I've said it before and I'll say it again...... I don't give a shit what you are doing out there. If you end the game with a triple double, you are a stud. The whole damn league wishes they could put up numbers like him. Wish EVERY ONE of our players would "pad their stats".
I thought you were smarter than this, but you seem to have bought into the Westbrook triple-double fanboi hype.
Who do you think will go down in history as the better player. Russell Westbrook or Michael Jordan? That's a serious question, and your answer will tell me whether I should continue to take you seriously as a poster. Jordan never averaged a triple-double. Neither has Bird or Magic or LeBron. Is Westbrook better than all of those guys?
Ok, it's already been explained how Westbrook pads his rebounding stats (leaving his man unguarded to hunt rebounds and stealing rebounds from his own teammates), but how can a player who averages 10 assists per game be considered selfish?
First, in order for Westbrook to average a triple-double, he had to absolutely shatter the all time USG% record last season. If you don't know what USG% means, in simple terms it's a measure of how many of his team's possessions a players uses up. Last year, Westbrook "used up" 41.65% of his team's total possessions. The previous record was 38.74% by Kobe Bryant. There have only been five USG% > 37 seasons in the history of the league. Westbrook owns two of them, Kobe, Jordan and Iverson one each. Westbrook dominates the ball more than any other player in NBA history.
As such, he gets to decide when his teammates get shots and when he gets shots. If you look at the way Westbrook doles out assists, you'll see he racks them up at the beginning of the game, to insure he gets his triple-double and then as the game progresses, he starts freezing out his teammates - this is especially true in close games and most of all, in the payoffs. I started noticing this all the way back in the 2011 playoffs, that in the 4th quarter of any close game, Westbrook would freeze out his more efficient scoring teammates (at that time, Kevin Durant and James Harden) and start calling his own number WAY too often.
To illustrate this, here are Westbrook's quarter-by-quarter assists and filed goal attempt numbers for his historic triple-double season:
1st Quarter: FGA = 5.3, Assists = 3.2
2nd Quarter: FGA = 5.8, Assists = 2.9
3rd Quarter: FGA = 6.4, Assists = 2.6
4th Quarter: FGA = 7.9, Assists = 1.9
Notice anything? Every single quarter, Westbrook's field goal attempts go up and his assists go down. He becomes especially ball hoggy in the 4th quarter, when he busts into hero mode and costs his team countless close games.
If Westbrook was actually a good shooter, and didn't turn the ball over so much, this might not be a bad thing. After all, you want the ball in your best players hands with the game on the line. The problem is Westbrook forces up a ton of bad shots and commits countless unforced turnovers. The more he tries to do, the more it hurts his team. Durant's last season in OKC, they lost 15 games that they had led in the 4th quarter. Think about that... A team with a 4-time scoring champ, one past and one future MVP blowing FIFTEEN 4th quarter leads. How is that even possible? Easy, Westbrook hero ball.
Last year's playoffs were a prime example of how Westbrook's stat padding, hero ball style of play hurts his team. Same exercise as before, but this time, add in team scoring by quarter:
1st Quarter: FGA = 7.2, Assists = 3.2, Team Scoring = 29.2
2nd Quarter: FGA = 5.8, Assists = 4.2, Team Scoring = 28.6
3rd Quarter: FGA = 7.6, Assists = 2.2, Team Scoring = 24.2
4th Quarter: FGA = 9.8, Assists = 1.2, Team Scoring = 22.2
When Westbrook tries to be the hero, stops passing to his teammates and starts forcing up bad shots, it kills his team's chances of winning.
Again, I first noticed it back in the 2011 playoffs, but it has never changed. And that's the real reason Russell Westbrook should never be mentioned in the same breath as Michael Jordan when it comes to discussing all-time greats, even though Westbrook averaged a triple double and Jordan (and Bird, Magic, LeBron) never did. Those guys all valued winning over individual stats. They got their stats in the normal flow of the game, while making their teammates better and increasing their teams' chances of winning.
Westbrook is a great athlete, no denying that. Perhaps, pound-for-pound, the most amazing athlete to ever play the game. But, he's also a stupid, selfish player who values his own personal stats, records and awards over winning and team success.
BNM
