For The Oklahoma City Thunder To Win, Russell Westbrook Needs To Stop Being Selfish
It doesn’t matter if Russell Westbrook averages triple-doubles for the rest of his career, he’s never going to be considered an all-time great. For the third straight year, his team has knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. He’ll never be on the same level as Steph Curry or Damian Lillard. Let’s just stop the debate now.
Westbrook could be a more efficient player if he cut down on his shooting. Yes, guys like Lillard and Curry shoot their fair amount of shots, however, Russ shot 36 percent from the field this postseason. At some point, he just needs to understand his shot ain’t falling.
You can’t say Westbrook isn’t a prolific passer. He’s more than able to put up 12+ assists per game. It comes down to a selfishness. Russ wants all the glory. He’ll get his 10 assists and 10 rebounds easily, but Westbrook knows scoring the ball is what really looks good.
When you’ve got Paul George on your roster, why are you forcing shots. George took 20 shots per game in their playoff series loss to thr Portland TrailBlazers. He shot 43.6 percent from the field. Why did George, a much more efficient scorer, talk 2 less shots than Westbrook in the series?
The Thunder don’t have any other scorers on their roster outside of George, and to an extent, Westbrook. It doesn’t surprise anyone Russ is shooting the ball. However, Dennis Schroeder, Jerami Grant, and Terracne Ferguson combined for 19 shots in the game 5 loss to close out the Blazers series. Russell took 31 shots.
You won’t get any production out of the these role players if they can’t get shots out because of Westbrook taking more than his fair share. And it’s not like these shots by Westbrook are smart. He averaged 52 percent of his shots in the playoffs within the first 9 seconds of the shot clock. These are some real boneheaded decisions.
You’d love to see another scorer join the Thunder, but, will it matter if Russell Westbrook doesn’t control himself? These triple doubles are really just a product of Westbrook having the ball in his hands a lot more than usual. Perhaps his assist numbers look better with someone other than George. Athough, are we really going to expect Westbrook to decrease his shot attempts?
Perhaps if Russell Westbrook figured out how to be less selfish, the Thunder would have fared better against the Blazers. It’s an issue for him that probably won’t get addressed anytime soon. If that’s the way it is, he’ll never be able to help his team when it matters most.
Image Source: Mark D. Smith- USA Today Sports
Daniel is a guru of baseball and basketball prospects. He’s a very experienced Amusement Park traveler as well. Follow him and his hot takes on Insta @dgentleman9288
