NBA Power Rankings: 30 Greatest Point Guards of All-Time

25.  Russell Westbrook

2008 – present

Franchises:  Oklahoma City Thunder

Career totals:  8,874 points, 3,055 assists, 2,174 rebounds, 722 steals, 1,552 turnovers (and counting)

Career averages:  20.1 points, 6.9 assists, 4.9 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 3.5 turnovers

Shooting:  43.3 percent field goals, 30.5 percent 3-pointers, 81.6 percent free throws

Accolades:  3x NBA All-Star, 3x All-NBA Second Team, NBA All-Rookie First Team

Don’t even begin with the attack.  Hold your missiles, and hold your snipers.  Russell Westbrook, at age 26, has already manifested his case in the top 30 point guards to ever play the sport.

If you want to use the filter of “The most athletic point guard in history,” he’s your No. 1 on this list.  Nobody has replicated what this young bulldog brings to the table each and every night.  He plays with the most intensity of anyone at any position that I’ve ever witnessed.  He has the most fearless, short-term memory attitude of any point guard in the top 30.

What do we mean by “short-term memory?”

Well, Westbrook doesn’t care about what happened on the previous play, or the 20 previous plays.  If he makes a bad decision, takes a low-percentage shot, or misses a wide open teammate, he doesn’t let it get to him.  As an NBA great, you cannot let people OR things get under your skin.  Once it does, you’re toast.  If you have a memory of the last bad play, it will haunt you for the rest of the game … and the rest of your career.

It will force you to be hesitant the next time you want to make a move, or take a shot.  Westbrook doesn’t have that.  His motor is constantly having the oil changed, and he’s always on attack mode.  Find one game where he’s been passive in terms of not helping his team win.

Whether it’s by scoring 40 points, racking up 10 assists, or grabbing triple doubles, that’s what he’s always doing — helping Oklahoma City win games.

Those of you that bag on Westbrook being “selfish,” or not your traditional point guard, it might be time for you to understand his game.

There are two seasons in Westbrook’s short career that he’s reached over 40 percent in Assist Percentage.  As we know, Assist Percentage is “an estimate of the percentage of teammate field goals player X assisted on while he was on the floor.”  The first of those seasons was in 2010-11, where he posted a 42.7 percent.  Last year, 2013-14, he recorded a 40.2 percent mark in Assist Percentage, which was among the league leaders.

To put it into perspective, Chris Paul’s Assist Percentage last season was 48.9.  Westbrook is not going to be the greatest when it comes to being selfless on the floor, since this league is full of point guards that love to create.  Paul’s mark is not something Westbrook will get to anytime soon.

However, he’s not destroying the Thunder with his style of play.  Under no circumstance could Kevin Durant get Oklahoma City to three Western Conference Finals in four years without Westbrook.

Durant barely got out of the first round when Westbrook went down with the meniscus tear, so don’t even begin the argument of “Scott Brooks would be better off with just one of those stars.”

With Westbrook’s rapid attack of playing at full speed, he’s probably going to be suspect to a lot of turnovers.  Like, a lot.

Well, that’s okay, as long as he makes up for it with all of the positives he brings to the team.  If you want to argue that he doesn’t make up for it, that’s perfectly fine.  He does have a turnover problem.  In fact, he’s actually setting up to be on a historic pace.

Turnovers are a part of the game, and everyone gets those blemishes on their record.  But, Westbrook overcomes it with all of the extras he picks up during games, especially huge playoff games.  Nobody will forget his 25.6 point, 9.7 rebound, and 8.0 assists average in the first round vs. Memphis last season.  Against a defense that sets their goals to pound you once you enter the paint, Westbrook exploded for two triple doubles in that series.  He grabbed double-digit assists twice, and double-digit rebounds four times.

This year, we didn’t have a chance to see what Westbrook could do without Kevin Durant (who went down with the Jones fracture this season).  Westbrook got hurt again himself, fracturing his hand.

I’m sure it would’ve been worthy of MVP considerations, though.  Leave the kid alone, and watch him wreck the league for the next 8-10 years.

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