NBA Oklahoma City Thunder

Russell Westbrook Quickly Proving Naysayers Wrong

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By @courtzierk

USA TODAY Sports - Mark D. Smith

USA TODAY Sports – Mark D. Smith

There are some things in life that go without being said. These are called implicit truths. When you involve yourself in the business of peaking interest through the advancement of opinions such as I have, it feels like truly coming across like an idiot is an implicit truth more often than not.

In fact, if you polled the people who read my work on a consistent basis, I assume “often an idiot”, if offered as an option, would appeal to at least 50% of those polled. If you asked my wife or kids, they would gladly tell you that I am an idiot at least that, if not a greater percentage of the time. Although in that case, I like to think that being an idiot is at least partly responsible for the vast amusement I am responsible for at home.

The point I am trying to make is that I understand I am not perfect. Not only do I understand it, I actually embrace it as a wonderful expression of my humanity, and I learn from the instances of true idiocy to improve myself for the future. The first step in the process of improvement is always, and without exception, understanding and admitting your mistake.

A couple of months back, I wrote a fairly critical piece about Russell Westbrook, in which I basically exposed some of the more damning statistics underlying his admittedly amazing season.

I cited his poor effective field goal percentage (eFG), which has hovered around 45% on the season, putting him in the bottom half of the league. I mentioned his horrific field goal percentage on drives as an indication of his inefficiency. At the time, he was shooting around 41% on drives. That number has slowly climbed to around 44%, but still remains paltry, putting him in line with the likes of Michael Carter-Williams, Kemba Walker and Brandon Jennings. I honed in on his historically high usage rate, which has only increased from 37.2 to the 38.5 it stands at now.

I dug deep, I dug hard, and I found things to dislike about Westbrook’s game. But, in all of this, what I have since realized is that by scrounging so hard to find something negative to focus on, I was missing something truly special play out before my eyes.

While I was scouring through advanced stats and convoluted analytics, Westbrook has been putting up numbers that have him alongside rarified company, such as Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson. His Oklahoma City Thunder meanwhile, despite missing the reigning MVP Kevin Durant, and their starting center for much of the past month and a half, have climbed into the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoffs, almost exclusively on the back of their divisive superstar.

His performance since the All-Star break, simply put, has been unlike any other statistical outburst that has occurred in my lifetime. In nine games, he has averaged 34.3 points, 11.4 assists and 10.2 rebounds per game, and all within the span of about 36 minutes per game. He not only has averaged a triple-double, he has put up some of the most impressive triple-doubles this league has ever seen, simply crushing every relevant category.

10 rebounds? No, make that 15, 14 and 13. 11 assists? No, make that 17, twice. 20 points? No, make that 40, 43 and 49. These aren’t your Rajon Rondo triple-doubles my friends.

And through it all, Westbrook has avoided doing anything that even remotely resembles controversy. You might find his interaction with the media unappealing, as I do, but at the end of the day, that is his decision to make, and he’s not hurting anyone except himself.

You could look at his disproportionate usage rate, and find fault in his style of play, and there would be some credence to that. But, not captured in his usage rate is the frequency with which he is finding open teammates and distributing the ball with laser-like precision. In fact, his assist percentage, the frequency with which a scoring play is a direct result of an assist from him while on the court, leads the league at a whopping 48.5%. Almost half of the scoring plays occurring while he is on the court are a direct result of an assist from him. Hard to dispute that evidence.

I guess the overall point I am trying to make is that the beauty of analytics pales in comparison to their danger. Stats can be manipulated and cherry-picked to tell whatever narrative one is trying to propagate. I didn’t, and still don’t to a certain extent, have an affinity for Westbrook’s style of play. So what did I do? I chose the statistical categories that amplified my narrative, and centered my diatribe around his weaknesses in those areas.

I’m not alone in this pursuit. This is a tactic that is done on a daily basis by people like myself trying to make their opinions resonate with large groups of people. There is a certain merit to it when done correctly and responsibly, so I can’t completely dismiss it.

But, what we miss when we do this too often is the beauty of what is unfolding on the court, before our jaded and blinded eyes. And with one of the most unique and exciting seasons in NBA history currently being playing out, and with Westbrook currently riding a historic wave of unparalleled production, I caution those with similar tendencies to remove those discolored lenses. You may miss something truly great.

Court Zierk is a Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @CourtZierk, “Like” him on Facebook or add him on Google.

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