I strongly disagree with WAS. That roster had no business being in the playoffs at all and Russ was a relatively efficient version of himself, along with all the stories of how much his leadership meant to the team. The East wasn’t very good, but he was really good during that regular season (and that part of the conversation is the rub with Russ).
No arguments with LAL or HOU, but he was good in his role as a regular season player for LAC. He juiced their bench minutes and was impactful for an injury-plagued team that needed his production. Not to mention it was the first time we saw him be actually willing to take a step back when Harden arrived and perform as a reserve.
Jokic’s effect is never in doubt, but Russ’ own ability to feed Joker in the right places and allow him to not have to be the distributor at all field when he’s on the floor has plenty to do with Russ’ own skillset.
I’m not a Russ guy, but I’ll give anyone credit where it’s due.
I think you're falling for the Russell Westbrook eye test, as has often been the case for all of us over his career. He's been a huge detriment for his teams over the last five years and his slight improvement this year has folks seeing too much. He's still a bad shooter who turns the ball over too much and is a below-average defender. His overall stats this season make him around the 50th best player in the league—which is good for a role player. Also, he's playing with the best passer in the league in Joker. I don't have the stats in front of me but I'm gonna bet Joker assists on a huge percentage of Westbrook's hoops. Westbrook is a first-ballot Hall of Famer but, as I've joked about over the years, he's the worst great player in league history.
I think you’re misreading the argument I’m laying out. Particularly when you say eye test as I’m giving substantive stats as to why I come to some of those conclusions. And he was not a detriment in LAC at all until the playoffs. Which again, I state.
Also, I would highly recommend reading Mike Shearer’s piece on Russ over at Basketball Poetry if you really want to dive into the numbers. As I said, Russ was not good in LAL and though I didn’t go further into it, he really has been a much better performer with Joker than without, but that is precisely why I used the term “synergy,” because Russ has also been very good at feeding Joker where he needs the ball.
50th best player in the league on a minimum contract is a steal btw! I don’t think Russ is still a great player, but he has very much proven to be an impactful one over the last month.
Westbrook is playing well in DEN. He did not play well in HOU, WAS, LAL, or LAC (stats don’t mean you play well).
Westbrook’s DEN run clearly shows why Jokic is the most valuable player in the league and the tide that raises all ships.
I strongly disagree with WAS. That roster had no business being in the playoffs at all and Russ was a relatively efficient version of himself, along with all the stories of how much his leadership meant to the team. The East wasn’t very good, but he was really good during that regular season (and that part of the conversation is the rub with Russ).
No arguments with LAL or HOU, but he was good in his role as a regular season player for LAC. He juiced their bench minutes and was impactful for an injury-plagued team that needed his production. Not to mention it was the first time we saw him be actually willing to take a step back when Harden arrived and perform as a reserve.
Jokic’s effect is never in doubt, but Russ’ own ability to feed Joker in the right places and allow him to not have to be the distributor at all field when he’s on the floor has plenty to do with Russ’ own skillset.
I’m not a Russ guy, but I’ll give anyone credit where it’s due.
Thank you for reading.
I think you're falling for the Russell Westbrook eye test, as has often been the case for all of us over his career. He's been a huge detriment for his teams over the last five years and his slight improvement this year has folks seeing too much. He's still a bad shooter who turns the ball over too much and is a below-average defender. His overall stats this season make him around the 50th best player in the league—which is good for a role player. Also, he's playing with the best passer in the league in Joker. I don't have the stats in front of me but I'm gonna bet Joker assists on a huge percentage of Westbrook's hoops. Westbrook is a first-ballot Hall of Famer but, as I've joked about over the years, he's the worst great player in league history.
I think you’re misreading the argument I’m laying out. Particularly when you say eye test as I’m giving substantive stats as to why I come to some of those conclusions. And he was not a detriment in LAC at all until the playoffs. Which again, I state.
Also, I would highly recommend reading Mike Shearer’s piece on Russ over at Basketball Poetry if you really want to dive into the numbers. As I said, Russ was not good in LAL and though I didn’t go further into it, he really has been a much better performer with Joker than without, but that is precisely why I used the term “synergy,” because Russ has also been very good at feeding Joker where he needs the ball.
50th best player in the league on a minimum contract is a steal btw! I don’t think Russ is still a great player, but he has very much proven to be an impactful one over the last month.
Thank you for taking the time.
https://open.substack.com/pub/basketballpoetry/p/is-russell-westbrook-a-problem-or?r=dnuf3&utm_medium=ios
Good article! Russ would certainly appreciate it.