Another month down, another month Russell Westbrook got better
It seems like it’s becoming a bit of a monthly deal around here to recap Russell Westbrook’s last month and compare it to other rookie studs. One trend we’re seeing with Russell is that it seems he’s improving statistically every month, which is something you can’t really say about the two other rookie studs he’s in the ROY race with.
Westbrook
November: 12.1 ppg 4.1 apg, 3.3 rpg, 2.5 turnovers per game
December: 15.5 ppg, 5.1 apg, 5.1 rpg, 4.0 tpg
January: 16.5 ppg, 5.5 ap,g 4.9 rpg, 2.7 tpg
February: 20.6 ppg, 5.9 apg, 6.1 rpg, 3.9 tpg
Rose
November: 18.9 ppg, 6.1 apg, 4.1 rpg, 2.6 tpg
December: 16.3 ppg, 6.2 apg, 3.1 rpg, 2.8 tpg
January: 15.3 ppg, 6.8 apg, 3.3 rpg, 2.4 tpg
February:15.8 ppg, 6.3 apg, 4.0 rpg, 2.3 tpg
Mayo
November: 23.1 ppg, 2.3 apg, 4.5 rpg, 2.5 tpg
December: 17.7 ppg, 3.9 apg, 3.6 rpg, 2.9 tpg
January: 17.1 ppg, 2.2 apg, 3.8 rpg, 2.8 tpg
February: 19.7 ppg, 3.6 apg, 4.8 rpg, 3.0 tpg
Rose seems to be leveling off and Mayo improved some in February, but Westbrook is steadily rising – which makes sense because he’s playing a new position so each night he gets better at it. And a game like Monday night’s against Dallas shows how far Russell has come. He made everyone on the floor better that night. Sure he had the attractive triple-double, but he played smart and played really well. That jumpshot is coming and coming. Don’t worry about it. Just think about what it will be like when he starts hitting it consistently. He’s already far better with it than he was in November.
And before you freak over Westbrook’s turnovers, Steve Nash turns it over 3.7 times a game, Chris Paul 3.0 a game and Deron Williams 3.5 a game. Four a night is too much, but again, he’s figuring this whole point guard thing out. His steady increase in assists is probably the most encouraging thing because he needs to work on making others around him better, just like he did against Dallas.
The thing that most definitely hurts Westbrook is shooting percentage. He’s hitting just 40 percent compared to Rose who hits a very nice 47 percent and Mayo who is shooting 44 percent. But that number is coming up as Westbrook’s shot selection begins to improve. Westbrook went from 34 percent in November to 46 percent in December to 44 percent in January to 38 percent in February. His percentage went down some in February but his points were up and he only took two more shots than he did in November when he averaged eight points less. The difference? He got to the line. David Thorpe, who has Westbrook tied with Rose at the top of his rookie rankings, pointed it out in a big way:
Westbrook struggled shooting the ball in February, but he shot 97 free throws in the month (his highest one-month total) and made a season-high 86.6 percent. In comparison, Mayo and Rose shot 88 free throws combined in February. Rose alone took only 67 free throws during the first two months of 2009.
At some point, Westbrook is going to level off and put up relatively consistent numbers. Maybe one month he does really great and the next is slightly sub-par. But obviously, this thing can’t keep going up or he’d be averaging 45 points and 17 assists in 2014. So don’t expect a 24-8-8 month out of him for March. But for OKC to be successful with Westbrook running the show, I think a good consistent line for him would be 15.5 ppg, 7.5 apg and 5.5 rpg with around three turnovers a night. That would be almost a 3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio which is right around where Nash, Paul and Williams are. We could win with that line.
Just something to keep in mind when Russell frustrates you with a bad jumper or an out-of-control play – he’s a work in progress and he’s making lots of progress. It’s unreal the progress he’s made already and the thought of him with a season to reflect on and a summer to work out make me really excited about next year. Just think about Jeff Green’s improvement from year one to year two. Or heck, even Kevin Durant’s. I’m not saying he should be rookie of the year (though you know what I’m thinking), but Westbrook’s rise has been steady and it looks like he’s not even close to done.
He needs to go hang out with Green and Durant this summer, because whatever those two did in last off season sure seemed to work wonders on their shooting percentages…
averaging 45 points and 17 assists in 2014.
I don’t have a problem with this.
On a serious note, I’ve wondered about this differences between these three players outside the numbers.
We heard that a lot during Chris Paul’s rookie season, about how he and DWill in Utah were both working to establish their leadership style and eventually earn the trust of their teammates and take ownership of the team. You can see CP3 and DWill acting as the floor generals for their team, and how anything that happens on the offensive end starts with them.
You hear people say the same thing about Rose. How the team is built around his talents, and how he leads that team, how the Bulls are “his team” now.
But you never hear it with RW. I’ve always assumed it’s because Durant is the one everyone talks about when they say the Thunder is “his team”. It makes sense that a team would defer to it’s point guard to run the show, like Rose, CP3, DWill and the like, but it seems people don’t view RW as running the show.
Of course, Mayo isn’t a point guard, and he gets none of the “his team” talk either.
So is it that people don’t see RW as a point guard, but more of a shooting guard like Mayo, or is it that people don’t see RW as “owning” the team because of Kevin Durant?
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
I think a bit of both. People think Westbrook can certainly become a good PG, but he plays a lot more like a SG this year. Also, do people call Mo Williams in Cleveland the leader of the team? How about Derek Fisher in LA? Rondo in Boston? The leader of the team is the player that has the most impact on the game. The way basketball is played, that certainly leans toward the PG, but not always. Don’t forget that both Chris Paul and Deron Williams went to teams with no established established guy who ran the team.
Durant is the single best player on the team. His mere presence on the court changes the way teams defend the Thunder. Add in that he still tears up the competition while facing the stiffest defense and that he has come a long way in making his teammates better as well, and it’s not hard to see why Westbrook doesn’t get that title.
Also, we can’t just pretend to overlook the fact that Rose was picked 1st overall and plays for a team with zero stars. He’s going to be called a lot of things, whether deserving or not.
@Keith
In CP3’s case, and for DWill too, they often run the offense through West or Boozer. LA can run their offense through Gasol or Kobe. Boston can run their offense through KG or Peirce (Ray Allen is used more as a guy who scores off other players setting up the play). The Suns run their offense though no one in particular.
But when I watch Dallas play, they don’t run their offense through Dirk. Not when Kidd is on the floor anyway. They mainly just give Dirk isolation plays. The same is true for the Nuggets. They don’t run their offense through ‘Mello when Chauncey is on the floor, except for isolation. For those two teams you’d say that Dirk and ‘Mello are easily the single best players on those teams.
So I guess it depends on the style of play, as to who it is that runs the team.
I find it fascinating to see how the offense operates when it is expected to run through a point guard. When AI was in Denver and the offense ran through him, it was definitely a score through AI mentality. Now that Chauncey runs the offense, the whole team improves, yet Chauncey can score in bunches. Poor Detroit is winning without AI playing. The Spurs are another example. They run their offense through their guards Parker and Ginobli. They do run a lot of their offense through Duncan too, of course. But Parker and Ginobli are scoring guards, like AI, but the Spurs win.
I guess the common theme is that team who can run their offense through more than one player (Gasol/Kobe, KG/Peirce, Duncan/Parker-Ginobli) win championships, and it’s not the most common for the point guard to be a scoring point guard on championship teams.
As for the Thunder, I see us set Kevin up for isolation more than I see us run the offense through him. We run the offense through Jeff or Krstic just as much as anyone, running them through pick and rolls, or pick and pops. You see Green get an isolation from time to time, but not as often as Durant.
I think if RW ever develops an outside shot that other teams fear, we’ll see him run the show. You can run picks and screens for Kevin much more effectively if the defense has to come out of it’s sag to guard the 3. If RW can dictate what the defense can do, he can choose who the offense is run through, rather than waiting for an isolation, or a pick and roll.
With a win tonight, we would jump ahead of either LAC or Memphis (because they play each other tonight) and we’d be two games behind the T-Wolves for 4th in our own division. This is the first time that has even crossed my mind since we were on pace to win 27 to 28 games when we 1-2 on the season. It’s an awesome feeling… I’m ok with winning too, as long as we can get one of the top 3 picks.