The Westbrook Dilemma

Russell Westbrook is the greatest scapegoat I ever actually seen in the NBA.  He like averages triple-doubles and is perhaps pound-for-pound the greatest athlete to ever grace the league.  Every team he's played on, he's been either the first or second-best player, even with the Lakers (when you take AD's injuries into consideration).  But then when those teams lose, the blame always falls on him.

The problem, as his critics argue, is supposed to be that Westbrook is too selfish.  The issue with that logic is that it's virtually impossible to call a player who averages 10 assists selfish, unless maybe you expect him to average 20.  Westbrook will lead a team in assists, and pundits will be like the team isn't succeeding because he's hoggin the ball, lol.  And I know sometimes that can be true, to some extent.  For example, I feel like Luka should pass more.  But then on the other hand it's like come on, give me a fuckin break.

The best chance Russell had to win a championship was when he was partners with KD.  Westbrook was sorely criticized for not being a better sidekick.  But that's the thing that some people could never understand - he was never KD's sidekick.  Westbrook is dominant in too many aspects of the game to be anybody's sidekick, which is one of the reasons the Lakers failed last season by trying to make him one.  You know what I mean?  You can't tell him 'okay, we want KD to be the undisputed scoring alpha, so you tone it down', because toning it down one level would mean toning it down all levels.  Westbrook can finish a game with the best statline on the team, but then the media would be like he's the reason that they lost, lol, and I can't think of any other player, ever, who's been treated like that.

So this is my argument.  The reason teams have had limited success with Westbrook is because his athleticism is unprecedented, i.e. something that no franchise has ever dealt with before, and therefore, they don't actually know how to use a player like him.  There's been small, diesel players here and there for some time, like Derek Fisher or David Wesley.  But none of them really used that size to their advantage.  But as for Westbrook, he can rebound better than most power-forwards.

So now that the first Westbrook has come, that no one knows how to make sense of, he's a pariah.  But if a second one shows up, by that time franchises will probably have a better idea how to deal with this type of player.  The Thunder actually did pretty good with Russell, i.e. even after KD left.  But then they fucked up and tried to go the instant superteam route.  That's like when you're watching an action movie, and in the final fight the bad guy is kicking the good guy's ass, until the villain decides to get that extra advantage by grabbing a weapon and just fucks himself up.

CONCLUSION

There's really no reason to believe the Lakers will do better next season than they did last.  Bringing in Darvin Ham was okay, as he's probably someone who'd have more success convincing Lebron that he shouldn't be running the point, or probably not.  But my suggestion is that, since Westbrook is like something we never seen before, they should also try something we never seen before and put him at the 3.  Put him in a position where he has to focus on rebounding and the key just as much as dribbling and the perimeter, like how Andrew Wiggins has been playing for the Warriors.

Normally, suggesting you do that with a player listed at 6'3" would sound totally stupid, even in the smaller NBA.  But let me repeat myself by saying that this dude is a once in a lifetime talent.  So even if not the Lakers, whatever team Westbrook may find himself on next, I hope they dedicate themselves more to finding creative ways to maximize his talents instead of like making him the scapegoat, like the Lakers are doing.

Russell just averaged 18pts, 7 rebounds and 7 assists during, what for him, was an off season.  Most stars never average that much in those three categories simultaneously in their entire careers.  He was also more consistently on the court than LBJ or AD.  But still, some people want you to believe that he's like the main reason the team failed, lol.