Russell Westbrook: Unimpressed

[THE HCP]

And on that note at least he's never punched one of his teammates out of frustration like Jordan did to Steve Kerr. Ask Bill Simmons about that?

 

[THE HCP]

I'm a prick to work with, but I get the damn job done well. My co workers may not want to exchange xmas cards, but there is nobody else they would want in my position I can promise you.

 

[GrandpaBlaze]

I'm a prick to work with, but I get the damn job done well. My co workers may not want to exchange xmas cards, but there is nobody else they would want in my position I can promise you.

I don’t believe I have ever seen anyone as efficient as you as they followed the horses in the parade. I agree, nobody else I'd rather have in that position than you.

 

[illmatic99]

"He's a one-man show who treats his teammates like stage props." And that's one of the nicer things he says.

I guess Bill Simmons needs to go back to his mom's basement too, eh?

Did you read that article? He's highly complimentary of Westbrook. He compares him to Jordan and LeBron. Russ is a flawed ball player-- but his talent is undeniable.

 

[Stevenson]

Yes, I read the whole article. My point is not that Westbrook is not an amazing talent, of course he is. Simmons says the same thing. But that talent is often wasted on how he chooses to use it.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

And the topic of this thread wasn't if he was a nice guy or great person or teammate was it? I didn't think that was what we were discussing.

Whether he's a great teammate is absolutely part of the discussion, as far as how well the on-court interplay with his teammates translates into wins. The primary criticism levied against him throughout this thread--and echoed by Simmons--is that he doesn't properly utilize the strengths of his teammates to complement his own greatness, but instead focuses excessively on himself to the detriment of his teammates and his team as a whole.

Nobody denies that Westbrook has otherworldly talent, desire and drive. The argument is that he also believes that so strongly that he limits the ability of his teammates to lift him to even greater heights. I hear talking heads that defend him ask, "Who else on that team would you rather have shooting? Roberson? Gibson?" Well...yeah, in situations where Russ' tasmanian-devil playing style has so disrupted the defense that half of it is out of position because of the amount of attention they must pay to him, then most likely those guys are going to be in a better position to score than Russ would be, if he allowed them to be.

Honestly, I can't imagine how impossible that team would be to defend if Westbrook consistently sought to draw defenders for the purpose of opening up more shots for his teammates, and I'm thankful that he doesn't.

 

[HomerLovesKoolAid]

I too am not impressed by Westbrook.

I think he's a selfish prick who will shoot his team out of games at crunch time and the hero ball will get worse as the pressure goes up in the playoffs.

In short, fuck him with Raymond Felton's Allen Iverson poster.

 

[Boob-No-More]

And the topic of this thread wasn't if he was a nice guy or great person or teammate was it? I didn't think that was what we were discussing.

The problem is, two of those teammates he treated as "stage props" were James Harden and Kevin Durant. When you can't coexist with that level of talent, being a bad teammate definitely is part of the discussion.

When we drafted Oden, we thought we were a dynasty in the making. All hope of that would be dynasty was destroyed by injuries.

OKC, with Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka should have been a dynasty in the making, but they won zero championships, and never will. Their potential dynasty wasn't destroyed by injuries, it was derailed by cheap owners and a selfish, stat padding, ball hog, glory seeking point guard.

BNM