NBA Season Preview: The Russell Westbrook effect

Basketball is a calculated game of speed and inches. A little too slow, and you don’t get the shot off in time. A little too fast, and you bear the risk of fumbling straight into a turnover. This all occurs in a narrow space where methodical and aggressive natures overlap; when this works well team basketball is carefully controlled art.

Chasing this ideal is what keeps coaches up thinking during unreasonable hours of the night. Plotting and implementing a systematic team strategy, with a collection of players who are each stylistically unique and distinctive is a difficult undertaking. Serving the needs of each player is impossible, and so someone and somethings are inevitably sublimated in service of the team. This process can also appear to work in reverse, where the needs of the team can seem to secondary to the needs of the star. Take, for example, the case of Russell Westbrook, for whom things like force, polarity, and distinction have all become common defining elements.

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Westbrook shatters traditional notions of structure with hallmark brazen explosiveness, and he’s often seen as the evolutionary extreme of the athletic point guard. That he matches fiery play with a fiery persona seems appropriate for someone who is defying the conventions of an NBA floor general. The perception of Westbrook as reckless is furthered with every turnover and sub-40 percent shooting performance. But the familiar debate of a reeled-in Westbrook versus the unleashed version was never really able to exist without the context of Kevin Durant.

History has shown it’s never easy balancing two alpha stars. And despite some unwieldy moments, Durant and Westbrook still formed a two-man combination that was brutally overwhelming for defenses to prepare for. With aerial attacks on the rim and momentum-swinging plays, Westbrook’s legend blossomed – even while Durant’s own meteoric evolution was unfolding. It is peculiar but not surprising that Westbrook never quite reached unanimous admiration while Durant was the unequivocal first option.

Every Westbrook play is either a nominee for the SportsCenter top play of the night or a microcosm of all his flaws, broken down and chastised to no end. It is the nature of the high-risk high-reward approach — one that is so intrinsically intertwined with Westbrook that attempting to muzzle his game would feel like stripping the wheels off of a Ferrari. It is best driven in original stock condition. We’re well past the need to argue about letting Westbrook be Westbrook, he is not going to be anything else.

Westbrook in his natural habitat means an end-to-end downhill sprint with the ball firmly cupped close to his chest, galloping by, sometimes through, and often over helpless defenders. For a 6-3 point guard, that alone is enough to ruffle the feathers of traditionalists who still fawn over and applaud the basic A-to-B bounce pass.

In choosing to view Westbrook through these two lenses — either a necessary chaos or an affront to tradition — much of the on-court bravura becomes moot. The same Westbrook intensity results in excessive turnovers, which is the most often pointed-to criticism of his one-speed approach. It is the curse and the gift. Most distressing is that every Westbrook blunder was compounded by the uneasy feeling that the ball should have been in Durant’s hands.

With Durant now out of the picture, these debates seem irrelevant. No longer will there be that inherent apprehension in Westbrook’s game, the fear that anything he does is missing out on something better. More importantly, the invisible veil of uncertainty within the Thunder offensive has been lifted, leaving only Westbrook and a supporting cast.

The Thunder will have a gaping hole with the departure of Durant and that is something that no amount of Westbrook’s unleashed wrath of fury on the league can supplant this year. Still, the possibility of a season of epic proportions is looming from an individual standpoint and that is more than enough reason to make the Thunder an automatic league pass favorite.

The individual numbers will likely be gaudy for Westbrook this season, which could allow him to wiggle himself into the MVP discussion. But at some point the Thunder will need to resurface as title contenders during the prime Westbrook-era. For that to happen, adding another star seems almost a prerequisite. Westbrook will likely again be among the league leaders in assists this season, lending more support to the concept that coexistence with or without a secondary star wouldn’t impact his ability to find guys.

There will be heightened interest in what Westbrook will do now and, without Durant, probably less accompanying criticism. But he likely won’t be completely free from the king of micro-analysis that has dogged his every drive to the basket or wayward three-pointer. His flaws are authentic because they are inherent in uncontrolled invention. The weight of winning the title outright is momentarily suspended — which means a Westbrook with little to lose. Where Durant would normally be the silent leader, Westbrook is a hurricane of uninhibited energy that is now free to inspire more from his teammates.

Others won’t have the physical wherewithal to keep pace when Westbrook is in full-throttle. The Thunder can maximize what they have if they flush out a workable rotation from the hoard of big men currently occupying their frontcourt. A lineup suited to execute screen-rolls and cause disruption on defense would compliment Westbrook and move the Thunder closer to being contenders again.

The truth is changing a player’s natural inclination is a complicated maneuver that you wouldn’t want to try with a Westbrook-type anyway. The one speed at which he is capable of playing produces a net result that almost any team would happily absorb even if it can’t be modified by possession or situation. From an individual standpoint, each player is by nature far too complex to be fully understood. Westbrook, in all his ball dominance and outward aggression always appeared comparatively simple to understand. If nothing else, this season should reveal his complexity.

Whether he is fueled by the noise that has snowballed around him during the Durant years or is somewhat induced by self-motivated desire to prove himself as the guy on a title-contender won’t matter. Either of those will result in a purified version of Westbrook ­– flaws and all — one that will absolutely be necessary for Thunder success.