Russell Westbrook adding another chapter to dazzling, polarizing career

Yet is there a more maligned player in league?

Despite his MVP win, detractors said he couldn’t lead a successful team without Kevin Durant. In a single season in Houston, one where he earned All-NBA honors, the talk was of how the club had to move center Clint Capela – thus compromising their defense – to accommodate Russ’s lack of shooting. He was the good-stats-bad-team poster boy with the Wizards, a team where literally nobody has been able to create a winning culture in nearly half a century. He was horridly miscast as the third wheel in a Lakers big three yet copped all of the flak.

To be sure, Westbrook is not the easiest player to build around, in particular at age 36 and 17 seasons into his storied career. The jump shot that has earned him the name ‘Westbrick’ (interestingly, not listed on Basketball Reference) is very real. As his athleticism has waned, he can no longer commandeer an offense, and he doesn't have the speed to compensate when his gamble heavy defensive style goes awry.

The entire ethos of basketball has shifted to almost specifically highlight Russ’s flaws. Yet Westbrook is enjoying his best season in years. Why? The Jokic Effect.

Westbrook isn’t the first and will certainly not be the last player to look better next to the best player in the world, but the difference in Westbrook’s play this season against his past four – covering both Los Angeles clubs – is stark.

In a sense, Westbrook and Nikola Jokic are birds of a feather. They’re both dynamic passers with a gift for getting people open. The way they do that, though, is wildly different. Jokic is a savant who sees angles that nobody else sees. He flings passes to teammates who don’t even realize they’re open. Westbrook, by contrast, applies a ton of force upon the rim, drawing defenses and trusts an instinct for knowing where his shooters are.

Always an excellent cutter, Westbrook is delighting in having Jokic find him for easy looks, while Jokic feasts on the scrambled rotations that Russ’s drives create.

Westbrook didn’t start the season particularly well. It should be noted that he played a lot of those early games with bench heavy units. As stated earlier, Russ can no longer be an offense unto himself and it’s even harder to elevate some of those awful Nuggets reserves. Yet with the starters he's a man reborn. Look at the difference in his numbers as a starter against coming off the bench.

Denver has a 14-5 record with Westbrook as a starter so it’s no surprise that Coach Michael Malone has stuck with Westbrook in his starting five even as Aaron Gordon has returned from injury.

He also speeds the Nuggets up considerably. While threes are important, the best shot in basketball is still an attempt at the hoop. Westbrook’s breakneck style gets the Nuggets moving in ways that they traditionally haven’t, opening up looks at the rim before defenses are set. With Westbrook on the floor, Denver ranks third in pace in the NBA. Without him that figure drops to 23rd.

Most importantly, Westbrook is impacting winning, belying his late career reputation. Despite his slow start, the Nuggets are +2.1 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor and -4.7 when he sits.

Fans and analysts spent the first half of Russell Westbrook’s career marveling at what he could do. The second half has been spent lamenting what he couldn’t. Now, as he enters the twilight of a surefire Hall of Fame career, it’s lovely to see the NBA world once again appreciating Westbrook for what he is, rather than what he isn’t.