Russell Westbrook: Not Panicking About His Injury

Photo Credit: Keith Allison, Flickr.com

Oklahoma City Thunder fans received some bad news this week when it was announced star point guard Russell Westbrook will miss the first four to six weeks of the season. According to David Aldridge, this is because of complications with a loose stitch after his arthoscopic surgery. Although this may seem tragic, this shouldn’t have a lasting effect on the Thunder’s season as a whole, especially when it counts: the playoffs.

Anyone who watched the Thunder-Memphis Grizzlies series last year knows how important Westbrook is to the Thunder. They lost that series 4-1, and for basketball fans (or maybe just me), it was tough to see Kevin Durant forcing shots and doing everything by himself. He still averaged 28.8 PPG and singlehandedly kept every single game close, which is only a testament to Durant’s greatness. But without Westbrook, Serge Ibaka‘s jumpers never fell with consistency, and their offense turned into a plodding, iso-based attack that was run through Durant. If you look at Game 5, Durant was 5-for-21 from the field with seven turnovers. As you can see, the Grizzlies beat Durant up the whole game, forcing him into ugly shots.

The first four to six weeks of the season without Westbrook will be challenging, but not impossible. Therefore, the continuing development of Reggie Jackson will be a necessity. Jackson, entering his third year in the league, came into his own during the playoffs. His minutes exploded once Westbrook went down and he played admirably. He’s nowhere near as explosive as Westbrook, but he played generally mistake-free basketball against the Grizzlies, one of the toughest defensive teams in the league. In 33.5 minutes per game, he only turned the ball over 1.9 times per game. He was baptized by fire in last year’s playoffs and has gained confidence to play on the big stage. According to reports, the entire organization feels that Jackson is a key part of the team’s future. Jackson sure seems like he’s ready to go as well.

"“I think the belief they had in me and then kind of instilled more belief in myself,” Jackson said. “Once you make a few good plays, you start figuring out that there are some things someone saw in you to bring you to the NBA.”"

Westbrook’s extended absence will only further Jackson’s development. He’ll have a chance to prove his worth under much less pressure, which will be invaluable experience once Westbrook returns. Bench depth will be an issue for the entire season, but Jackson will be a bright spot, especially come playoff time. Some are even predicting Jackson to contend for the Sixth Man of the Year award. That’s a bit bold, but proves that he must be taken seriously.

Side note: He’s known to send it in.

But the real reason why Thunder fans should not panic about Westbrook’s absence is that it’s only going to be about a month. Looking at the schedule, it’s certainly manageable. Their toughest stretch will be two games each against the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors. I don’t need to tell you how good Chris Paul and Stephen Curry are, but those are only four games. For all we know, the Clippers will still be adapting to new coach Doc Rivers‘ system. In that same time period, they will play the Utah Jazz twice, in addition to the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks. Durant will be a bad, bad man during this time period and won’t let his team fall too far behind.

The Thunder are a remarkably seasoned team and should not be worried about the first month of the season. The team knows that their season will not be measured by their record in November. With the second-best basketball player in the world and a rapidly improving backup point guard, the Thunder have no need to rush Westbrook back until he is 100 percent. They will be ready for April and their championship expectations won’t change a bit.

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