It’s Russell Westbrook’s Time To Lead The Oklahoma City Thunder
If Kevin Durant leaves the Oklahoma City Thunder this summer, it may be the best thing for the franchise.
As the Kevin Durant Free Agency Sweepstakes heats up this summer, most are focusing on the woe that will likely befall the Oklahoma City Thunder should their franchise player choose to swim in more immediate, championship-prone waters.
The Franchise Formerly Known As The Seattle SupersSonics has, for all its talent, long been the bridesmaid but never the bride. Some cite a curse following the shady relocation of the team to Oklahoma; some cite the injuries to key players every season. Still others cite the infamous homegrown pox on Durant’s house by rapper Lil B.
KEVIN DURANT WILL NEVER WIN THE TITLE AFTER HE SAID "LIL B" IS A WACK RAPPER,
— Lil B THE BASEDGOD (@LILBTHEBASEDGOD) May 26, 2011
"THE BASEDGODS CURSE"#THEBASEDGODSCURSE ON DURANT - Lil B
Whatever the reason, Durant has failed to win a championship during his nine seasons with the franchise (he was drafted by the Sonics as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft).
A year later, Russell Westbrook joined the Sonics as the No. 4 overall pick.
The two quickly became the team’s Dynamic Duo, with Westbrook playing Robin to Durant’s Batman. When they are both on the floor, the results are unmistakable, with the Thunder posting a +12.3 net rating during the regular season.
It is also unmistakable that they tend to combine for a lot of turnovers, and they have a tendency to take bad shots when the chips are down. In the playoffs alone, turnovers and missed shots were the difference makers in Games 5 and 6 of the NBA Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors.
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Poor decisions by the Thunder (read: Durant and Westbrook) allowed the Warriors to make a historic comeback from a 3-1 deficit and advance to the Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Despite the turnovers and ill-advised shots, and for all of the hype regarding the unlikely meshing of Durant and Westbrook’s respective playing styles as well as their off-court friendship, the fact remains that despite Westbrook’s contributions, it’s still Durant’s team. And that may be the most pressing reason why the Thunder can’t get the hardware they crave.
When Durant went down with a fractured foot in 2014 (and had a subsequent setback that cost him the rest of the season), there were not only questions about whether or not the Thunder could survive without Durant, but also whether they could survive under the relatively untested leadership of the mercurial Westbrook.
In response, Westbrook kept the team in playoff contention–despite missing time for a broken hand–and recorded a league-high 11 triple-doubles. Still, it was not enough as the Thunder missed the playoffs for the first time since 2009 (thanks to a season-record tiebreaker owned by the New Orleans Pelicans). Despite that dubious distinction, Westbrook’s name was seriously considered in the MVP conversation.
Fast forward to this most recent season. The Durant/Westbrook pairing reached new heights, even as Westbrook’s leadership skills matured. Indeed, during the playoffs, it was Westbrook who was most seen talking to his teammates and encouraging them to play to their best level. And in a surprising twist, it was Westbrook who took public responsibility for the Thunder’s Game 3 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of this year’s playoffs.
(Durant has yet to apologize for his stints of poor play and hero ball against the Warriors in the second round of the playoffs, but I digress).
It’s not only Westbrook’s leadership attitude that has grown up. His game has matured. While he was still a triple-double machine this past season, Westbrook began to use his top-notch brain a bit more. He was more selective on his shots, and made more efforts to get his teammates involved instead of trying to do it all himself.
In short, Westbrook cemented his ability as a leader. But we will never know how great a leader he can be unless Durant is gone.
Durant and Westbrook tend to enable each other, more often that not. Case in point: during the Game 5 and 6 meltdowns against the Warriors, their alliance turned unholy as they each jacked up poor shots — especially three-pointers.
Westbrook is not a natural three-point shooter, yet he shot them anyway — and missed. Durant would then follow with three-point attempts of his own, and missed most of them across the two games. Accountability was missing between these two and was hostage to their very stubborn personalities.
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Then Westbrook would take a bad shot, and Durant would counter with a terrible one of his own. Their horrible play was a result of back-and-forths that excluded the rest of the team and dug the Thunder into a deeper hole — all because neither Durant nor Westbrook were able (or willing) to tell each other during the game, “Hey, we need to stop the way we’re playing right now because it’s hurting us.”
Instead, they aided and abetted each other’s hero ball, only showing some semblance of remorse when the games ended in a loss for the Thunder.
Though Westbrook carried OKC during the 2014-15 season, there was always the sense that the team overall did just enough because they were just marking time until Durant came back. Even under Westbrook’s oversized personality, the sentiment was that it was Durant’s team and would remain so until the dark day he took his talents elsewhere.
Durant and Westbrook have proven, over and over, that they can coexist. That’s not in question. What is a certainty is that no man can serve two masters. Communication issues occasionally reared their heads during both the regular season and the playoffs.
That may also be due to the players having to defer to two people, with two different playing styles and mentalities, instead of one.
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Westbrook may embrace his co-Alpha Dog role, and is to be commended for it, but his talents –ball and leadership — are ripe for a more expanded stage. He proved that this season. It’s time for the Thunder to become Westbrook’s team, and his team alone.
A more funneled consolidation of leadership might help right the Thunder ship and get them their first championship ring, perhaps as early as next season (although I am not counting out the Spurs).
His teammates would benefit from Westbrook’s more passionate, tough-love mentality. Westbrook would learn how to better channel his legendary intensity into a more positive tool that builds instead of destroys.
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Westbrook has been a proven follower for the past eight seasons, and you can’t lead if you don’t know how to follow. Now that we’ve seen the following, let’s have more of the leading as the lone Alpha Dog — which is how the best packs operate.