Welcome to morning target practice, where every day of the week you will receive an up-to-date and current column from one of the SI.comNBA Writers: Howard Beck on Mondays, Chris Mannix on Tuesdays, Michael Pina on Wednesdays, Chris Herring on Thursdays and Rohan Nadkarni on Fridays.
Russell Westbrook wanted to talk about anything other than Oscar Robertson’s triple-double record as he approached the milestone in recent weeks.
Each investigation by the reporters was greeted with a giggle or a warning nod, followed by a quick goodbye. Westbrook made sure to note their reverence for the Big O, but frankly, more pressing concerns awaited. For perhaps the most uniquely focused player in league history, the No. 182 triple-double didn’t necessarily hold any special significance.
“We’ve been talking about it every day, but my answer is not going to change,” Westbrook said after a victory over the Pacers on May 8. “If I am lucky enough to break [the record] we’ll talk about that then. “
Westbrook finally acknowledged having passed Robertson’s record on Monday night. His words were classic Westbrook, short on personal details and full of appreciation for his teammates, coaches and family. We’ve seen numerous iterations of Westbrook over the past decade, from the reckless colt to the one-man gang, from the side kick to the wise veteran. But as Westbrook loves to remind us, he’s still very much the same player he’s been since entering the league. And it won’t slow down anytime soon.
“Every night I try to do things that people say can’t be done,” Westbrook said. “When they call my number, they know what they’re going to get … I’m not going to stop until I can’t play anymore.”
Westbrook joined Washington before the 2020-21 season behind a flood of skepticism. He limped to the finish line in Houston after a dismal performance in the NBA bubble, in which Westbrook was seriously hampered by a strained quadriceps, and few believed he could bounce back in Washington as an aging point guard with a shot at unstable suspension. The criticisms seemed validated from the start.
Westbrook averaged just 19.4 points per game on 41% shooting in his first 14 games this season, and Washington had a 6-17 start, the worst in the Eastern Conference, before Valentine’s Day. Westbrook’s bang on the can seemed muffled. His turnovers increased at an alarming rate. Washington was hit by COVID-19 absences and a series of losses, and Bradley Beal’s future with the franchise became an increasingly tenuous question. However, amid the early-season struggles, neither Westbrook nor head coach Scott Brooks panicked.
“We’ve had a lot of things going against us, but we just did it,” Brooks said. “I know at one point we had the worst record in the league, but we knew we had two guys who would keep fighting and we had young guys who would keep developing.”
“We are going to fight to make our way in every game thanks to the guys we have.”
Bryan Terry / The Oklahoman via Imagn Content Services
The tide quickly began to turn in mid-February as Westbrook continued to improve. Washington had seven wins in eight games when February came to a close, and is 15-5 in its last 20 games. Westbrook has been spectacular at the decisive moment, where he has a net plus-7.5 rating and a better shooting percentage than Nikola Jokić, Chris Paul and Steph Curry, and has been particularly brilliant of late. Westbrook has added more than 14 assists 12 times since April 1. He has a net rating of over 8.8 in his last 15 games, with Washington averaging 117.3 points per 100 possessions in those games. Westbrook is unlikely to win a 10th NBA pick this season, though he has put in a pretty impressive effort as the regular season draws to a close.
Perhaps Westbrook found the fountain of youth was a surprise to some, but it is not necessary dive back to your tenure in Oklahoma City to find Westbrook playing at a similarly dominant pace. He was the Rockets’ best player from Jan. 1 until the league’s COVID-19 hiatus last season, a period in which Westbrook averaged 30.6 points and 7.9 assists per game on 51.5% shooting. Public perception of Westbrook seems to ebb and flow month by month, with each stretch of strong or poor play changing his reputation with league fans. Brooks never took the bait.
“Having trained [Westbrook] For seven years and knowing him for 13 years, I know what he is about, I know what his character is, ”said Brooks. “Our team has adapted to him as he has adapted to us. … When you have a great worker, a great character guy like him, your show is going to be in a good place. “
Westbrook hasn’t changed his style in Washington, largely to the benefit of his new team as he anticipates a return to the playoffs. But that doesn’t mean Westbrook was a perfect player with the Wizards, or really anything like that.
Westbrook’s 0.75 points for isolation possession is the worst of the 42 players with at least 100 attempts. He sports a shaky 0.84 points per post possession, and 22.9% of his shots come from between 16 and 23 feet (almost double the frequency during his Houston). Even Monday’s record-breaking performance ended on a relative thud as Westbrook blew an ill-advised three off the side of the rim in the closing seconds. However, it is almost impossible to find a teammate who would argue with Westbrook’s singular style. Wins and losses often feel almost immaterial, and Westbrook’s personal impact on those around him is a central part of his legacy. For a player with a wave of critics across the basketball intelligentsia, Westbrook’s approval rating of the league’s players is close to 100%.
“The way he cultivates his relationships with his teammates is unique,” said Wizards center Robin Lopez. “He’s always picking up his teammates in his own way, he’s always chasing people, trying to unleash the potential he sees in them.”
“There’s no one like him. He is supremely Russ. “
Monday night may mark the last defining achievement of Westbrook’s career, and he could very well come out of the 2021 postseason before the schedule changes to June. We’re likely to see a lot of rowdy jumpers in the years to come, and even a supreme athlete of his caliber has to lose the battle to Father Time at some point. We’ve long assumed that the end of Westbrook’s career will be ugly as his knees drop and his shot continues to dwindle. But regardless of how your career twilight turns out, the Westbrook experience is something worth appreciating.
We have never seen a player like Westbrook. It is unlikely that we will see a player like him again.
Get well soon, Jaylen Brown
Winslow Townson / USA TODAY Sports
It’s been a tough season in Boston in every way, with Jaylen Brown’s wrist surgery ending the season as a fitting coda for the Celtics year to forget. Losing any key contributors for the rest of the season is a shame, but Brown’s injury feels like an especially daunting blow to the stomach.
The fifth-year forward emerged as a true partner in crime with Jayson Tatum in 2020-21, posting a career-high 24.7 points per game with 39.7% out of three. Brown took a big leap as a game leader and offensive starter, and while the Celtics flopped during the regular season, Brown was the main reason Boston was able to stay afloat. Brown is one of the league’s leading voices on social justice. He is perhaps the most thoughtful player in the NBA, and could very well emerge as one of Boston’s elite athletes of the 2020s. Let’s hope to see Brown healthy and ready to pick up where he left off when the 2021-22 season kicks off in fall.
More morning shootings
• Prewitt: Do triple doubles matter?
• Herring: Welcome to the most unpredictable ending in NBA history
• Beck: De’Aaron Fox and the Kings are building for the future
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.