OKC Thunder season review: Analyzing Russell Westbrook’s complicated season

No beating father time:

For the first time in his NBA career, he started to look mortal. He started to lose a few steps, and with the way he’s built his game, a few steps could prove absolutely killer.

Unlike some other players with more refined skill sets, Russ doesn’t have a lot to fall back on if he’s not at his physical peak. The entirety of his game revolves around him being able to outrun and outjump everyone else on the court night in and night out.

The question with him was always about how he’ll look when he’s not that guy anymore and I think this is the year we actually started to see it.

There were more than a few occasions where he didn’t quite have the speed to blow by his man as easily as he could have in the past or he didn’t get enough lift to finish around the rim the way he did before:

Going through the tape one more time, I keep coming back to the idea that this is just the beginning. So what will the end look like?