind Draymond Green, and Patrick Beverley.
Which Coach players would like to play for?
Billy Donovan did not earn a vote as a coach players would like to play for (players could not vote for their own coach) However, he also did not get a vote in the category of which coach do you not want to play for, validating the feeling most OKC Thunder fans have of him: He is a perfectly mediocre coach.