Why do former players seem to give Westbrook endless credit and ignore his flaws?

[Taj FTW]

I've noticed this a lot with former players who are now analysts, especially the TNT crew. They rarely point out Westbrook's flaws and they always bring up how hard he plays. They bring up his amazing hustles. However, he's been an awful player for a while. He is so incredibly flawed.

1. He refuses to improve his defense or even play defense.
2. He constantly hunts for rebounds, which kills his team on defense.
3. He never worked on his FTs, and has gotten worse as his career went on.
4. He never worked on his 3 point shot.

I don't get it. Why do ex players love this guy? All he does is hustle. He's never improved many important aspects of his game. He seems like a maddening teammate.

[MavsDirk41]

The guy gives his all every time he steps on the court, thats why

[dockingsched]

The guy gives his all every time he steps on the court, thats why

This right here is arguably the biggest lie that fans/former players perpetuate.

[BloodNinja]

The guy gives his all every time he steps on the court, thats why

This right here is arguably the biggest lie that fans/former players perpetuate.

Yes if he gave it his all he wouldn't ball watch trying to hunt rebounds or rest.

[Taj FTW]

The guy gives his all every time he steps on the court, thats why

This right here is arguably the biggest lie that fans/former players perpetuate.

100%. He hustles his ass off... On offense when he can potentially pad his stats. I don't get why former players perpetuate it so often though. He's really not a good teammate to play with.

[Lalouie]

players don't criticize players
or another way to put it
players have each others' back

i'll give you another example......players love kyrie
and did you ever hear kd ever rip into him even though kd of all people had every right to do so. or did any net for that matter. they always tempered their reactions to kyrie with "understanding"

or again,,,we later found out westbrook had a real issue with harden's lack or regimen @hou
but did he ever voice that issue

[The Laker Kid]

The guy gives his all every time he steps on the court, thats why

Wow, imagine if he didn’t??

[CIN-C-STAR]

They love Kyrie too.
They also have bias it's just different than fans and the media.

[Taj FTW]

players don't criticize players
or another way to put it
players have each others' back

i'll give you another example......players love kyrie
and did you ever hear kd ever rip into him even though kd of all people had every right to do so. or did any net for that matter. they always tempered their reactions to kyrie with "understanding"

or again,,,we later found out westbrook had a real issue with harden's lack or regimin @hou
but did he ever voice that issue

Ex players criticize current players all the time

[DreamTeam09]

Wessy a goat. Do with that as you may

[sashaturiaf]

Because players have perspective unlike keyboard warrior fans.

If you devoted your whole life to a craft, then you won't easily criticise a guy who has achieved more in that same craft that you have. For all of Russ' faults, he's a MVP and a top 75 player of all time. He must have done something right haters

[Pantsman]

Because former players are idiots

[dhsilv2]

Because former players are idiots

Mostly this.

That said a lot is also players like to see players who can do things they wished they could do. Nobody grows up dreaming of being Gobert and winning multiple DPOY awards. They don't dream of being great catch and shoot players. They want to be fast, jump high, dunk the ball, and take shots in big moments.

[JN61]

But he has been arguably 2nd best or even best defender on the lakers this year (considering how much Davis has missed and has been shell of himself since injury).

You can say same about Lebron. His shooting has just gotten worse as his career has progressed. Terrible.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

Players are crazy.

[JRoy]

The guy gives his all every time he steps on the court, thats why

Only on offense.

[Primedeion]

Maybe because they're sick of everybody else discrediting him and ignoring all of his strengths.

[slicedbread2]

A combination of former players being numbskulls not to mention the current players who are on the low end of the totem pole don't want to criticize the player on the higher end of the pole fearing that they could be out of the league having to play overseas. Star players(whether current/past their prime) can find a way to be influential in convincing other stars to tell their teams not to sign said player.

A great case in this is Jordan Poole getting KO'ed by Draymond Green. Poole knew that it was a lose/lose situation in that if he retaliated he'd lose the bag. He's gotten mocked for it relentlessly and while he did get the 4/140M bag(happy for him) he's probably gonna mail it in as long as Dray is around/until he's traded not to mention Green is a Klutch client(LBJ's agency ran by Rich Paul). Green knew what he was doing in that he already got his bag, rings and stature and couldn't care less that he blew a chance to sign a 4/80-100M extension.

[slick_watts]

westbrook gives it his all on the court (offensively), but not in the gym. since his mvp season he hasn't made many changes to his game, a lot of his summers had been spent rehabing his knees, and that has robbed him of some late career longevity since zero time is put into keeping up with the nba landscape around him.

[Lalouie]

players don't criticize players
or another way to put it
players have each others' back

i'll give you another example......players love kyrie
and did you ever hear kd ever rip into him even though kd of all people had every right to do so. or did any net for that matter. they always tempered their reactions to kyrie with "understanding"

or again,,,we later found out westbrook had a real issue with harden's lack or regimin @hou
but did he ever voice that issue

Ex players criticize current players all the time

if player's have a GRIPE they will. westbrook on beverly for instance. but otherwise they're brothers of a community and all band together