[ad_1]
Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press
The Washington Wizards should view Russell Westbrook’s stated desire to play his game as a courtesy, more than they were entitled to expect from a force of nature that, when unrestricted, simply does what it has always done.
The rivers rage. The waves beat the shores. Lightning shatters the sky.
Westbrook attacks the game in his own way: relentlessly and without compromise. The warning was unnecessary. Everyone knows what he’s going to do.
Westbrook has been in the league for a dozen years, so Washington cannot plead ignorance. Switching for him now, after Westbrook’s style proved irreconcilable with James Harden’s similar need for full control of the game, is to welcome the storm ahead.
Washington’s biggest starter, the NBA’s second-leading scorer in 2019-20, Bradley Beal, must also have approved the Westbrook acquisition. But it’s one thing to observe Westbrook from afar and conclude that you like it. Another is to live with the phenomenon up close.
Just ask the Houston Rockets, who acquired Westbrook at least in part because James Harden wanted him and then changed his mind a year later, after both stars acknowledged the relationship on the court was untenable. Even in an era of player empowerment, where teams merge and dissolve faster than ever, that arc from courtship to breakup progressed at the speed of light.
The Wizards can take comfort in the fact that Westbrook will feel familiar, much like Wall in some key ways.
Both bases have thrived without reliable jumpers. They both rely on speed and athleticism to be effective. They both spend a lot of time with the ball in hand.
It will still require a massive tweak across the team to bring Westbrook on. Although he and Wall are similar from a distance, a closer inspection shows that the challenges that Wall presented are much more extreme at Westbrook.
The last time we saw Wall on the court for at least half a season was 2017-18, when he shot 37.1 percent, the best of his career, from deep. Westbrook has been down 30.0 percent in three in five of the past six years and has never smelled an accuracy rate like the one Wall produced in that shortened season.
Wall’s bad filming was always a problem. Westbrook’s total lack of a jumper is historic, according to ESPN Kirk goldsberry: “Of the 50 players who have thrown at least 2,500 jump shots in the past five seasons, Westbrook ranks last in shooting efficiency, posting a putrid effective field goal percentage (eFG) of just 42.5 percent. That it’s in 4,814 attempts. “
Fortunately for the Wizards, not all the differences between Wall and Westbrook are unfavorable for the latter.
John schuhmann @Johnschuhmann
I’ve quoted this stat from Westbrook before, but I’m loving it, so here it is again. Westbrook is the fifth different player to average more than 15 points in the paint in the 24 seasons for which the statistic has been recorded. At 6-3, he’s 7 “shorter than any of the other 4: Shaq, Giannis, AD and Dwight.
It’s tempting to attribute Westbrook’s style of play, frustrating for many over the years, to intractability. To stubborn confidence. Even selfishness. But maybe that’s not charitable enough. Perhaps we don’t give due consideration to the idea that Westbrook knows he can’t play any other way because he’s not good at the things he would like from a player who “fits.”
Its shot numbers clearly indicate that it has no value as a floor spacer. He is not just another defender. He’s never been the type to make the pass prior to the pass that produces a cube. Westbrook may deserve credit for his self-awareness, for knowing how he can best contribute to winning.
Westbrook wouldn’t be more useful if he fired 10 3-pointers per game. Perhaps he understands this better than we do.
Or maybe it’s not even an option. The wind blows. Rain falls. Westbrook launches naturally to the basket.
Forces like him just do what they do.
Last year with Houston was instructive. Westbrook struggled early, but was better when he abandoned his jump shot and attacked the basket with renewed commitment. Even that increase was revealing how difficult it can be for another star (Beal’s ears should perk up here) to coexist with a fully updated version of Russ.
Athletic Fred Katz and Kelly Iko famous:
“During Westbrook’s hot streak in the middle of the season, things were good. He traded contested long-range jump shots for relentless rim attacks, possession after possession. It worked. After January, he looked like a tireless NBA player. he flirted with a 32-8-7 line over a two-month span, had the ball more and more and essentially became the offensive focus during that time, with Harden being a 1B for his 1A. “
Harden hadn’t been a 1B for anyone for nearly a decade, and we can draw a direct line between Westbrook’s “game of his game” during those two months and his subsequent departure from Houston.
It should be a lot easier for Beal to fit in with Westbrook than it was for Harden. Beal developed as an off-the-ball weapon alongside Wall, and while he made his way as one of the best unassailable offensive options last season, he has more experience playing second fiddle than Harden.
For this to work in Washington, Beal will have to be the one to do the adaptations.
Westbrook, a 2017 MVP, an All-Star in nine of the past 10 seasons, and a third-team All-NBA team despite a poor fit in Houston last year, has every reason to believe that playing your game works. At least for him. Beal, big as he is, can’t hope to succeed in trading Westbrook where Harden and the Rockets failed.
Also, don’t expect head coach Scott Brooks to restrain Russ. Widespread criticism from Brooks’ Oklahoma City Thunder teams was that their offense was neither resourceful enough nor strategically opportunistic. That he didn’t organize his talent as well as he should. That he rolled the ball to the ground and let Westbrook and Kevin Durant figure things out for themselves.
Perhaps Beal and Westbrook can come to an understanding, but history suggests that the most likely outcome will involve Russ being Russ and Beal adjusting to the best of his ability. The same goes for the rest of the minor Wizards, obviously.
Complications aside, the Wizards are in better shape with Westbrook. Compared to Wall, he’s a superior business asset, he’s historically been healthier, and he’s just a better player overall, even if we recklessly assume that Wall can go back to the form he was in his last full season, back in 2016-17. .
But the idea that Westbrook will fundamentally change the way he plays for twelve years in a career that will lead him to the Hall of Fame is not based on reality.
Can Westbrook finally fit in? You might also wonder if rivers can flow uphill or if ocean tides could cool you down with those incessant swells for a while.
The forces of nature do what they do. Cyclones don’t stop spinning when ordered. And then Westbrook will do what comes naturally, as it always has.
The Wizards are now in the whirlwind, by choice. We’ll see how good they are at riding a storm.
Statistics courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, and Cleaning the Glass. Salary information via Basketball Insiders.
[ad_2]
