We’ll always have 2016-17 Russell Westbrook
The Oklahoma City Thunder died on July 4, 2016. They were resurrected on August 4, 2016. They were burned to the ground by the same man who resurrected them on April 25, 2017.
The 2016-17 Russell Westbrook-led Thunder gave us everything we hoped for when Kevin Durant left in July and Westbrook re-signed in August. We all wanted an unleashed version of Westbrook. A Westbrook that didn’t have to play “your turn, my turn” with Durant. A Westbrook that could carry his team and kill them in a span of 10-minutes. The championship aspirations were gone, but that didn’t mean the season wouldn’t be memorable.
Russell Westbrook did everything he could do, every single night, to make Oklahoma City a competitive basketball team. He didn’t just average a triple-double or set the record for most triple-doubles in a season, he made the stat appear meaningless. People not only took the stats for granted, they began to hate the “arbitrary numbers.”
This is what every NBA and Thunder fan hoped would happen when the season started. It’s also what we all feared.
Westbrook’s passion and competitiveness is a throwback. In an era where opposing players vacation on a banana boat together and have dinner with each other after playoff games, Russell has no time for friends that aren’t his teammates. And, sometimes, he doesn’t even have time for his teammates. His desire to win gets in the way of the fact that there are four other guys on the court with him. Sometimes it didn’t seem like it, especially in the playoffs, but I promise you they were there. He would freeze out his teammates because the only man he trusted was himself.
That’s not to say that it didn’t work. He led improbable comebacks against Orlando and Dallas late in the season. He took over games in the fourth against Cleveland, Utah, New Orleans, Boston, and countless others. Without Westbrook’s heroics throughout the season, the Thunder are a lottery team. They won 12 games decided by three points or less. They won 13 games when trailing heading into the third quarter. Both of those win totals were tops in the NBA. Those wins aren’t possible without Westbrook. He was the best clutch player in the league during the regular season.
He also had his fair share of blunders, where he was so hell bent on winning by himself, that he wouldn’t even look at his teammates. Games where he shots 10+ 3-pointers despite being a career 30 percent 3-point shooter. Every game against Golden State. Games where he lacked focus from the start, couldn’t drag his team back, and then self destructed. Oklahoma City had 21 losses by 10+ points, the most of any Western Conference playoff team.
The five-game playoff series against the Houston Rockets encapsulated everything we thought we knew about the Thunder. They are Russell Westbrook. When he was on the court, they would sink or swim. When he was off the court, they would drown and get half eaten by a shark until Westbrook dove in to rescue what was left. Through three quarters in four of the five games, Westbrook carried the team the best he could. In the fourth quarter, unlike during the regular season, he could carry them no longer. He tried, but one man isn’t going to beat five very often. Even if that one man is Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook went down swinging in 2016-17. He went from being the savior of a franchise to a vilified stat-chaser. He began the season by declaring, “Now I Do What I Want” and then did exactly that for 82 regular season games and five playoff games. He divided the NBA community who marveled at his numbers and chastised his lack of efficiency and win total. He made uncontested rebounds an important stat.
This season was always going to be a struggle for the Thunder. They were a team built around two stars. One star left, leaving them with a single star, pieces who didn’t exactly fit around him, and little time to reshape. Westbrook made the most from what he had to work with, but the real work begins this summer.
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We won’t remember the 2016-17 Oklahoma City Thunder in five years. Some may remember Enes Kanter punching a chair and breaking his forearm. Very few will be able to recall Alex Abrines setting the franchise record for most 3-pointers by a rookie or Andre Roberson stating his case for First Team All-Defense. No one will remember Victor Oladipo dunking on Dwight Howard, Steven Adams piggybacking Hassan Whiteside, or Jerami Grant dunking on everyone. And people have already forgotten about Semaj Christon and Kyle Singler.
But we’ll never forget 2016-17 Russell Westbrook.