While Durant and Westbrook were setting offensive records this season for triple doubles and most consecutive games scoring 20 points, Kawhi Leonard has quietly gone about his business and become one of the NBA’s five best players.
Where he ranks in the top five is still up for debate and we may need to see how these very playoffs end before we tackle the ranking. But most for sure have LeBron and Steph at one or two with Durant, Westbrook, and Leonard finishing out the top five. All in the top five have rings except Durant and Westbrook.
LeBron has two rings with six straight Finals appearances. He plays defense. He can guard any position on the floor. He’s a willing passer almost to a fault. But again, there’s never been a question about his defense.
Steph Curry has one ring, plus the distinction of being a back to back regular season MVP winner, plus the distinction his team just broke the Bulls’ record with a 73-9 regular season record. Curry doesn’t play defense like LeBron or Leonard, but ever since Steve Kerr and Ron Adams began running the Warriors, it’s been clear by Curry’s play he’s bought in on the defensive end and doesn’t loaf around defensively. Steph Curry put Davidson on his back and took them to a Final Four in the NCAA Tournament. For whatever it’s worth, Warrior teammate Draymond Green led his Michigan State Spartans to multiple Final Fours during his college days.
Which brings me to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Neither have won a ring in the NBA. Durant’s Texas Longhorns were beaten in the second round in his only college season. Russell Westbrook made two appearances in the Final during his time at UCLA, but never won a championship. Both Durant and Westbrook have filled the stat lines during their Thunder days. Both are considered generational offensive players, but two who somewhat coast on the defensive end of the floor, especially Westbrook.
Don’t get me wrong, Kevin Durant’s defense has improved immensely since his first season in the league, but still there are times you just don’t see the leadership needed from your star on that end of the floor. Same with Westbrook. Maybe in retrospect, that was the most important role Kendrick Perkins played on the team, namely staying on the two stars’ about playing defense and becoming complete basketball players.
Usually, win a Thunder opponent goes off for another career night, it’s either been Durant or Westbrook’s man doing the damage. Which is kind of sad because both clearly have the wingspan and skill sets to be excellent game to game defenders. In college, Westbrook was far more known for his defense than his offensive abilities.
But for right now I’m not going to rank my top five. Let’s see how this post season plays out. Let’s see if Durant and Westbrook can morph their games. All five of the players are in the tournament so we should get some direct comparisons. Let’s see who’ll get dirty and do the little things which lead teams to NBA championships. I want to see if Durant and Westbrook can do the little things against elite competition on the brightest lit stage.
Teams which win NBA championships play defense every possession and trust one another with the ball.