55 years later and Russell Westbrook is on a "Big O" mission
During the first month of the National Basketball Association, all the hoopla was garnered around Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors and how would Russell Westbrook handle being the alpha dog on the Oklahoma City Thunder for the first time in his 9-year NBA career.
Durant who was once seen as an introvert, low-maintenance, and soft spoken superstar, has abruptly turned into the villain.
Westbrook who was once seen as the superstar that was holding Durant back from winning championship, has drastically become the hero.
During the first month of the 2016-17 season, Westbrook has racked up heroic numbers, averaging 31.2 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 11.3 assists. He currently has 10 triple doubles to lead the NBA this season.
I’m watching, Westbrook go from stacking up single-game rebounding numbers of 17, 14, 17, 13, and then when he realizes his assists numbers are low, he is putting up single-game assist numbers of 17, 15, 14 and 11.
It’s as if he enters different nights thinking, “ Well Tuesday I need to get at least 15-17 rebounds and on Friday I need to have at least 15 assists in order to maintain this triple double”.
He’s doing a lot more than just messing around, occasionally getting a triple double, for he's virtually doing it every night!
In some bizarre cosmic way Westbrook has become the underdog that people are cheering for, yet Westbrook was never the underdog.
Can Westbrook average a triple double for an entire NBA season?
Will injuries be a barrier to Westbrook achieving such a feat?
NBA Hall of Fame point guard Oscar Robinson was the last and only player to average a triple in a regular season, averaging 30.8 PPG, 12.5 RPG and 11.4 APG in the 1961-62 season in 79 games for the Cincinnati Royals.
A time where the NBA only had nine teams, and teams were averaging 118.8 PPG, so the stats were inflated compared to today’s NBA that holds 30 teams and a lower league average of team's points per game, which was 102.7 PPG in 2015-16.
I’m not here to get into a debate of the eras, however it is evident that there isn’t as much scoring in today's NBA compared to the NBA in the 60’s.
More points equates to more stats and more opportunities to record more triple doubles, so theoretically it will be harder for Westbrook to average a triple than it was for Robertson.
However, just look at Westbrook’s month of February in 2015 where he averaged 31.2 PPG, 9.1 RPG and 10.3 APG in 12 games. In Durant’s absence that month, he averaged 31.2 PPG, 10.0 RPG, and 11.3 APG in seven games.
Westbrook has showed that is very capable of averaging a triple double for an extend period of time, for this season he doesn’t have to deal with Durant taking rebounds away from his average.
People who want to argue that Westbrook won’t last an entire season without an injury are just forgetting that he is one of the most durable superstars in the NBA.
Westbook played all 82 games, including all 66 games (lockout year) in his first five season and at 28 years old he has only suffered one major injury in his career.
Some fans will say that Westbrook doesn’t have enough talent around him to survive an entire NBA season without getting hurt.
It’s not as if this is the 2000-2001 Philadelphia 76ers team where a ball was rolled out to a team with players named “Me Myself and Iverson”.
Just because Durant is no longer in OKC, it doesn’t equate to the Thunder not having a good supporting case.
Victor Oladipo, Andre Roberson, Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Domantas Sabonis, Jerami Grant and Anthony Morrow are certainly good enough of a supporting cast to compete in the Western Conference
The Thunder are currently the 5th seed with a 13-8 record in the West.
Westbrook is on a mission, for he has that" inter-conflict" that Kobe always talks about. He attacks the basket and plays with ruthless aggression every night.
The mission of averaging a triple double for an entire NBA season may appear impossible in this era, but when it comes to Westbrook nothing is impossible.