Can you inherit a cult? Can Russell Westbrook? Iāve never really thought about it, but this feels like a good time to ponder. Society should ponder more. Maybe get some extra meandering in as well. That 10km egg in your mind isnāt going to hatch itself.
Kobe has retired, and weirdo obsessives need something to obsess about (as do normal, rational adults like you. Youāre different and better than them.) Maybe the wave of obsession left its high water mark on the Staples Center, but tsunamis tend to travel fairly long distances. Maybe it still has the momentum to make people in Oklahoma wear flood pants for a few years. Durant may have departed, but sometimes everything can still come up Milhouse.
Iād like to include a series of disclaimers now:
Disclaimer no. 1: I think Russell Westbrook is really great. Heās a ferret war dance with a basketball.
Disclaimer no. 2: I think Kobe Bryant, at a point in the past, was really great too.
Disclaimer no. 3: I think single-minded Kobe enthusiasts are less really great. Theyāre quite great in number, but less great in more ways.

Disclaimer no. 4: I made that actually, but it could have been one of those Kobe people. You know the ones Iām talking about. This article is about those people and the people who may be like them.
I mention these particular items because if at any point I come off as biased, itās because I am.Ā
A lot of things came into play to transform Kobe into one of the most iconic players of the last generation. There were rings, and All-Star games, and points, and anger, and a competitive drive that could power the pneumatic machine that holds the San Andreas fault together.
The thing about icons though is theyāre venerated. People go to war for them. People fight, and die, and say stupid crap on Twitter. You canāt have a crusade without crusaders.
READ MORE: Doubting LeBron James is a dangerous proposition
Russell Westbrook has crusaders. He has people calling for MVP already. Thatās not unfair. Two games agoĀ he scored 35 points and in doing so managed to lower his scoring average. He has a 50-point triple-double. And another triple double. And pictures of cupcakes with no subtext whatsoever.
This is fertile ground. Itās a welcoming little hillside community. All you have to do is share and share alike, not leave the compound without express consent, say your prayers of thanks nightly, and carve a couple initials into your forehead with a hot knife. You can live on this peaceable hill if youāre willing to die on it.
Some are. More may be coming. Hereās some thoughts as to why:
The one who remained
People who remember Shaq on their favorite team probably remember when Shaq left their favorite team. He did that a lot. Before he left the Lakers, he and Kobe seemed primed to dynastify the league for years and then some more years. But oh no! There were underlying tensions. The two didnāt get along. Then Shaq went away. The pride and expectations of the what the Lakers would be became supersaturated and were laid at Kobeās feet.
Durant and Westbrook were arguably the best two-person threat in the league last year. The Thunder was a slimmest of slim jims from a championship run. The two of them might serve as the most effective threat to the growing Warriors golem. But oh no! There were underlying tensions. The two got along but maybe not really. Then Durant offered his clay to the bay area, and then there was Russ. Only Russ.
Stats, baby. Stats, baby. Shots is an Oklahoma drought
Did you know that Kobe Bryant once scored 81 points in a basketball game? You know who hasnāt scored 81 points in a game? Everyone else besides Wilt Chamberlain. This means Kobe is the best, I think. Thatās how it works, I bet. Kobe can do it all, if āallā means the most basic counting stat. Which it does.
Weāve evolved since Kobeās 81-point jubilee. We now recognize that rebounds and assists matter too. You know who gets those in large quantities while still getting some of those point things? Russ. As of the writing of this sentence, Westbrook is averaging a triple-double. There is a chance, albeit small, that this can carry through the season. This is stupid incredible. I wonāt lie. Iām drawn to triple-doubles like a moth to whatever moths are drawn to. I canāt imagine Iām alone. My forehead feels empty.
My city. My team.
Back in the time of Kobe, there was not much going on in L.A. sports-wise. The Clippers were what the Clippers were. The Los Angeles Rams were the St. Louis Rams. The Dodgers and Angels played baseball, which is the sport that has Mike Trout whose most interesting personal quality is that his name is a fish. The Los Angeles Kings play #PleaseLikeMySport. If there is any team that L.A. would embrace, itās the Lakers. Where else is an impressionable adult going to look for personal guidance?
In Oklahoma City there are tornadoes. They also have one sports team. The Thunder win the title of āSports Team Most Easily Associated With the Cityā by taking a strong bye in the finals. Thatās a better result than youād get in Muncie, Indiana at least. Congratulations to everyone who entered.
Iām here. Now what?
If you know which teamās jersey youāre going to wear, you have to pick the best player, right? Or the most visible player. Or both. If youāre going to be a hysterical frontrunner, Kobe and Russ have made it easy for you. This point doesnāt even deserve a second paragraph.
It really doesnāt.
Look how perfectly that chalk outline would fit a body
The stories of Kobeās hyper-competitiveness are pretty well-known. His pregame routine of getting a hotel room to take a nap and passionately following a regimented warm-up and sacrificing a baby goat are key components of his legacy. In the style of Michael Jordan, Kobe took a āget on my level, or get out of my lifeā approach to team building. Itās a pathological procedure that left Smush Parker a punchline. Itās also a thing people can point to as a perfect example of the hardheadedness you need in a primary superstar.
We know Russ is also the hyper-competitive type. Some people channel personal slights into anger and other peopleās pain. Russ is one of those guys. How he prepares to do this is less well known than Kobeās system. He might stare at a wall for three hours before gametime. It doesnāt matter. In the end, someone is going to get hurt. If youāre on his side, maybe it wonāt be you.
You can tell everybody. Go ahead and tell everybody.
After Shaq left the Lakers, there was no one else to steal attention from Kobe. The spotlight was suddenly 344 pounds lighter. The more Kobe there was the more Kobe you got, like the Jurassic Park fractal. How many players would have teammates defer to the point of making 81 points possible? How much goodwill do you need to accrue to be allowed to score 60 points in your final game when your prime left you behind years before?
Itās early. Itās very, very early, but if things follow the right path then Russā final game will end with an 11-10-10 stat line after defenders clear out the key in the final moments to allow an assist to Steven Adams for an easy lay-in. And OKC would cheer. And one person would nod and say āthatās just more proof that heās the greatest.ā And then another person would nod back with tears streaming down his face.
EXTREEEEEEME
The way Kobe played and the way Russ play are extreme. The holes in their game are not nearly as conspicuous as their flashy neon feats. How can Kobe be a bad teammate if his teams have won five championships? How can Russ be a flawed defender if he just made that steal and dunked the ball into the earthās mantle? How can Kobe be inefficient when heās the only player on the team scoring? How can Russ be a bad jump shooter if defenders are scared of his shots? How can I live without him? I want to know. How can I breath without him? If he ever goes. How can I ever, ever survive?
Next: Metta World Peace loves basketball
Thatās when you make little totems, and bend history a bit to fill unwanted gaps, and transform narrative into scripture. You turn a player into something a bit more. Games end, and players retire, but idols have a sort of existence of their own. Their presence in your life becomes a privilege, and itās everyone elseās fault if they canāt see it that way. They just donāt understand. They just canāt understand.
Debate about their teams is about 1/8th of a step removed from debate about them personally. Relative success or failure becomes a macro indictment of individual character. The Lakers won? Kobe triumphs over all because Kobe triumphs over all. The Thunder lost? Westbrookās problems did that because. The reverse happened? The other side of the debate right there happily shouting just as loud. Shouting is fun, after all.
You have been convinced. I have convinced you.
These points of comparison arenāt perfect, and it leaves out the important component of Westbrook lacking hashtag ringz. This is a bud. This is a smaller scale, and some might say that the difference between religion and a cult is size. Kobe was 6-foot-6. Russ is 6-foot-3.
Case closed. The doors to the compound are open.