It started on First Take following Westbrook’s historical triple double agains the Pacers.
I like that Stephen A thought to at least preference his response by separating him as a player and as a man.
In case you guys don’t know, Westbrook heads a foundation called Why Not? The website is called WhyNotFoundation.org and it’s all about helping local communities all around the country. I saw on there that he did a food drive in LA for Thanksgiving and gave out some shoes to those in need in DC.
Now, does his 35 point, 21 assists, and 14 rebound performance against the Pacers mean nothing? I’m not so sure about that. I’ve never seen something like that in my lifetime. I think we can all agree that’s one of the most incredible performances in the past 5 years. So clearly it means more than nothing.
Now onto Stephen A’s point about the long term implications of Westbrook’s performances. From an outside perspective, it seems like he has never had the ability to impact winning. In fact, Westbrook has averaged a triple double in 4 of the past 5 seasons and yet has never been in the top 3 in the West in any of those years.
In case you were wondering, Oscar Robertson’s triple double season brought the Cincinnati Royals to the 2nd seed. I also have to preface that with the fact that there were only 9 teams in the league at that point so who knows if that holds any merit.
Westbrook’s biggest downfall, in my opinion, has been his shooting percentage. He has only shot over 45% twice in his career and never above 50%. Normally that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world but when you shoot at the volume he does it’s going to create some problems.
On paper, someone averaging a triple double opposite of Bradley Beal should be a top seed in the East. In John Wall’s best year which was the 2016-2017 season, the Wizards were the 4th seed. Wall was averaging 23.1 points, 2.0 steals, 10.7 assists, and 4.2 rebounds. Bradley Beal that season was averaging 23.1 points, 1.1 steals, 3.5 assists, and 2.4 rebounds.
· Let’s compare that to this season. Beal is averaging 31.3 points, 1.2 steals, 4.8 assists, and 5 rebounds. Westbrook has 21.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 10.6 assists. All that had accumulated in a 17-29 record for the Wizards and they are currently 12th seed in the East.
This leads us to Westbrook’s wife with a strong response. This is what she said
“I don’t know how many times I have to be minding my own business and randomly be subjected to you slandering my husband (who also happens to be minding his own business, being happy and living his best life),” she wrote.
“Ironically, Russell makes history, and @stephenasmith comes out of nowhere to share his non-congratulations … Respectfully, I’m not a fan [of] yous.”
“Imagine if Russell let the words of a @stephenasmith say he did not care about his accomplishments. He’d be crushed. He wouldn’t be the talent he is today if he listened to @stephenasmith tell him he wasn’t good enough, or that he could only celebrate his accomplishments if he lived up to what THEY thought he should be.”
I think his wife is a little off kilter here. Obviously, she is his husband, so she is going to take something like this harshly, but the reality of the situation is that Stephen A Smith is a content creator. It’s his job to be critical and make the events of the NBA into something interesting. Smith did not come out with this take just to scream on the TV. He knows that it is controversial and it’s also something that he believes. He wanted to challenge people’s beliefs on the situation and made sure to say his words were purely about the game of basketball.
Westbrook finally came out and made a lengthy state of his own.
Westbrook obviously did not hear the original Stephen A Smith clip. He came out firing on all cylinders about his character. Russel takes this approach that the media perpetuates kids’ lives to be either good or bad in sports. The analyst at ESPN, Sirius XM, and myself have nothing to do with whether or not kids are drafted and where they go. There are scouts that do that for every single team in the country. Sports hosts make the game more entertaining. They elevate sports to another level and are part of the reason Westbrook can make as much as he does.
The other reality is that not everyone can make it. There will be kids that spend their entire life believing they can make the pros but will fall short of that goal. It’s the nature of competition.
For Westbrook, he has to understand that fame comes with a price. He has to be willing to accept that he will receive criticism for anything that he does. Sports cannot exist in a world where everyone thinks everything is amazing. Conflict and competition are why we love sports. More than anything, it’s a part of life. Sports analysts are allowed to think badly of other players from a professional standpoint and have their own opinion.
The story concluded with this comeback from Stephen A Smith.
