National Basketball Association

Thanks to Russell Westbrook, August 4th is now an NBA holiday

Published Aug. 5, 2016 2:25 p.m. ET

foxsports

We know Russell Westbrook plays hard.

Actually, 'hard' is an insult to the effort he exerts -- he plays like his family is being held hostage and they will be executed unless Westbrook records a triple-double every single time he steps out onto the court.

What I want to know is -- is Russell Westbrook actually angry when he plays angry?

It's the NBA equivalent of asking the bulls of Pamplona if they gore the humans in the street because they're mad at the world or if they just do it because "hey, look you idiots -- I'm a bull and if you're in my way I am genetically wired to try and kill you."

The Pamplona bull of the NBA is the only one who truly knows the answer to this question. However, if there's ever a time for this hypothesis to be proven true -- the time is now.

After signing his new extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this week, Westbrook revealed that he was dumped by Kevin Durant via text message.

Not by a phone call, not through Facetime, not in person at a restaurant in a very public setting so that it prevents the dumpee from exploding and making a scene in front of all the other patrons ... through a friggin text message.

Why is this important? Wednesday afternoon, we learned just how much Russell values loyalty through a report via The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski

He even said it himself during his contract extension press conference:

When he first came into the league, Westbrook's game was the equivalent of an unneutered basketball puppy humping anything that wouldn't fight back -- firing off ~14 shots per game his rookie season, shooting 39% from the floor, and making decisions with the ball that ultimately produced a -12 net rating.

He was reckless. What made Westbrook so great, the ability and endurance to treat every possession like it was life-or-death, was ultimately his biggest burden. Whether it was a preseason scrimmage or NBA Finals game, it didn't matter -- the game played that day was going to be single-handedly decided by Russell Westbrook.

Sometimes it was magical, other times it was the Hindenburg.

This is the way things were up until the 2014-2015 campaign, when he not only posted the highest player efficiency rating (29.1) of his career, but, started harnessing his limitless 'angry' energy and applied it more productively.

In 2014, Russell Westbrook went from "Just wait until this guy starts using his brain" to a "Run for your lives, it's Point Guardzilla!" superstar.

Before 2014 any team in the NBA would have signed him in a heartbeat if given the opportunity, but let's not act like we all at one point didn't nitpick something about Westbrook's game until the start of the 2014-2015 campaign.

Fast-forward to 2016, Westbrook's long-time wingman, Kevin Durant, is gone -- off to Oakland to join the Golden State Warriors. Robin, at long last, finally has the keys to the Batmobile.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? We won't know the answer to this inquiry until the NBA regular season begins at the end of October. But we do know that Kevin Durant is one of five NBA players (LeBron, Durant, Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, Westbrook) that if you acquire their services, you are instantly an NBA Championship contender if you have a somewhat competent supporting cast to surround them with. You can even argue that Durant's presence is one of, if not the reason why Westbrook has evolved from basketball toddler on a sugar rush into the fully-grown machine of destruction he is now.

With Durant's heel turn to the dark side of the force finalized, what will Westbrook do with the limitless energy, ferocity, and all of the alpha male thoughts that run laps in his mind like they are paid commission by the mile?

Here's my prediction:

There's no way to put this politely: This upcoming season, Russell Westbrook is going to try and dunk on you, your family, and your entire ancestral tree.

It doesn't matter if you're an innocent bystander. If you play on the team opposing the Thunder, you are guilty by association. Death by posterization. We're talking Kill Bill Uma Thurman levels of vengeance here.

This man is going to take shots. Like, all of the shots. He is going to do things like go out-of-his-way to use whichever teammate is being guarded by Durant in a pick-and-roll so that when the Warriors switch, Kevin has to guard him 1-on-1. He is then going to try to decapitate Durant en route to the rim and wear his head as a hat around Oklahoma City.

When he had his best season as a pro (2014-2015), Westbrook recorded the second-highest usage rate (the statistic used to estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he is on the floor) in NBA history. That's second to only Kobe Bryant in 2006, when he literally dedicated an entire year to purposely not passing Smush Parker or Chris Mihm the ball.

Why was Russ' usage historically through the roof, you ask?

Answer:

Durant won't be around this upcoming season either. With Westbrook's progression from the NBA's Charmander his rookie season to Charmeleon during the Thunder's Finals run in 2012 to the awe-inspiring Charizard now complete: Russ isn't going to just break Kobe's usage percentage record, he's going to shatter it.

Westbrook is going to strive to accomplish what only one NBA player has done before him (Oscar Robertson) -- averaging a triple-double per game.

Westbrook is going for the award he's always thought he's deserved.

Westbrook is going to play with a tool he's never had in his shed before -- personal, traitorous blood brother revenge.

Therefore, I hereby declare August 4th an official NBA holiday. A day that not only recognizes his independence, but, a day that encompasses all things Russell Westbrook ...

Ladies & Gentlemen: This means war. This, is BroD-Day.