Russell Westbrook says he's playing 'fine' – is he the issue in L.A.?
Russell Westbrook is setting the record straight in a straightforward way.
"Honestly, I think I've been fine," he said Monday after his Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Brooklyn Nets on Christmas Day. "The conversation has been heavily on how I'm playing and what I'm doing, but I think people are expecting me to have f---ing 25, 15 and 15.
"That is not normal. Everybody has to understand that's not a normal thing that people do consistently."
Westbrook –– the NBA's all-time leader in triple-doubles (190) –– is in his first season with the Lakers. He has yet to miss a game, and in 36 minutes per night, "The Brodie" is putting up 19.6 points, 8.1 assists and 7.9 rebounds and shooting 45.1% from the field, the fourth-best shooting clip of his 14-year career.
Despite those solid numbers, Westbrook has found himself in the spotlight during L.A.'s disappointing start.
Much of the criticism facing the Lakers –– who sit at 16-18, good for the ninth-best record in the Western Conference –– involves their inability to defend and inability to mesh as a unit. And more often than not, fans, pundits and even peers are pointing toward the point guard.
For instance, Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns said on a recent podcast that Westbrook is "a hell of a player," but he "chases stats." He also said Westbrook "tries to do too much."
Including the defeat to the short-handed Nets, the Lakers have lost five straight. On that night, Westbrook shot 4-for-20 from the field but notched a triple-double, with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.
Over the past five games, Westbrook is averaging 19.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 6.2 assists and shooting 45.3% from the field. However, he's also tossing in 4.4 turnovers.
Is Westbrook indeed playing "fine," or is the future Hall of Famer not seeing things clearly?
Chris Broussard said Tuesday on "First Things First" that Westbrook hasn't been at his best, but that the onus for righting his ship belongs to the franchise, not the point guard.
Former NBA All-Star Antoine Walker agreed: The Lakers need to direct the show when it comes to Westbrook.
Walker called on his own experience in the league, specifically when he joined Miami after splitting the 2004-05 season with Atlanta and Boston, averaging 20.4 points and 9.4 rebounds with the Hawks and 16.3 points and 8.3 rebounds with the Celtics.
"When I got to the Miami Heat, Pat Riley sat me down and told me, ‘Listen, you’re not gonna get any shots with the first unit. We're going to Shaq and D-Wade. I'm gonna sub you out early, I'm gonna play you with the second unit, and I'm gonna run plays for you.' And that was it," he said. "He gave me my role."
Skip Bayless also (kind of) took the blame off Westbrook's doorstep on Tuesday's "Undisputed," saying that the media and the Lakers are partially to blame for, essentially, enabling Westbrook's style of play.
"The Lakers continue to defend him. Even after the game [Saturday night], LeBron [James] defended him. … I'm going to take some responsibility for this. I've been guilty. … I've gushed. I've idolized. … We thought it was impossible for a 6-foot-3 guard to average 10 rebounds a game. And because we've idolized it, we put him on a pedestal in which he started to believe that playing bad basketball was OK."
Westbrook currently has a league-leading six triple-doubles and is on pace for 14. He's doing it via the third-lowest usage rate of his career (27.9%).
He's also making the second-most field goals in the paint per game in the NBA (5.0) and attempting 3.7 3s per game, his lowest mark since 2011-12.
However, despite his lower usage rate and better shot selection, Westbrook is leading the league with 156 turnovers. His 1.3 win shares would be the lowest of his career, as would be his 1.4 defensive win shares.
Westbrook is also -0.1 in offensive win shares and in danger of finishing negative in the category for the first time since his rookie year.
The roller-coaster season for the Lakers is poised to continue, considering that L.A. will be without Anthony Davis for multiple weeks and the Lakers face the second-toughest schedule in the league moving forward.
With that, it appears that Westbrook and the Lakers –– unless a trade materializes –– will continue to go up and down with one another.
