Russell Westbrook’s Case For MVP
The 2014-15 NBA season got off to a rough started for the Oklahoma City Thunder. No thanks to a rampant injury bug decimating their ranks, they opened up with a 3-12 record through the first 15 games of the new campaign and any hope for an NBA title this year was dying with each loss.
Since then, OKC has put together a string of wins, going 8-1 in the last nine contests including a current six-game winning streak to put their record up to 11-13. That’s good enough to put them just one win away from the eighth seed in the Western Conference and firmly back in the hunt for postseason contention.
A big reason for the resurgence, no doubt, has been Russell Westbrook. The Thunder’s high flying point guard has been playing like a man possessed thus far, and should definitely be mentioned in the early Most Valuable Player discussion.
Granted that does seem to be a bold claim, perhaps even a little premature, since he has taken part in just 10 games. However, he’s been nothing short of spectacular during that period, averaging 25.8 point and 6.8 assists as well as nabbing 5.8 rebounds per game – which is why his Player Impact Efficiency (PIE) rating stands at an impressive 22.7 percent.
In addition to this, Westbrook has also been shooting the ball with great efficiency. His 49 percent field goal conversion rate is on pace to set a career-high mark. Plus, his current free-throw percentage of 83.5 is just a tad below his 84.2 best. Although, it is worth mentioning that his attempts at the charity stripe (9.1) are at an all-time high.
That means Russ is being aggressive and continuously going to the basket, rather than settling for outside jumpers like he has been doing in recent seasons. As such, he is shooting fewer three-pointers and his percentages are better for it, case in point: 4.7 attempts for 31.8 percent last year, compared to 2.8 attempts for 35.7 percent this year.
Now, it’s all well and good giving you all these stats until the cows come home. But until they’re put into context, they don’t really mean much. So with that in mind Russell Westbrook’s current figures would be good enough to place him: second in scoring (James Harden leads the NBA at 26.3); 11th in assists; sixth among guards (both point and shooting) in rebounding; leads the league in PIE rating.
Unfortunately for Westbrook, because he has only played in just 10 games this season, he technically doesn’t qualify in an official manner. Still, if he manages to maintain this kind of form for the season, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be one of the front-runners for the trophy.
Furthermore, this is the first NBA season in a long time where we you can’t really predict who will walk away with the MVP award. LeBron James is still trying to figure things out with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kevin Durant is slowly but surely working off the rust after suffering a right-foot fracture. Meanwhile the Los Angeles Clippers have been iffy this year, so Chris Paul and Blake Griffin haven’t been as heavily favored as they have in previous times.
Essentially, the 2014-15 NBA MVP race is wide open with plenty of fresh-faced candidates like Marc Gasol, Anthony Davis and Stephen Curry. Russell Westbrook is most certainly another name to throw in the proverbial hat.
Also, looking back at the last time a point guard (Derrick Rose) won the MVP trophy, there are a couple of similarities. Both players scored at a high rate (Rose 25 ppg, Westbrook 25.6 ppg), and both players assisted at a fairly high rate (Rose 7.7 apg, Westbrook 6.8). However, Westbrook is a much more efficient scorer (49 percent to Rose’s 44.5), a better rebounder (5.8 boards to Rose’s 4.1) and is a much better defender.
Just some food for thought.