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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