Is Russell Westbrook Overrated or Underrated?

Pelly24 · Post #1 » by **Pelly24** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 8:55 pm

I'm a huge Russ fan and I think he deserved the MVP in 2017, but his scoring efficiency dropped to below league average by a big amount in 2017-2019 and he took two unexpected playoff losses in the first round in consecutive years. The second year he had a player that was better than him on his squad and he still lost in sort of embarrassing fashion. The OKC offense hasn't been top 10 since KD left, Russ has shot like 70% from freethrow line over the last two years and his TS% is like at 52%. He's a marginal defender and mediocre volume scorer, but he's one of the best passers in the league and an incredible rebounder for his size. Where does he rank?

I think Russ is a top 20 or so player, but a lot of people still believe hes around top 11-top 15.

What are your thoughts?

udfa · Post #2 » by **udfa** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:24 pm

2017 he was a legit top-10 player, borderline top-5

Since then he has fallen off hard. Last two seasons he wasn't even top-20 and in both played horribly in the playoffs. This is his chance to turn his career back around. I think he still has the talent to be a top-15 player but he needs to focus on defense and cut down jump shots.

Navy Che · Post #3 » by **Navy Che** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:26 pm

Definitely underrated. I'm not good with ranking lists, but he's just flat-out a great player -- probably the most exciting point guard since Iverson. At the end of the day, dude's skills are legendary.

clyde21 · Post #4 » by **clyde21** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:33 pm

he's thunderrated

amirite?

Dominator83 · Post #5 » by **Dominator83** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:38 pm

Was overrated. But is now underrated

TheNG · Post #6 » by **TheNG** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:43 pm

There are two "camps":
Camp A:
We want to win. Don't care about stats --> Westbrook is crap.
Camp B:
You can't blame a single player for his team's failure, if they lose it's only because of his "supporting cast" --> Westbrook is the best!

If you want to know which camp you belong to, just tell me who your GOAT is

Lalouie · Post #7 » by **Lalouie** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:44 pm

russell's stats are what they are.

what everyone misses, or maybe HAS missed, considering his injuries are now piling up on his body,,,is that HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A "FORCE" TO RECKON WITH. that has always been his metier. not that he was good or bad at this or that, but that he is/was an unstoppable force that distorted the defense.

there are players coming in being compared to westbrook - like "zack lavine was a westbrook with a shot"....NO - because lavine does not have the thing that makes westbrook, WESTBROOK - drive,rage, determination, unstoppable endless motor. that was then. now, players being compared to westbrook have that "westbrook drive", like mitchell. so people are beginning to get it.

all that to say rw has become so overrated he's underrated for being overlooked for the thing he does best. and even though people already know this, they STILL always fall back to criticizing his stats which is the very thing they shouldn't be harping on.

The_Hater · Post #8 » by **The_Hater** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:45 pm

I think people are underrating his MVP season now, OKC was the worst team in the league when he wasn’t on the floor that season based on +/-, but his shot selection was pretty awful last season. He has slipped a ton the past 2 seasons.

Up-And-Coming · Post #9 » by **Up-And-Coming** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 11:06 pm

Last season was an outlier negatively. I feel like he will improve his efficiency to how it was before then.

RyderMike · Post #10 » by **RyderMike** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 11:07 pm

Let's average it out.

Westbrook is Rated

NBAFan93 · Post #11 » by **NBAFan93** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 11:12 pm

Russ’ only flaw is he’s not as good as he feels that he is and he wants to be. Dude gives it his all all time and wants to win so bad. He’d literally be the goat if he had even slightly above average shooting talent. Honestly, that he’s become what he is w/ as little shooting talent as he was born with is amazing.

He’s a great guy too - and it really annoys me all the hate the media piles on him. He’s one of the few guys who are actually role models off the court for just being a good person. He was on Jimmy Fallon the other night and was so like-able.

He’s a great overall player, and I think he’s become underrated in the past year, but he definitely needs to get his shot back to 2017 levels if he’s going to be seen as an elite player. People watch his percentages too much and they aren’t going to give him a pass for much longer. I hope he has a good year in Houston - hopefully w/ more shooters to kick to he won’t take so many bad shots.

azcatz11 · Post #12 » by **azcatz11** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 11:13 pm

Underrated - if he was on the FIBA team they would have won it all

Pennebaker · Post #13 » by **Pennebaker** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 11:15 pm

Pelly24 wrote:I'm a huge Russ fan and I think he deserved the MVP in 2017, but his scoring efficiency dropped to below league average by a big amount in 2017-2019 and he took two unexpected playoff losses in the first round in consecutive years. The second year he had a player that was better than him on his squad and he still lost in sort of embarrassing fashion. The OKC offense hasn't been top 10 since KD left, Russ has shot like 70% from freethrow line over the last two years and his TS% is like at 52%. He's a marginal defender and mediocre volume scorer, but he's one of the best passers in the league and an incredible rebounder for his size. Where does he rank?

I think Russ is a top 20 or so player, but a lot of people still believe hes around top 11-top 15.

What are your thoughts?

He's only overrated if you think he's a Batman. Ditto James Harden. It may sound strange, but these guys are epic Robins - which is the new normal for the league i.e. your #2 guy needs to also be MVP caliber.

So both Russ and Harden need to play with like a LeBron or a Durant (healthy) if they are serious about winning something.

If you disagree and think they have what it takes to be that kind of playoff LeBron or Finals KD, then yes you're overeating him.

Heat4lyf · Post #14 » by **Heat4lyf** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 11:27 pm

Russ deserved that MVP he was unreal in the reg season. I think people rate him correctly for what he is right now

But my issue is people use revisionist history to downplay that mvp year like he wasn't blowing our minds with what we were witnessing

JN61 · Post #15 » by **JN61** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 12:27 am

At this point heavily underrated. We will see Paul George's drop this year after all free looks Westbrook creates for his teammates.

freethedevil · Post #16 » by **freethedevil** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 12:42 am

Westbrook's prime is greatly underrated. He's slightly overrated now.

robbie84 · Post #17 » by **robbie84** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:37 am

I think he's pretty over rated.

I'm not sure there are too many NBA MVP's who you could legitimately say that you couldn't win a championship with them as your best player.
Can you win an NBA championship with Westbrook as your best player?
The answer is a pretty easy no.

Now if Russ played in the 90's, the answer is probably yes.
He's playing in the wrong era.

HeartBreakKid · Post #18 » by **HeartBreakKid** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:40 am

robbie84 wrote:I think he's pretty over rated.

I'm not sure there are too many NBA MVP's who you could legitimately say that you couldn't win a championship with them as your best player.
Can you win an NBA championship with Westbrook as your best player?
The answer is a pretty easy no.

Now if Russ played in the 90's, the answer is probably yes.
He's playing in the wrong era.

Why would he be better in the 90s?

robbie84 · Post #19 » by **robbie84** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 3:15 am

HeartBreakKid wrote:
robbie84 wrote:I think he's pretty over rated.

I'm not sure there are too many NBA MVP's who you could legitimately say that you couldn't win a championship with them as your best player.
Can you win an NBA championship with Westbrook as your best player?
The answer is a pretty easy no.

Now if Russ played in the 90's, the answer is probably yes.
He's playing in the wrong era.

Why would he be better in the 90s?

Game didn't revolve around the three point so much. You don't really have to guard Russ out on the perimeter and his athleticism would probably even more lethal.
I'm not sure if he would be better in the 90's, I said it would be possible for him to be the best player on a championship team.

In this era? No way.

HeartBreakKid · Post #20 » by **HeartBreakKid** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 3:27 am

robbie84 wrote:

Game didn't revolve around the three point so much. You don't really have to guard Russ out on the perimeter and his athleticism would probably even more lethal.
I'm not sure if he would be better in the 90's, I said it would be possible for him to be the best player on a championship team.

In this era? No way.

His teams would have even worse shooting than they do now. Westbrook's best attribute is playing with pace, which would likely slow down the way 90s ball is played. Lack of spacing would hurt him a lot - as we see with current OKC.

How does he score buckets when the game slows down? That's really the problem with Westbrook. As the game goes on, defenses figure him out.

Players in the 90s had more sophisticated mid range games and post games. Westbrook's mid range game consist of driving hard to the rim and stopping at the free throw line for a pull up. His post game consistent of being big, and hopefully backing down a smaller guy so he can pass out of a double. There is nothing about his game that really screams out 90s to me.

His problem isn't that he lacks a 3 point shot, his problem is he lacks shooting in general. He wouldn't be a good shooter in the 90s, and that is a weakness then just like it is today.