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Friday, March 29, 2024

Russell Westbrook plays basketball like he’s mad at the world. In return, the world is mad at him.

His abrasive style of play and demeanor make him an easy target for fans and opponents. NBA fans call him “Westbrick” for his apparent shooting struggles, and his opponents, like Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, say he’s constantly “in his feelings” when they go toe-to-toe on the court.

I’m not going to correct either one of those knocks, because they're both at least partially true. But I will defend Westbrook’s honor, who’s on his way to averaging a triple-double for the third-straight season, in case you didn’t know.

If his current stats hold (21.6 points per game, 10.8 rebounds, 10.7 assists), Westbrook will have recorded three of the four seasons in which a player has averaged a triple-double in the NBA’s 72 year history. Oscar Robertson also accomplished this feat in the 1961-62 season.

Despite missing eight games this season, Westbrook is tied for second in the NBA in double-doubles with 32, trailing only Rudy Gobert (41), and stands alone atop the league with 16 triple-doubles. Nikola Jokic is the next closest with seven.

Westbrook leads the NBA in steals per game (2.3) and assists per game (10.7), both of which are career-highs.

So now to address the shortcomings of his play this season: shooting. Westbrook shoots 41.4 percent from the field and a career-low, league-worst 24.7 percent from three. There’s no ‘but’ here. It’s atrocious.

His performance at the free-throw line has also dipped, where he shoots a career-low 64.9 percent. There is sort of a ‘but’ here, because the league recently altered its rules for players at the free-throw line in an effort to speed up the game. Westbrook used to walk behind the three-point line between his free throw attempts. He can no longer continue his routine, which he says he has done since high school.

The NBA is a shooting league. It’s never been more clear. Ever since Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and the Golden State Warriors began living by the three — and they have yet to die by it — the rest of the league followed suit. Three-point records are set every year only to be broken the following one. Even centers such as Karl Anthony Towns, Marc Gasol and Embiid added the outside shot to their repertoire.

It makes sense that Westbrook is the butt of the joke. But the beauty of Westbrook’s play is that he can, and does, impact the game in other ways. And for the first time since Kevin Durant left Oklahoma City, he has learned how to take a step back for someone else. That someone else is Paul George, who’s having an MVP-caliber season.

Westbrook is just two years removed from setting an NBA-record 41.7 usage percentage (which estimates the percentage of team plays used by a player while they are on the floor). For reference, James Harden, king of the iso, is just behind 2016-17 Westbrook at a 40.6 percent clip this season. Naturally, giving up the rock hasn’t been the easiest task for the ball-dominant point guard.

That being said, his usage percentage has dropped more than 10 percentage points since that season as he adjusts to playing with George, a more offensive-minded Steven Adams and a capable backup point guard in Dennis Schroeder.

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Tracy McGrady recently said on ESPN’s “The Jump” Westbrook needs to shoot better, not less. As simple as this advice is, he’s right.

Twice in the past five seasons, Westbrook has won the scoring title despite never shooting better than 35 percent from the three-point line.

He’ll eventually shoot his way out of his slump. And in the event he doesn’t, I’m sure Billy Donovan is just fine with his point guard grabbing double-digit rebounds and dishing out double-digit assists on a nightly basis, even if his shooting  suffers.

Westbrook is being punished for normalizing greatness. A Westbrook triple-double just doesn’t have the same ring to it anymore. It’s almost expected. The fact that we have come to expect at the very least 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists from him every night is more of an endorsement of his skill than an indictment of the feat itself.

He may not be Daryl Morey’s desired analytical specimen. He may tell your team’s best player that he can mess them up (in a much more explicit manner) or that he’s been busting their behind for years. But he’s doing something no player has done before, and the Thunder are better off because of it.

Kyle Wood is a sports writer. Follow him on Twitter @Kkylewood and contact him at kwood@alligator.org. 

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