Justin Cooper

November 28, 2018

Long after the final buzzer sounded in the Thunder’s Saturday night home loss to division rival Denver Nuggets, Russell Westbrook, coming off a particularly poor shooting night, made his way back onto the court at Chesapeake Energy Arena for a two hour shooting session.  Westbrook shot just 6-26 from the field on Saturday, going 1-12 from distance and 0-5 from beyond the arc in the fourth frame as the Thunder fell to 12-7 on the year, coming up short in the 105-98 loss.  While the former MVP has never hung his hat on stellar three point shooting, the 2018-2019 campaign has, thus far, been historically bad for the point guard.  To be fair, Westbrook has only appeared in 11 of 19 contests this season and will certainly see his shooting percentage from deep improve as the season progresses, but, out of curiosity, we wanted to take a look at how the Brodie’s numbers shooting the long ball this season stack up to his performances in previous seasons through 11 games.

 

There’s no way to sugarcoat it.  From deep, Russ has been BAD this year.  How bad? In his 11 games, Westbrook is shooting a putrid 17.6% from three, having heaved 51 shots from deep and converting only 9.  Over the past 4 seasons, Westbrook has tallied 32%, 33%, 37%, and 35% three point shooting through 11 full games played going back to 2014-2015.  Leading up to this season, the front office and coaching staff said all the right things, highlighting a commitment to improved shooting and better shot selection; and, to his credit, Westbrook is taking fewer three point shots than in previous years.  Excluding the 12 threes chucked up in the atrocious outing versus the Nuggets on Saturday, through his first 10 games, Westbrook had attempted only 39 threes.  The previous three seasons have seen Russ fire up 50, 60, and 54 three point attempts respectively through 10 games going back to 2015-2016.  If any positive can be gleaned from the Thunder superstar’s poor start from distance, it is that Westbrook had, through 10 games, attempted 1.5 fewer threes per game on average compared to his three previous campaigns.  Then came Saturday…

 

Westbrook’s 1-12 performance from beyond the arc came on a night that saw the Thunder go down early, losing the first quarter by 10 points and entering the half 24 points in the hole.  Thunder fans have become accustomed to seeing Herculean efforts from the MVP as he systematically dismantles defenses with reckless abandon; however, they have also had to make peace with the duality of good Russ and bad Russ. 

 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, and in case the entire basketball world doesn’t know it by now, Westbrook has a tendency to revert to old habits when the team surrenders a big lead or squanders one of their own.  For all his heroics (for which the Thunder faithful are very grateful), contests like Saturday’s reveal the inherent flaw in Westbrook’s game.  The fact that he is not a marksman from distance is easily mitigated by his uncanny ability to completely take over a game through freakish athleticism, unfathomable ability to get to the rim, and fierce competitiveness.  It is, however, that same ability to completely take over that sometimes results in outcomes like Saturday’s in which ill-advised, low percentage shots ultimately tanked the Thunder’s chance at a comeback victory at home.

 

The Thunder have proved this season that this team is capable of playing at a high level and winning games without their superstar point guard in the lineup.  A Thunder loss in 2016-2017 with Westbrook shooting 1-12 distance would be disheartening, yes, but more easily shrugged off considering the lack of offensive firepower possessed by the supporting cast.  This season, Russ, for the first time since Kevin Durant’s departure, does not have to shoulder the entire load.  Paul George, Dennis Schroder, Steven Adams, and Jerami Grant are collectively chipping in nearly 70 points per game, while the team is also enjoying meaningful production from a stable full of young, capable role players looking to improve their stock on a team that looks to potentially finish in the top 3 in a very crowded Western Conference. 

 

Pundits have a tendency to look at a single game in a vacuum, unnecessarily ascribing too much meaning to a loss or a poor performance from a superstar.  Thunder fans have seen ‘Bad Russ’ before and, history says, we likely will again; however, we have also seen, this season, a more mature Russell Westbrook capable of facing up against an arch rival Golden State Warriors team at Oracle Arena and masterfully executing as a facilitator and getting his very capable teammates involved in the offense.  Context is key.  On the back end of a back to back, on a night when the Thunder came out flat, shooting the ball poorly as a team and digging a 24 point first half hole, Russell Westbrook resorted to old habits and took a lot of bad shots that did not fall.  It was only one game and Westbrook’s numbers will ultimately look more like his career average, but learning to trust his teammates with the game on the line will be the most impactful change to his game.  In his 11 games so far this year, we have seen glimpses of what this team can look like when that happens.  While 1-12 from three is dreadful and a loss to a division rival at home is less than palatable, as the season wears along and this team gels, ‘Bad Russ’ should make far fewer appearances.  For now, Thunder fans should be thankful for a superstar that chooses late night shooting sessions on the arena floor after a rough shooting night over the comforts of home when everyone else has left the building.