Changing the Narrative: It's time for the Russell Westbrook hate to end

Source: Eric Drost

Clear your mind for a second. When you think of a hall of fame basketball player, what do you think of? What qualities do they have? Perhaps a slew of awards? Big-time statistics? Wins? Playoff appearances? Whatever it may be, Russell Westbrook fits the mold.

There's no questioning Westbrook is bound to see his name in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame one day. That should be a consensus fact. But while the iron is hot, given his excellent performances in the 2023 playoffs, I want to address a common theme involved in NBA discussions over recent years: Disdain for Westbrook.

I get it. Russ is not perfect. He has flaws, but who doesn't? Most of those flaws involve getting a little too shot happy on offense, trying to play hero in inopportune moments or, most notably, turnovers. But his presence on the court far outweighs any of those flaws, and it's shown throughout his career.

In the modern era of basketball, people are quick to forget or dispel greatness. Quite frankly, I'm tired of it.

Mr. Triple Double is more than the statistics

To start, I still don't understand how one can shrug off averaging a triple double. It's difficult enough for the average NBA player, heck even a star, to notch a triple double once, let alone four seasons! In 299 regular season games of his career, he's averaged a triple double. That's 27.3% of his career. He's recorded a triple double (198) in 18% of all 1,094 regular season games played.

To be able to do such a thing, there is no taking a night off. It's impossible. And as many know, watching him, Russ never gives less than 100%. Most of the time that's for the better, solemnly is it for the worse.

Take a glimpse at everything Westbrook has done throughout his career. There's the base level stuff, such as the triple double feat(s), MVP, NBA 75th anniversary team and nine-time All-NBA and All-Star.

But one consistency with team's that feature Westbrook? Wins.

Russ is currently 7th in win shares (108.44) among active players, trailing only LeBron, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony. In 15 seasons of play, he's made the playoffs 12 times.

Source: All-Pro Reels

Many of those seasons were with Durant, but he proved he can do it himself as well. There was 2016, lugging a not-so-g00d Thunder team to the 6th seed (47-35) in the West, averaging a league-high 31.6 points, plus 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists.

The second-best player on that team was Victor Oladipo (15.9 points), who was still a year away from a breakout campaign in Indiana. The other two? Enes "Freedom" Kanter and Steven Adams. There were players who'd later be great, such as Domantas Sabonis (5.9 points, 3.6 rebounds) and Jerami Grant (5.4 points, 2.6 rebounds), but both were a shell of what they've become.

There was his recent stint with the Wizards. To be quite honest, anybody who's able to help Washington to the playoffs at this point is a miracle. Regardless, it's not coincidental Bradley Beal had a career-best season that year. It's also notable Beal, nor the Wizards, have been the same since. Taking a step back in scoring (22.2), Westbrook maintained career-high numbers in assists (11.7) and rebounds (11.5) that year.

Even after the trade to Houston, he and Harden started to click late, powering the Rockets to the fourth seed before entering the bubble, where the tandem managed to send Westbrook's former team, the Thunder, home and get a game in on the eventual champion Lakers, a team he'd play for in the future.

Speaking of his time with the Lakers. It was not good. For any party involved. There is no way around it. That said, I'm not quite sure what the Lakers had in mind bringing him in in the first place. Spacing is not Westbrook's specialty, and it's long been known that to excel with LeBron, spacing is key.

The train wreck of a match culminated to a toxic, old, environment which saw the Lakers blow up half their team at this year's trade deadline. Now Russ is playing somewhere, and with people, that appreciate him. As it turns out, that's all someone needs for a bit of a confidence boost. Crazy how that works.

Strength behind numbers

To chip in some additional statistics, Westbrook is fifth among active players in points scored (24,452), which is 2,745 points ahead of Steph Curry, third in assists (9,162) and seventh in rebounds (7,964). Ahead of him on the rebounding list are all bigs, besides LeBron, and the next guard to clock in is James Harden at 26th.

For the analytical crowd, he's 13th in PER, fourth in defensive win shares, 14th in box plus/minus and sixth in value over replacement player. There is the turnover blemish, where he ranks second among active players (behind LeBron) and third all-time.

Not everything is about the statistics, but in this instance, the numbers indicate there aren't many able to do what he's done in his career.

Once in a generation

Russ is a generational talent, and more than that, a generational athlete. Even to this day. Take the final sequence of game one between the Clippers and Suns for example.

Or the fact in game four, in the absence of Kawhi Leonard, he put up a 37-point, six-rebound, four-assist stat line without taking a single free throw.

There's a reason the Clippers brought him in, and the toxic situation the Lakers, and their fan base, put him in was downright disrespectful, no matter their improved performance without him.

Russ is a player whose greatness will be recognized later down the road, despite being long deserving of his flowers. His former running mate believes so.

"When he's retired, people are gonna really tell the truth about how they feel about his game," Durant said after game four. "Right now, it's a fun thing to do to make a joke out of Russ. But the way he's been playing since he got with the Clippers showed everybody who he really is."

Durant isn't the only one to voice his support for Westbrook. Many players continue to do so. It's just a matter of time before fans do the same. In light of his awe-inspiring play in the playoffs, hopefully that time comes sooner rather than later.

Follow me on Twitter at @DevinVoss23!