Russell Westbrook is one of the NBA’s biggest enigma’s: Is he good or bad? Overrated or underrated? A stat-chaser or a winner? Passionate or reckless?… It goes on and on, but one question hasn’t been asked yet: Has anyone ever given Russ the respect of building the perfect team around him?
Let’s talk about Russ first here. Obviously, every player comes with qualities and deficiencies, even Westbrook, the 2017 NBA MVP. His deficiencies are well documented by now, and we’ll go over them below to see how they can be masked on a winning team.
First up is his shooting. Since his MVP season, where he shot 34.3% from 3, he’s shot below 30% from deep in every season until this year, where he’s shooting 31.4% and even better since fully recovering from his injury. It’s still not great or good or even below average for that matter. However, he has averaged at least one 3-point make per game in every season. He can get streaky enough to the point that you have to respect him somewhat when it matters.
He has also struggled to find a rhythm from the free-throw line since the MVP season. Not coincidentally, the summer after that season the NBA imposed a rule change where players couldn’t go over the three-point line during their free-throw routine. Russ did… exactly that, and his forced change in a routine that he did for years affected his numbers in a big way. He went from an 82.3% career (9 years) free-throw shooter to averaging 73.7%, 65.6% 76.3% and 60.8% from the line in the 4 seasons since (including this one).
Lastly are the turnovers. Since 2014, he’s averaging 4.7 turnovers per game and been top 2 in the league in turnovers per game every year. Many have claimed that Russ plays too reckless and that he should screw it back sometimes.
Granted, Russ’ energy may sometimes work to his (and the team’s) detriment. However, his constant energy can make a play out of nothing more often than it makes nothing out of a play. His constant energy can get a 20-20-20 performance for his late friend Nipsey Hussle in a seemingly unimportant regular season game. His constant energy powers an entire team, an entire arena, an entire city on nights where energy is the only way to stay afloat. Russ never cheated the game, so screwing back his energy is not an option.
That’s where Russ’ qualities kick in. It’s hard to remember anyone bringing as much energy to the arena, night-in night-out, as Russell Westbrook does. When combining that energy with his physical attributes, he becomes a tough matchup for any guard. His frame, explosiveness and speed still rank up there with the very best of guards. It’s the reason he won the MVP in 2017. He broke an unbreakable record with 42 triple-doubles in a season and becoming the second player to average a triple-double for an entire season. He has now done it 4 times.
He’s also a great leader with Finals experience. Never put the blame on anyone else but himself. Always takes young players under his wing, as we saw earlier this season with Rui Hachimura, when Rui failed to execute a post-move and then minutes later executed it perfectly after Russ gave him pointers during a timeout. Makes sure to get his teammates involved and he always instils that confidence in them, doesn’t matter if they’re great or not so great.
He’s had some of those great teammates. Kevin Durant, Paul George, James Harden and now Bradley Beal. So why hasn’t it all worked out? Well, because while the teams he was on were talented enough, they weren’t exactly a perfect fit for Russell Westbrook.
He is not a plug-and-play guy in any system or lineup. With someone like Russ, who has both those glaring deficiencies and unmatched qualities, building a roster becomes very delicate, even more than it already was. Any imperfections will accentuate his deficiencies, while a perfect roster would highlight his qualities.
That’s where we address the rosters around Russ. It all starts with Steven Adams. No disrespect whatsoever, but their playstyles didn’t match. Adams was a strong screen-setter, good roll-man, great offensive rebounder and pretty good paint protector, but he doesn’t space the floor whatsoever. Adams clogs up the paint and for Russ that becomes a big issue, as most of his baskets come right at the rim.
Next up are the shooting guards. Between Terrance Ferguson, Corey Brewer, Victor Oladipo, Andre Roberson and Thabo Sefolosha, it seems like the Thunder front office never addressed the ‘shooting’ part of the shooting guard position. When both guards struggle stretching the floor and the center can’t make 3’s, it becomes really difficult to win in this day and age.
Then Russ arrives in Houston, and for the first time he had a shooting guard that could hit 3’s in James Harden. The Rockets also traded away Clint Capela to start playing small-ball to stretch the floor for Russ, and it led to a huge spike in Russ’ efficiency. But against the Lakers in the bubble, Russ was coming back from a quad-injury, neither he nor Harden could really play off the ball, they were heavily undersized against the big Lakers lineup and ultimately lost in 5. Both Russ and Harden wanted out after that (not because of it), and Russ ended up on the Wizards with Bradley Beal.
The results thus far haven’t been good. The Wizards are unable to defend and Beal’s shooting efficiency from deep has taken a huge dip in the past few years. Bertans had been struggling because of COVID, Thomas Bryant tore his ACL, and the bench unit doesn’t look playoff worthy. All that mixed with a half-injured Russ who is trying to adjust to a new team, and you get a 17-31 record.
What would be the perfect fit then? The Chicago Bulls. The Bulls are coached by Billy Donovan, who coached Russ for 4 years in OKC, including his MVP season. They also have an All-Star shooting guard in Zach Lavine and an All-Star center in Nikola Vucevic, both of whom are amongst the best 3-point shooters in the league, and a power forward in Lauri Markkanen who stretches the floor well.
The Bulls looked to add Lonzo Ball at point guard at the trade deadline, but with Vuc’ and Russ’ contract lining up perfectly with each other, why not go all-in this summer on Westbrook? Ball is certainly the better option for the future and doesn’t come with $91m owed over 2 years like Westbrook, but he won’t be cheap in restricted free agency either this summer. Lavine is 26, Vucevic is 30. If the Bulls want them to stay around after their current contract, they better make winning moves.
Nothing says win now like being willing to pay north of $45m a year for an aging point guard. It’s a risk, but a risk Billy Donovan would be willing to take as a coach and it shows good faith towards Lavine and Vucevic. And you can be sure of one thing: If you’re willing to take a risk on Russell Westbrook, he won’t ever disappoint you.
Courtside 