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OKC Thunder: Paul George is joining Russell Westbrook’s team

By Albert Dadson

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 19: Paul George
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 19: Paul George /
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The Kevin Durant-Russell Westbrook dynamic was one of the headlines of the 2015-16 season. With Paul George heading to the OKC Thunder, they will be in a similar situation.

The Oklahoma City Thunder know what the situation is: two superstars who both like to have the ball in their hands. Flashbacks from the past surely have crept into the minds of the OKC Thunder’s front office heads.

This time is different, because both of the players are not developed inside the Thunder organization and it’s not Kevin Durant who will be paired up with Russell Westbrook this time. This is Paul George we’re talking about. Will it be any different? We will have to see.

Yes, George will make Westbrook’s life easier. We all know that, especially on the defensive end, where Westbrook is known to struggle. But what happens when there’s 10 seconds left on the clock and the Thunder are down two and the game plan is to shoot the three to win the game? Who takes that shot?

We all remember the past. Russell Westbrook would take more shots than Durant, and the question would arise: Is Westbrook hold Durant back? Isn’t he one of the top three players in the league? Why isn’t he shooting more?

The problem was that another capable, MVP-caliber player was playing alongside of him. Nobody questioned the talent of Westbrook, who wiped out all doubts with triple-double after triple-double and won the MVP award at the end of his first season without Durant.

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    • It was just the fact that KD was the more established player and efficient shooter. Durant has his own shoe and signed a $300 million deal with Nike in 2014. Also, he signed to Jay-Z and Roc Nation in their sports management venture, so he had the pop culture stardom too.

    When Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were ruling the NBA during the 90s it was without question who would take the final shot (or more shots, for that matter) and that was the mentality that the media wanted Durant to have.

    Westbrook showed this season why he was taking those shots all long. He averaged a triple-double while averaging 30 points a game. It took us a long time to see that happen and Westbrook just so happened to do it the season after Durant left. Westbrook was free to take the reins and just ball.

    What he did in the clutch this season was nothing to ignore either. According to Basketball Insiders, Westbrook ranked 25th in total clutch minutes played this season but he led all players in points with 241, made field goals with 80, and field goals attempted with 181. He was tied for first in three-pointers attempted with 56 and was also second in three-pointers made with 18.

    He was also tied for second in steals, which is really big because that means his defense took a major step up during the clutch too. (Those stats were reported in an April 8 article, right before the end of the season.)

    Now that we know he doesn’t need Durant, in comes George, who is also a ball-dominant player. The difference is not only the fact that George has the worst record in go-ahead shots in the final 20 seconds since 2010 (which is a major problem), but also the fact that this is Westbrook’s team.

    George has not been to an NBA Finals; Westbrook has been to one. George has no MVP Award; Westbrook does. Both players have been able to lead their team to the playoffs, but Westbrook wins in terms of reputation.

    This is different from the LeBron James and Dwayne Wade tandem from their Miami Heat days, because even though James was clearly the better player, Wade had the ring already, so Wade had the ball and served as Batman sometimes. George does not have anything on his resume that says that he can take charge of this team over Westbrook.

    That doesn’t mean that the Thunder will not run into those problems with the Westbrook and George tandem, but what they can do is make sure that both of those players’ roles are clear by talking to them both individually about what the goals the organization wants them to reach.

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    The Thunder organization may have already done that when they traded for him, but the give-and-take between the two needs to be ironed out on the court. The Thunder are going in the right direction in terms of what they did last season by making the playoffs and then adding more weapons this offseason, but they still know what makes all of this work: Russell Westbrook as the man in charge.

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