Russell Westbrook Fashion Russell Westbrook Stats

The just uncontroversial opinion a person tin take about Russell Westbrook is that in that location are no uncontroversial opinions about Russell Westbrook. No current NBA player spawns such divergent assessments of his play from any i of his performances.

Just look at this pair of dorsum-to-back quote tweets assessing a stat virtually his play in Friday's win against the Hawks:

What's even wilder is that both seemingly diametrically opposed opinions are really somehow kind of right!

Russell Westbrook's xiii assists did assist fuel some of the Lakers' most "BEAUTIFUL BASKETBALL" of the flavor. Yet, the inherently minuscule sample size involved in individual plus-minus from a unmarried game tin can obscure the reality of a player's functioning, effectively making information technology a "Fake ass stat."

So goes the Russell Westbrook feel: In whatsoever ane game, there are both things to dearest, and things to hate, giving his game a Rorschach test-like quality. Analysis of Westbrook tends to say less about Westbrook than it does the analyst's basketball ideology.

If predisposed to appreciate the constancy of Westbrook'southward playmaking gall, ane could easily come away with a glowing review of his play. But if ane is particularly keyed-in on his shot selection, finishing power, and attending on defense, information technology's possible to argue his performance was so inefficient equally to be ineffective.

In recent seasons, a particular image of unknown origins has become popularized on the internet, an apparent attempt to account for these GOAT and WOAT descriptors thrown at Westbrook across the progressing months of the NBA calendar, an image we'll dub "The Russell Westbrook Timeline Meme."

Prototype via The Internet

In addressing the accurateness of this internet joke, I had 2 sets of questions:

1. While each game typically encompasses ample moments of Russ either looking like a stud or a dud, why is it that equally time has passed, his detractors have come up to then significantly outnumber his Stans?
2. Has the quality of his play actually tended to improve subsequently a season'due south mid-way betoken? And, if so, in what means can nosotros expect Russ to improve for this Laker team as nosotros fully turn the calendar to 2022?

In 2017, no one actually questioned whether Westbrook was good, merely if triple-doubles were more than than a statistical quirk of a base of operations 10 number system (it is) and if he was actually deserving of winning the MVP (he wasn't). At present, the axis of debate has shifted towards, "Is Westbrook whatsoever proficient at all?"

Naturally, more and more folks have gone from believers to haters every bit Westbrook's quality of play has objectively declined from his MVP-winning apex. All the same, the shift in opinion seems to have radically outpaced the reject in Westbrook'southward game. The novelty of triple-doubles has definitely worn off over time, becoming more of a punchline than a radically scarce achievement. Simply perhaps more significantly, Westbrook's mode of play has changed equally he's anile, with his wins becoming smaller and less perceptible, while his losses remain equally loud as a Howitzer.

In Friday's game, Westbrook had — per usual — a scattering of glaring errors. Even worse than his couple of ugly turnovers were his 10 misses on fourteen attempts from the field. Westbrook couldn't buy a jumper, and forced some hopeless attempts at the rim.

Watching just the above clip might — as the meme posits — leave the impression that Westbrook is the worst player in the NBA. And unfortunately for his image, the advantages he creates nowadays tend to be quieter than in years past, and more often engulfed in what appears to be an efficiency analytics disaster.

Instead of his highlight hammers of yore, Westbrook's dunks this flavor accept been less aesthetically awesome and more than inconsistent equally his far too often losing war against the rim has raged on. In fact, he's really only shooting 56.3% on dunks, having fabricated simply nine of his 16 attempts to stuff a basketball through a cylinder most twice its diameter. And with his finishing stripped of its ferocity and highlights turning into blooper reels, Russ is simply a less heady role player to watch.

However, the athletic skill he's retained into his age-33 flavor are his forcefulness and straight-line speed. Sometimes, Russ' move to the rim happens so fast it'south like shooting fish in a barrel to overlook the arts and crafts he needed to get there. For instance, he creates this transition bucket off of a miss by only sprinting past four Hawks, and through the final one.

This seemingly free basket requires Westbrook to hitting the jets early on at a speed most players couldn't reach, and power through Kevin Huerter without losing control of the ball. Information technology isn't particularly flashy, but these kinds of baskets count the same as any other, even if he's struggled to make these looks at an optimal charge per unit. He's actually been i of the least efficient transition finishers in the NBA, even if (past my estimate) frequent Kobe Assists make his drives a tad more than valuable than his points per possession on them (15th percentile) might suggest.

His biggest boon to the Lakers is his superlative playmaking, some of which is responsible for his frequently loftier turnover count. In their postgame interviews the Lakers continue to stress the divergence between "set on" and "careless" turnovers, as the sometime are par for the course with any high-book playmaker, while the latter are to exist avoided. Russ is prone to both, only it'south worth remembering that even on his worst nights, Westbrook's turnover full is unremarkably dominated by set on turnovers, with an inconsistent smattering of the careless ones that earn far more attention online.

Still, he's the leader of the second-nigh productive playmaking duo in the league. He (15.1) and LeBron (xiii.3) combine for more potential assists per game than any 2 teammates in the NBA except for Darius Garland (xiv.5) and the now-injured Ricky Rubio (fourteen.0). His passes are rarely especially flashy or creative, similar LeBron's or Jokic's, but a warp-speed drive-and-kick tends to open doors for other Lakers' secondary playmaking.

Westbrook leads the charge towards the "paint-to-great" basketball Frank Vogel loves to preach. He praised Russ for merely that later terminal game, maxim, "I do think he set a tone for us to play actress pass basketball game...He set a great tone for u.s. in the kickoff half." Depending on your expectations for Russ, and whether you lot watched the game or your Twitter timeline, it's easy for 2 people to fall into dichotomous glowing or scathing assessments of his playmaking on the same night.

But while the critical appreciation of Westbrook's overall play has certainly soured in recent years, in that location is still some expectation, per the aforementioned meme, that he tends to amend over the form of a season. His pre and post-All-Star break splits closely mirror each other over the grade of his career (admitting with slightly improved 3-point shooting), just that hasn't been the case in either of the by 2 seasons — each of which Russ spent with a new team, adjusting to new coaches and new teammates.

During the 2019-twenty season in Houston, Westbrook struggled to observe a groove in the halfcourt until the Rockets traded abroad Clint Capela and opted to play five-out in favor of maximizing the infinite for Russ and James Harden to operate. In the 42 games he played with Capela, Westbrook averaged 26.4 points per game on 45.4% shooting. In the xv subsequent games, his scoring jumped to 29.7 points per game on 52.0% shooting. With Capela off the floor and the pigment cleared for takeoff, Westbrook shot five percent points better at the rim, going from below average to above average efficiency on high volume.

His tenure in Washington the following season started out even shakier than his fourth dimension in Houston. However, it wasn't the lack of spacing that crippled Westbrook's efficiency, it was the Wizards' struggle to build chemistry amongst their regular rotation players due to the inordinate strain a moving ridge of COVID-19 infections placed on the roster. Just a couple of weeks into the season, on Jan. 12 of 2021, the Wizards began a string of cancellations that atomic number 82 to almost ii weeks of time abroad from the courtroom. Only by the beginning of February did they go the bulk of their roster back, and so however needed some fourth dimension to get into playing shape and gain trust in each other on the floor.

Prior to the March 7 All-Star Game, Westbrook was at xx.3 points per game on 42.viii% shooting. After the pause, Russ averaged 23.6 points per game on 44.7% shooting. He as well maintained a turnover rate of four.8 per game, but earned well-nigh 3.5 more than assists per game in the last 38 games of the season.

In each of his previous ii unmarried-season stops before arriving in LA, only once the moving parts around him settled was Westbrook able to access the all-time version of himself. It's also worth noting that Westbrook was able to subtly curve his game towards his team's needs, playing more of a scoring part in Houston and a distributing one in Washington.

This season, the Lakers take merely now only started to overcome the exact same issues that plagued the Rockets (spacing), and the Wizards (COVID). Continuity-wise, they are but at present exiting the kickoff of the meme'south iii brackets. The Lakers only have three lineups that have shared the floor for more than than 100 possessions. Most contenders have five or six such lineups past now, with those teams' most-used lineups rapidly closing in on 1000 possessions.

Now, with about of the Lakers healthy and having been reformed around small-brawl lineups, they've ripped off five wins in six games, quietly creeping upward the leaderboards with the league's 5th-best signal differential over the past 2 weeks, and its second-best offense.

Westbrook has been a big role of that evolution, as the Lakers have posted a +12.1 point differential per 100 possessions with Russ at the point and LeBron at the 5. The near-used permutation of that lineup — the one the Lakers accept run out to start in four of the terminal six games with Stanley Johnson paired abreast LeBron in the frontcourt and the Lakers' tertiary lineup to articulate 100 possessions — is cruising past opponents to the tune of +24.viii points per 100 possessions.

He's been crucial to that identity working, as those lineups have craved his offensive free energy when he sits. LeBron-at-center lineups without Westbrook are getting outscored past seven.5 points per 100 possessions in 234 possessions.

Every bit the Lakers go along to log minutes together and grow on-court chemistry, sifting out the worst player combinations while leaning harder into the near constructive ones, Westbrook may take an easier time getting to his spots and making shots, lifting his shooting efficiency equally he has in each of the past two seasons on new teams. In fact, he'due south boosted his field goal percentage by at to the lowest degree two (and every bit many every bit five) pct points after the All-Star break in each of the last 5 seasons

Although Westbrook has espoused his intention to be as consequent as possible on a nighttime-to-nighttime basis, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin, erstwhile Thunder and Wizards Head Passenger vehicle and current Blazers Assistant Scott Brooks suggested that considering Westbrook refrains from playing five-on-five basketball during the offseason in an effort to protect his body, his feel improves as the flavour goes on. Perhaps Westbrook will start to win more of his battles against the forepart-fe, and heighten his finishing efficiency with additional time to get his legs under him.

The meme'due south final piece, the uttermost from our present moment, is the thousand-yard stare that accompanies the onset of the playoffs. Over Westbrook'southward unabridged career, whatever gains are made in the regular flavor are lost in the playoffs. He'southward shot under xl% from the field in six of his last viii playoff series, and is a career 40.8% shooter overall and 29.6% from three in the postseason.

Although the Lakers are a far-from-finished product, and LeBron's versatility as a chief of everything on a basketball court will help continue to help put Westbrook in the best possible positions to thrive, Russ' lack of success against the stiffest contest portends a massive obstacle at the end of this Laker season. Conversely, LeBron and Anthony Davis' wellness are far more important obstacles for the Lakers to clear if they hope to brand practiced on their championship-or-bust aspirations. Assuming their top 2 stars are in meridian status, however, Russ will be the tertiary-option on a playoff team for the first time in his career, something the Lakers are surely banking on elevating his postseason efficiency.

Merely no affair what you recollect of him, only time will tell if reality will imitate the meme, or if Westbrook can shake his viral reputation when winning fourth dimension comes around. If the new-look, pocket-sized-ball, Large 3 Lakers can win a championship, Russell Westbrook will go down in NBA history equally a champion first, and cyberspace punchline last. To crib a line from The Sandlot, "Memes go remembered, but champions never die."

Cooper is a lifelong Laker fan who has besides covered the Yankees at SB Nation'due south Pinstripe Alley. No, he'due south not also a Cowboys fan. You can follow him on Twitter at @cooperhalpern .

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