I’m glad Russell is ending his career. Enough is enough. Maybe Kevin and James Harden will take note as well. Maybe not. You never want to stay around too long and diminsih your legacy, and quite frankly after the Denver thing with Jokic didn’t work out…I thought Russell should have ended his career last August.
An amazing NBA career for Russell minus a championship ring. An NBA regular season MVP and an All-Star MVP as well. He surpassed Oscar Robertson as the king of the triple double.
The lack of a championship ring does ding his legacy a bit, but you know what…Chris Paul, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson, and James Harden to date didn’t ring the Golden Bell.
Perhaps…if Sam Presti had put more shooting on the 2016 team which collapsed to the Golden State Warriors after leading the series 3-1… both Russell and Kevin’s Pantheon legacies would be Top 12 all-time.
Kevin’s legacy in my mind will always be weakened by the fact he took the easiest path to a ring, while Russell remained loyal to Sam Presti for making a role player-defensive guard from UCLA the fourth player taken in his draft class.
Now—I’m not one of these knuckleheads who has booed Kevin Durant, but the fact of the matter is I’d rather have a beer (non-alcoholic these days) and talk politics, sports, and fatherhood with Russell.
Russell’s favorite player was Kobe and my second favorite player after Michael was Kobe…so the fact we both massively disdain Trump and love Kobe would be a substantial human bond of sorts.
Again…Russell has the same birth year as my son, so I think I’d fall in line with what Russell is thinking as pertaining too our country right now and the enormous challenges his generation of fathers face given what we’ve turned into as a country since 2016.
I’d probably even let him know I’d be interested in becoming a volunteer and donor to his youth reading program for kids who need some assistance in Oklahoma City.
In closing. during the Thunder’s championship celebration parade there’s this memory that never leaves me when that ten year-old kid was approached by Isaiah Hartenstein and forever became etched in my heart when he lierally started crying he was so happy a Thunder player touched him.
Turns out the kid is a point guard in OKC youth basketball and his favorite player all-time was/is Russell Westbrook.
I think that’s where I’ll end this for today.
Kindness can never be underestimated.
Mike J