Although Russ won the MVP 4 years ago, it was a bit narrative driven based on the fact he was the first person to average a triple double in decades. He was still a great player, at least Top 5-10 in the league. His scoring, box creation, rebounding, and fast break ability were huge strengths of his. But it was sort of a consensus that he wasn't really in the KD/Curry/LeBron category, and most people had Harden higher ranked than him as well. However, I would argue that the system in Thunder really hurt his effectiveness. He played in super crowded lineups that featured many non shooters. Adams, Kanter, Gibson, Roberson, Collison and many other filled minutes in the rotation as there would routinely be at least 3 non shooters on the court in addition to Westbrook. So say you're build a system around prime Russ, like the present day Rockets. 4 shooters and Westbrook on the floor. Dat spacing though. In 2020, we've already seen that Russ at 31.5 years old can average 30 PPG on 58 TS% as the number 2 option with adequate spacing and some adjustments to his play. How awesome could he have been at his athletic prime in his mid 20's as the number 1 option in the right system ala D'antoni?
Still don't think he makes sense but whatever... we might or might not have to deal with an NBA season for a while and be embarrassed.
The triangle like post-up and fade away from around the free throw line reminds me of either Jordan or olujuwon, for sure. Westbrook usually goes to the fade away once a game.
Prime Russ had the right players around him but only D'Antoni could maximize him like what we have seen when Rockets went small ball before the pandemic. No other HC would have played 5 out with Russ.
