Thursday, October 23, 2014

Don't Blame Russell: Why Westbrook isn't to Blame for OKC's Shortcomings

In case you missed the first installment of my 2014-15 NBA Preview about LeBron James, you can find it right here.  

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Come back with me to the 2013 Playoffs for a second. It’s the First Round, Game 2, and Russell Westbrook was slowly dribbling the ball up the court towards head coach Scott Brooks, as the Oklahoma City Thunder were about to call a timeout. As Westbrook crossed half court and jogged closer to his coach, Rockets guard Patrick Beverley suddenly decided to go for a steal. Westbrook, who was taken off guard, awkwardly tried to defend the basketball. As he went for the steal, Beverley banged into Westbrook’s knee, tearing the Thunder guard’s meniscus. His season was over. So were OKC’s playoff chances. The Thunder were able to squeak by the Rockets, but then, despite having home court advantage, lost in the second round to the Grizzlies.

 

Why am I telling you this? Because OKC was screwed without Westbrook. Kevin Durant, while still having a nice playoff run (he averaged 30.8 points per game), seemed to tire at the end of every game, just because he literally had to carry the entire scoring load by himself. He didn’t have his buddy Westbrook, a ball of energy, athleticism, and competitiveness, attacking the basket like a kamikaze pilot, or getting out in transition to create easy points and opportunities for his teammates. They needed him on the court, and when he wasn’t there, they struggled. There would’ve been no reason for them to lose to that Grizzlies team if Westbrook was healthy. But because he wasn’t, they were eliminated.
 
 

I’ve heard a lot of dumb things about Westbrook over the years. Let’s quickly run through the highlights.

 

1. “If Oklahoma City was smart, they’d move Westbrook to the shooting guard position”. Every time I hear this, I wonder if that person actually watches any basketball. The best thing about Westbrook’s game is his ability to bring the ball up on every possession with a head of steam. He’s already quick and powerful enough in the half court, but if he gets a full running start (which he can on every possession), it’s literally impossible to stop him. He can get to the rim at will, and if the lane is closed off, he’s got one of the most deadly pull up jumpers in the game. Why would I want to take the ball out of that guy’s hands at the start of every possession when I know that he can sprint up the court with it and create instant offense for me at any time? He’s at his best when he's attacking the defense with the ball in hand. Why would I want to stick him at shooting guard and take it away from him? It makes no sense. Yeah, sure, he probably shoots too much. And yeah, I get it, he probably shouldn’t shoot more than Durant. So what? That’s his personality. Plus, it’s hard to argue with the results. They’ve been legitimate title contenders every year since 2011. And since when does every point guard have to be a pass first guy like Rajon Rondo? Westbrook is an athletic monster, a guy with triple double potential every time he steps on the floor. Why would I not want him to use his gifts? What’s wrong with letting that guy attack for 40 minutes every night?

 

2. “Why the heck does Westbrook dress like a combination of an English noble and Steve Urkel?”
 


Oh, no, I actually agree with that. Yeah, I have no idea what’s going on there. I literally have no clue why he chooses to wear what he wears. It makes no sense. I understand being trendy and keeping up with fashion, but sometimes Westbrook  looks like he’s wearing women’s clothes. I don’t get it. Let’s just move on.

 

3. “Oklahoma City would’ve been better off trading Westbrook than James Harden”. Yeah, that’s right, because any time I have the choice between a guy who plays defense like a turnstile (Harden) and a guy who is one of the most competitive dudes in the league, and someone you’d have to shoot with an elephant gun to keep him from trying to win, I’ll take the second guy all day, every day. Harden doesn’t care about defense, he’s not really a leader, and he shoots almost as much as Westbrook does. At least I know that Westbrook is going to show up every night and give it his all. He’ll compete on the defensive end every game, and he’ll never get to a point where he’s content to stay around the 3 point line for entire quarters and just start chucking shots from only there. He’s literally in attack mode from the tip to the final horn. Plus, while Harden is a skilled offensive player, he’s not the match up nightmare on that end like Westbrook is. Russell is terrifying. Harden? Not so much. But that doesn’t mean the Harden trade was justified. But more on that shortly.

 

4. “Westbrook is the reason the Thunder haven’t, and won’t, win a title”. What a silly, silly thing to say. While I’ll admit that Westbrook should shoulder some of the blame for OKC coming up short to this point, I’d also argue that every single member of that team is equally culpable for their failures. Does anyone remember how much Durant struggled during this year’s Memphis series? He had some terrible shooting performances (10 for 27 in Game 3, 5 for 21 in Game 4), and at times seemed unable or unwilling throughout the entire playoffs to move on offense when he was off the basketball. And don’t forget that Westbrook played the prominent role in their biggest win of the season, the comeback Game 5 win against the Clippers, when he stripped Chris Paul late and then followed it up by being fouled on a three pointer and sinking all the free throws. They don’t win that game, or that series, without Westbrook’s contributions. Would there ever be a situation where Harden would take the basketball from Chris Paul late in a game? The answer to that question is probably the same answer to the question, “Have you ever seen a turnstile take the keys out of a person’s pocket?”.

 

There are actually many bigger reasons as to why OKC has come up short in May and June, none of them having to do with Westbrook. The first is probably the most obvious and the most simple: they don’t have enough help around Durant and Westbrook. In the year 2014, I couldn’t have possibly created a scenario where a 39 year old Derek Fisher, who was five levels beyond washed up, should be playing major minutes for a championship contender. But he was, and he even played in crunch time in almost all of their important playoff games. There’s also no reason why Kendrick Perkins should be making 10 million dollars a year and starting for a team that has title aspirations. Perkins had a great run in Boston, but he might be the worst starting center in the NBA. He used to be a great post defender; now, he doesn’t even do that well. Reggie Jackson is a nice player off the bench (and he saved their season last year in that must win Game 4 in Memphis), Serge Ibaka is one of the best rim protectors in the league, and Stephen Adams and Nick Collison are solid big men who are great at fitting their role. Besides that though, who else on this roster is really a meaningful contributor? Jeremy Lamb literally gives them nothing, they lost Thabo Sefolosha this off season, and they replaced him with Anthony Morrow, who hasn’t ever really had a meaningful NBA moment. Plus, none of the guys I mentioned are contributors on the offensive end. They don’t have a knock down perimeter shooter, or anyone who can consistently go in the post and get points. Everything just falls to Durant and Westbrook. In the regular season, it’s good enough. But it hasn’t been, and won’t be, good enough in the playoffs.

 

I’m also not a huge Scott Brooks fan. I think he’s a nice guy, but I’m not sure how great of a coach he really is. He actually reminds me a lot of Doug Collins when he coached the Bulls in the late ‘80s. Collins was a nice guy, and he coached a young, talented team that just happened to have the greatest player of all time. But Collins didn’t really have much of an offensive system in place. In fact, from the things I’ve read (mostly in Phil Jackson’s book Eleven Rings), the Bulls offensive game plan basically boiled down to, “We’ve got Michael Jordan, let’s just put the ball in his hands as much as possible and hope he makes it work for us”. Yes, obviously that’s really oversimplified, but you get the point. They asked Jordan to do way too much, and the same thing happens with Durant and Westbrook. If you watch the end of every tight OKC playoff game this year, every possession is either a Westbrook or Durant iso. Either Westbrook would bring the ball up, dribble around for a while, and force up a shot, or he’d bring it up, flip it to Durant, and then everybody would watch as Durant would dribble around a take a tough, contested look. They have no ball movement at the end of games. And I think that falls on Brooks. They look like their offensive system is, “We’ve got Durant and Westbrook, let’s just have them shoot and create everything for us”. And that’s how you get 2-on-5 basketball at the end of every game, which is extremely inefficient. Obviously you want Westbrook and Durant doing most of the shooting, but how about somebody set a pick for Durant so he can get open? Or how about some pick and roll? Anything would be better than what they’re doing. I think Brooks, like Collins, is an A to B coach. He helped the team grow from a young, overmatched team, to a title contender in a short time. But OKC needs an offensive strategy, and they need a Phil Jackson. They need a B to C coach.

 

The final problem is the Harden trade, one of the cheapest, disappointing, dynasty-killing trades of all time. I understand that Harden was going to want a big pay day, but there’s no way you’re ever going to be able to convince me that they couldn’t have afforded to pay him. Think about this; The Sacramento Kings sold for $534 million, and the Milwaukee Bucks sold this year for $550 million. The Los Angeles Clippers sold for $2 billion. There’s an ownership group in Seattle that’s literally willing to pay whatever it takes to get an NBA team. Rich guys are (normally) smart. They wouldn’t be willing to drop millions of dollars on something that was going to cost them millions of dollars. They’ve been willing to throw cash around like it’s monopoly money. The league also just signed a 9 year, 24 billion dollar television deal with Turner and ESPN. I always thought it was a crap excuse, but the owners will never be able to use the, “We’re losing so much money!” argument ever again.

 

But it wasn’t just the Harden trade. The front office of the Thunder have continually proven to be cheapskates who have gripped tightly to money like it’s the One Ring. They’ve had so many opportunities to improve their team by just spending some money, but they just won’t. They could have amnestied that terrible Perkins contract and used that new found money to improve the team. But they didn’t. Last season, they could’ve traded for Arron Afflalo, one of the better two guards in the league, just before the trade deadline. But that didn’t happen either. They were in the Pau Gasol hunt, though I actually doubt they were serious contenders for his services because they weren’t going to pay more than about 6.5 million. Thad Young, who would be a great third scoring option on a title contender, basically went to the T’Wolves for nothing. You’re telling me OKC couldn’t have gotten him? Instead, their big free agent grab was Anthony Morrow and his career 10.4 points per game. What a player.

 

So maybe it makes sense that Westbrook and Durant don’t pass in crunch time. Why would they? Would you feel comfortable with Jeremy Lamb, Thabo Sefolosha, or Morrow shooting late in games? I wouldn’t.

 

OKC is going to be kicking themselves for letting the golden opportunity that they had go by the wayside. They, in the draft from 2007 to 2009, drafted Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka. How many NBA teams have ever hit big time on 4 draft picks in like that in consecutive drafts? Do you realize how hard that is? That might not ever happen again. Durant’s contract is up after the 2016 season, and the last year of Westbrook’s deal is 2017. Why would either of them re-sign there? It’s not like OKC has really been all in, doing everything they can to win. They haven’t spent the money, they traded Harden, one of their best friends, for what ended up being one year of Kevin Martin, and they’ve defiantly held on to Kendrick Perkins. Oh, and Scott Brooks still coaches this team.

 

The window is closing quickly. Durant will already be out for the first month and a half or so of the season with a broken bone in his foot. It’s just another setback, one that might keep the team from having home court advantage in the second round of the Western Conference Playoffs.

 

But make no mistake; Russell Westbrook will be out there, gutting it out, giving his all. That’s more than you can say for their front office.

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