Russell Westbrook is showing you what Kevin Durant had to put up with for 8 years.

[Murray_17]

Clown thread.

The Thunder had a great run with Westbrook and Durant and Durant was undeniably great by the time he was 21 years old.

Durant led the league in scoring 4 out of his 8 Thunder seasons and was already a Hall-of-Fame lock before he ever joined the Warriors.

Westbrook held Durant back.. like what the **** does that even mean?

Some of you just love to **** on players for reasons that make absolutely no sense.

Westbrook had a bigger usg% than peak KD while they played together... if that doesn't tell you anything you're delusional.

That team had bad luck, yes, but alot of the problems there were the same that you can see around all Westbrook career: Guy just take too much/many stupid shots

[hardenASG13]

Clown thread.

The Thunder had a great run with Westbrook and Durant and Durant was undeniably great by the time he was 21 years old.

Durant led the league in scoring 4 out of his 8 Thunder seasons and was already a Hall-of-Fame lock before he ever joined the Warriors.

Westbrook held Durant back.. like what the **** does that even mean?

Some of you just love to **** on players for reasons that make absolutely no sense.

Westbrook had a bigger usg% than peak KD while they played together... if that doesn't tell you anything you're delusional.

That team had bad luck, yes, but alot of the problems there were the same that you can see around all Westbrook career: Guy just take too much/many stupid shots

That was true through 2012, but westbrook was incredible from 2013-2016. If you factor in their "shooting guard", andre roberson, in the tail end of the westbrook/KD era couldnt dribble a ball in the halfcourt, wasnt guarded, and averaged 1apg in 30 minutes and the usage for Russ was justified. Combine it with their coaching from brooks and donavan, where they basically didnt have any cohesive offense (hard to do with 3 non shooter and a sg who literally couldnt dribble while guarded or attempt a shot off a dribble) and it was easy to see why Russ' usage was so high.

[Loneshot]

Many won't admit that OP is on point because of their KD bias and that they can't comprehend how a dude who averages a triple double can be a negative to your team. It's almost as if most fans only watch Westbrook highlights and never see how bad he disrupts the rhythm in the game.

[og15]

Clown thread.

The Thunder had a great run with Westbrook and Durant and Durant was undeniably great by the time he was 21 years old.

Durant led the league in scoring 4 out of his 8 Thunder seasons and was already a Hall-of-Fame lock before he ever joined the Warriors.

Westbrook held Durant back.. like what the **** does that even mean?

Some of you just love to **** on players for reasons that make absolutely no sense.

Westbrook had a bigger usg% than peak KD while they played together... if that doesn't tell you anything you're delusional.

That team had bad luck, yes, but alot of the problems there were the same that you can see around all Westbrook career: Guy just take too much/many stupid shots

That was true through 2012, but westbrook was incredible from 2013-2016. If you factor in their "shooting guard", andre roberson, in the tail end of the westbrook/KD era couldnt dribble a ball in the halfcourt, wasnt guarded, and averaged 1apg in 30 minutes and the usage for Russ was justified. Combine it with their coaching from brooks and donavan, where they basically didnt have any cohesive offense (hard to do with 3 non shooter and a sg who literally couldnt dribble while guarded or attempt a shot off a dribble) and it was easy to see why Russ' usage was so high.

Roberson was a C playing SG

[Murray_17]

Clown thread.

The Thunder had a great run with Westbrook and Durant and Durant was undeniably great by the time he was 21 years old.

Durant led the league in scoring 4 out of his 8 Thunder seasons and was already a Hall-of-Fame lock before he ever joined the Warriors.

Westbrook held Durant back.. like what the **** does that even mean?

Some of you just love to **** on players for reasons that make absolutely no sense.

Westbrook had a bigger usg% than peak KD while they played together... if that doesn't tell you anything you're delusional.

That team had bad luck, yes, but alot of the problems there were the same that you can see around all Westbrook career: Guy just take too much/many stupid shots

That was true through 2012, but westbrook was incredible from 2013-2016. If you factor in their "shooting guard", andre roberson, in the tail end of the westbrook/KD era couldnt dribble a ball in the halfcourt, wasnt guarded, and averaged 1apg in 30 minutes and the usage for Russ was justified. Combine it with their coaching from brooks and donavan, where they basically didnt have any cohesive offense (hard to do with 3 non shooter and a sg who literally couldnt dribble while guarded or attempt a shot off a dribble) and it was easy to see why Russ' usage was so high.

I understand why Westbrook had a high USG%, there is no way to justify him having one that is higher than Kevin Durant.

Just so we understand, Westbrook even had a bigger usg% than KD the season KD was MVP, that's just NUTS

[JN61]

Clown thread.

The Thunder had a great run with Westbrook and Durant and Durant was undeniably great by the time he was 21 years old.

Durant led the league in scoring 4 out of his 8 Thunder seasons and was already a Hall-of-Fame lock before he ever joined the Warriors.

Westbrook held Durant back.. like what the **** does that even mean?

Some of you just love to **** on players for reasons that make absolutely no sense.

Westbrook had a bigger usg% than peak KD while they played together... if that doesn't tell you anything you're delusional.

That team had bad luck, yes, but alot of the problems there were the same that you can see around all Westbrook career: Guy just take too much/many stupid shots

Curry had bigger usage than Durant. Guy who is mental midget in the Finals. Durant is just not a wildly high usage guy he refuses to take shots when he reaches his 25 points and is happy to do his awful playmaking instead because he wants to be Lebron instead of the best scorer ever. Westbrook tried and tried to push Durant but he simply doesn't take those shots... Don't blame other player for trying to bring offense up when best scorer on the planet refuses to take shots and your other options are Perkins and Ibaka.

It really makes me question have you watched extensively Durant to play. He gets the quietest 30 points in a game out of any player I have ever seen and then he just stops. It can be seen from career FGA and career high's. If he had Kobe's, Jordan's. Hell even Westbrook's mentality he would average over 35 ppg every season on ELITE efficiency. But he doesn't. He has the worst mentality for a guy of his talents. He wants to get his teammates involved like he is James... Kevin, nobody wants to see you to pass the ball to Andre when there is 5s time on the clock at the 3 point line... Just shoot the damn basketball.

[Murray_17]

Curry had bigger usage than Durant. Guy who is mental midget in the Finals. Durant is just not a wildly high usage guy he refuses to take shots when he reaches his 25 points and is happy to do his awful playmaking instead because he wants to be Lebron instead of the best scorer ever. Westbrook tried and tried to push Durant but he simply doesn't take those shots... Don't blame other player for trying to bring offense up when best scorer on the planet refuses to take shots and your other options are Perkins and Ibaka.

Curry is the best shooter on history, him having a higher usg% than KD is one fo the few cases on the league where you can make a case for someone having a bigger USG% than KD.

Even with that, Currsy USG% on those years was hoovering 30%. Westbrook usage while playing with KD was hoovering 32%.

Curry USG% actually went down playing with KD, for obvious reasons, Westbrook USG% was 34.4 playing with James Harden

[Asianiac_24]

The irony of these Westbrook detractors loving to proclaim he never played winning basketball, is that Russ has been further in the playoffs as a teams best player than many of the other players they say do.

Like, where do you get the audacity to say that? As if he's been the only prestigious player with flaws that have hurt the team from time to time. A lot of stones get thrown in glass houses when it comes to Westbrook.

This is the list of players that Westbrook has played with over his career:

Kevin Durant
James Harden
Paul George
Carmelo Anthony
Pre-injury Victor Oladipo
Bradley Beal
LeBron James
Anthony Davis

I mean at some point when almost every year in your career except a few you have a legitimate superstar or superstarS on your team and still lose, there’s a clear common denominator right? If Westbrook really is a top 75 all time, high positive impact player, he would have at least 1 by now. Replace Westbrook with someone like Dame and he would have at least 3. Hell, replace Westbrook with a Jeff Teague and I still think he makes at least 1 Finals with that list of players. At least Teague knows he’s not good enough to shoot 30 FGs while Durant/Harden/etc shoots 20 or less

See? This is exactly what i meant. Sincere, un-ironic, kindergarten level critical analysis of Westbrook. Asking why he hasnt won with melo, playoff p, and beal when he was out of his prime, asking why he hasnt won with harden when they went to the finals together, asking why he hasnt won with kd when they got to multiple conference championships, and asking why he hasnt won with ad and bron 3 games into a season thats 3 years removed from his prime. Its like a caricature of typical internet message board hate.

Fortunately, most westbrook detractors make it easy to not take them serious by saying stuff like this, or other bunk like his triple doubles and rebounding hurting his teams.

By all means, continue to think westbrook is a losing player because he’s only been within one round of a championship three times. By extension you are placing that title on a whole bunch of other players you probably blow on a daily basis.

Such a coincidence that Westbrook had his prime and his best years when he was on a one man team. Westbrook is no doubt a HOF floor raiser, but as you add more and more talent onto the team, Westbrook’s inefficient style of basketball starts giving you neutral at best impact. I think that’s generally the biggest criticism of him, and it’s completely fair. Making the WCF with that list of players is not that impressive.

Honestly, replace Westbrook over his career with someone like Jeff Teague and he still makes a couple WCF and a Finals appearance, because Teague knows not to shoot him team in the foot, hand the ball to a superior player and compliment him.

[JN61]

Curry had bigger usage than Durant. Guy who is mental midget in the Finals. Durant is just not a wildly high usage guy he refuses to take shots when he reaches his 25 points and is happy to do his awful playmaking instead because he wants to be Lebron instead of the best scorer ever. Westbrook tried and tried to push Durant but he simply doesn't take those shots... Don't blame other player for trying to bring offense up when best scorer on the planet refuses to take shots and your other options are Perkins and Ibaka.

Curry is the best shooter on history, him having a higher usg% than KD is one fo the few cases on the league where you can make a case for someone having a bigger USG% than KD.

Even with that, Currsy USG% on those years was hoovering 30%. Westbrook usage while playing with KD was hoovering 32%.

Curry USG% actually went down playing with KD, for obvious reasons, Westbrook USG% was 34.4 playing with James Harden

I'm not sure if you know how usage works. When you have less offensive threats on your team as an offensive player, especially as scorer + playmaker, your usage should be naturally higher than player who plays with several offensive threats on the floor at any given time. Curry has no playmaking responsibilities, especially during that era.

[Goomba3666]

Very curious on how Lebron stans spin this. They've always said that KD was lucky to play with Westbrook that's "all he needed".

Fast forward, Westbrook has averaged consecutives Triple Doubles seasons (something that Lebron stans anticipated their hero doing) and now playing with Lebron, AD, and other hall of famers.

Has Westbrook always been a hindrance on the court, or is it suddenly only the case when he's playing with Lebron - someone who supposedly "makes everyone better"?

Looking forward to the cognitive dissonance in this one.

Cheers.

[og15]

Westbrook had a bigger usg% than peak KD while they played together... if that doesn't tell you anything you're delusional.

That team had bad luck, yes, but alot of the problems there were the same that you can see around all Westbrook career: Guy just take too much/many stupid shots

That was true through 2012, but westbrook was incredible from 2013-2016. If you factor in their "shooting guard", andre roberson, in the tail end of the westbrook/KD era couldnt dribble a ball in the halfcourt, wasnt guarded, and averaged 1apg in 30 minutes and the usage for Russ was justified. Combine it with their coaching from brooks and donavan, where they basically didnt have any cohesive offense (hard to do with 3 non shooter and a sg who literally couldnt dribble while guarded or attempt a shot off a dribble) and it was easy to see why Russ' usage was so high.

I understand why Westbrook had a high USG%, there is no way to justify him having one that is higher than Kevin Durant.

Just so we understand, Westbrook even had a bigger usg% than KD the season KD was MVP, that's just NUTS

Why wouldn't that be justifiable when he's the point guard? Usage as a stat is not just about shots attempted

[mulamutti]

Westbrook is quite possibly the most athleticism reliant player in the NBA. He was a monster when he was quicker, but those days are long gone.

He was a monster by himself, but its a team sport. He has always been a stat stuff, including assists. but he is terrible for team play. He deactivates and diminishes all 4 players in every team he has ever played for. As far as i'm concerned, he is literally the worst player in the nba, because even if you're cleveland or the pistons, you'd rather play 5 on 5 as opposed to 1 on 5.

[Cavsfansince84]

Very curious on how Lebron stans spin this. They've always said that KD was lucky to play with Westbrook that's "all he needed".

Fast forward, Westbrook has averaged consecutives Triple Doubles seasons (something that Lebron stans anticipated their hero doing) and now playing with Lebron, AD, and other hall of famers.

Has Westbrook always been a hindrance on the court, or is it suddenly only the case when he's playing with Lebron - someone who supposedly "makes everyone better"?

Looking forward to the cognitive dissonance in this one.

Cheers.

You are making **** up. Most rational people can admit that playing with WB has its pluses and minuses and that in the bigger picture it has very little to do with comparing KD and LeBron as players. You are acting like KD's existence as a bb player is some kind of perceived threat to LeBron when it simply isn't. KD is a top 20 player of all time while LeBron is top 4. WB being a teammate of both at the age he and LeBron are at now isn't going to somehow change anything. That's just silly to suggest.

[Woodsanity]

Yea lets compare prime WB vs washed up WB who is 5x worse....

[Lunartic]

Westbrook having a higher USG% isn't that surprising, he was solely responsible for being the #2 scorer and creating baskets for the team. Durant wasn't much of a play-maker while Westbrook was. What is truly mind-boggling is Westbrook having more FGA than Durant in any season.

Westbrook's play-style absolutely held Durant back, he's a bad defender and his scoring efficiency falls off a cliff in the playoffs while refusing to stop jacking up shots. He also had a habit of ruining momentum with his patented grab the ball and run down the court, stop and jackup a midrange brick.

[timO]

Glad he isn't on my team. Even if Westbrook scored 100 points in a single game he'd still be garbage. Least impressive "superstar" to ever play the game.

thats for kongs are

15 years playoff drought and counting

enjoy the lottery

hehehehehe indeed

for sure

2 year drought vs 16

[Letsgokings]

thats for kongs are

15 years playoff drought and counting

enjoy the lottery

hehehehehe indeed

for sure

2 year drought vs 16

my favorite nba team made the playoffs last season

I cheer for the kings and I like them but they aren't my favorite nba team

[Capn'O]

Yeah MJ always struck me as a guy who'd take backseat to Westbrook.

MJ would have gotten Westbrook traded.


When Kevin Durant was in OKC in his younger days, he wasn't assertive enough to take over the team. OKC Front office should have done it for him. I posted about this for years. This is not a new take for me.

Westbrook was inserting himself as a high usage player and doing things like having the ball in his hands in crucial playoff moments, when he should have been deferring to KD..... etc....

You were, of course, right. Except I don't see how that happens externally. Unfortunately, KD needed to take it and as you say he wasn't yet assertive enough. MJ's personality is part of what separated him in that regard. He was a total prick

[GreatWhiteStiff]

Many won't admit that OP is on point because of their KD bias and that they can't comprehend how a dude who averages a triple double can be a negative to your team. It's almost as if most fans only watch Westbrook highlights and never see how bad he disrupts the rhythm in the game.

Is this a troll post? Like it's satire right or something, right?

[DaPessimist]

I used to joke that if the Thunder head coach had the balls to bench Westbrook for the final 6 minutes of the game, the Thunder would have won a title.