As I think of Westbrook…I of course think of where his landing will be legacy wise when his career is over. Where will his spot in the Pantheon be?
Bob Cousy has Westbrook in his top five point guards. Period. Ring or no ring. I need to see a ring or at least a season where Westbrook is the primary point guard on a team which makes the NBA Finals. I watched the Thunder intently in 2012 when they made their run to the Finals. In actuality, I thought Harden was the Thunder’s point guard in those twelve wins which propelled OKC to the Finals.
I don’t have Westbrook in my top twenty players of all-time even though I have him as somewhere in my top five athletes to ever play in the NBA. I have him right there with Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron as pure athletic basketball players. What keeps Westbrook off my list legacy wise is to date his inability win in post season without Kevin Durant. That’s why I think this season very much has a place in determining Westbrook’s legacy. This Thunder team has much more talent than say the Dallas team in 2011 which finally gave Jason Kidd his championship season.
As I go thru this season watching Westbrook attempt to come to terms with this I’ll be very curious to see how it ends in April. Can Westbrook nuance enough change in his game to get the Thunder back to an NBA Finals? My guess is no, but I want to be open minded about this as possible. I never thought this possible of an athlete, but there might be too much ‘dog’ in Westbrook for his own ultimate good.
I don’t think Westbrook is selfish. That’s not it. It’s more that he has too much ‘dog’ in him to pull back off the throttle when pulling back on the throttle is the play.
We’ll see.
But for fun I’m going to think of nine other great point guards who haven’t or never did win an NBA ring.
No. 1 Steve Nash