I’m glad it’s over. I’m drained, worn, and exhausted. But most of all I’m happy for Russell Westbrook, our city, and Russell’s family. I’m of the thought he should rest these next two games, but I’m not sure if that’s in Bad Little Dude’s DNA. He’s not the resting type.
I’ve pretty much seen every game Russell has played for the Thunder in his career. The journey of Westbrook from his rookie season to today has been tumultuous at times, but as a fan it’s been rewarding to see his evolution as both a player and a person.
He’s clearly this season’s MVP, James Harden is a very respectable runner-up. James Harden has teammates who can shoot every night. Russell Westbrook has teammates who lose their shots from time to time and on those nights Russell Westbrook has to be the whole package. I’m almost surprised he hasn’t devised a play where he can register an assist passing to himself. I’m not kidding here.
Yet, Westbrook has carried this team to 46 wins and the thought as a Thunder fan you can come to the Chesapeake Energy Arena and anything might be possible with Westbrook on the floor on any given night.
MVP means Most Valuable Player. Russell Westbrook is the most valuable player in the NBA this basketball season. The player who never got anything easy in his basketball career. The player who’s high school coach had to do some talking to get him into that Atlanta camp. The player who almost didn’t get a scholarship to UCLA. The player who had to be Kevin Durant’s second fiddle his entire pro career until this season.
This was Russell Westbrook’s basketball season when he turned into Michael Jordan right before our eyes. When Durant was still here, we thought Westbrook was Scottie Pippen, we were wrong. Russell Westbrook is the closest thing to MJ this league currently has and I’m fairly certain Michael would echo what I just wrote.
But here’s the thing, the real Michael Jordan did indeed have his Scottie Pippen. Russell Westbrook needs one Victor Oladipo to take a big gulp of air and become Russell’s Scottie—if that makes any sense.
We’ll see if Victor has it in him as the days play out this post season and beyond.
But for now, I’m just happy. Russell Westbrook gave me this journey to blog about this basketball season when back on July 4th… I wasn’t so sure there would be all that much to write about Thunder basketball wise.
I feel blessed to have watched it unfold.
It was quite something.