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Podcast Ep. 4 + || Newsletter: How uncontrollable circumstances affect our careers, lives, and play via the career/legacy of Russell Westbrook.
Hey everybody,
Sit back, relax with a glass of vino, and set the mood with this song by Lana Del Rey before you dive in.
I’m so excited to share Episode 4 of the podcast.
from True Hoop and I explore several topics near and dear to my BASKETBALLWEATHER heart, including: The NY Knicks, why winning is so hard in the NBA, fentanyl, American Exceptionalism, and nepo babies.You can now access the podcast via Apple Podcast, Spotify, and YouTube. Please like and subscribe to the shows there! One thing I would really appreciate is reviews of the podcast on those platforms. Reviews go a long way in the land of the algorithm, so the more reviews the more accessible the BASKETBALLWEATHER podcast becomes, and the more BASKETBALLWEATHER we get to do together. If you haven’t already, please share this newsletter with your friends.
For today’s newsletter, we return to one of my favorite players of all time. Well, sort of. I have a complicated history with Russell Westbrook.
Ages ago, when he was young, I remember watching him play in person and getting a major boner. He was sooooooo gooooood. To be precise, he was flashy and athletic in a way that very few players are, or have been since.
One player that comes to mind is Derrick Rose. I never saw him play in person but it’s impossible to be an NBA fan of the last, oh, 15 years, and not have a crush on Rose. He, like Westbrook, brought a pizazz to his game, that was impossible to ignore when you watched him play for those early Tom Thibodeau Chicago Bulls teams.
Of course, we all know what happened with the Rose injury, a beautiful career was thwarted, and Rose was forced to pivot into more of a bench player who, remarkably, is still in the NBA today, a journey worthy of its own essay.
But unlike Rose, Westbrook has remained, as athletic as ever, even now as he is galloping into his mid-30s. He’s not the same athlete he was before, who can be, but he’s something of a marvel no less, one where you barely have to squint if you want to see flashes of the player he once was when he was in his prime.
After the OKC Thunder broke up, a team that once hosted Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook, who, from now on, I’m just going to start calling “The Millennials;” for some reason Westbrook seems to have been the one who has gotten the worst rap.
Though all three of those players have won an MVP, it’s only Westbrook’s MVP that seems to have an asterisk beside it.
Nevermind that he averaged a triple-double the year he won the award!!! To the uninitiated, that’s like getting the most clicks on your IG posts, every single day for an entire year.
But honestly, this rant is not even about Westbrook’s legacy. Nor is it about the way the NBA has changed from under Westbrook’s feet to turn him into the most lambasted and regrettable MVP of the last two decades.
It’s about circumstance.
Circumstance is an interesting concept. I’ve heard it described by former NBA players in several ways, but the definition that always rings true, perhaps because it’s most relatable, is that the very best players in the NBA, the Steph’s, the KD’s, the Tatum’s, those guys can rise to the top on almost any team in almost any circumstance. No, fuck it. In any circumstance.
Where things get interesting is for the rest of us. I say us, because, let’s imagine for a second that most of us in this community are at least halfway-decent at what we do. Perhaps we’re not the best, but we’re solid, even very good, perhaps even very very-very-very good.
We’re maybe what would be considered “role players” in the NBA, or if we’re lucky, All Stars.
Perhaps one or two of us is even an MVP-like player, essential to the success of the overall organization, like my wife is to our family.
How much of our success, then, comes down to circumstance? The place we were born. The schools we attended. The parenting we had. The opportunities that were given, etc.
Were they all good? Probably not all. But many of us probably had some pretty good situations in our lifetimes, situations that allowed us to excel in certain ways that would not have been possible had we not been put into those situations.
Prior to, and up until winning the MVP, Westbrook was kind of in that situation/circumstance.
The NBA he entered in 2008 was one where power was prioritized.
Athleticism was still seen as the dominant asset for players in the eyes of media, fans, and scouts.
Speed and agility mattered as much, or in certain cases, more, than lofty concepts like court vision or mind for the game.
A player like Westbrook really benefited off of an NBA that prioritized athleticism, and when that same NBA decided to shift, for reasons that my buddies at
can speak to far better than I can, that same athleticism that was Russell Westbrook’s calling card, lost its shine — ie: the skills that Westbrook brought to the table suddenly became less urgent. Ie: The ability to dunk a basketball or play inside of the paint, became supplanted by the ability to shoot from range, or move without the ball, not exactly Westbrook’s most dynamic skills.Ten or so years ago, watching Westbrook fly from the three point line to the rim for a put-back jam was electric, and deemed great basketball. Now it’s hardly seen as good basketball, perhaps even unnecessary. The game evolved, became far more heady, and with it the athletic players who might’ve been the most important players just a few short years ago, have lost there advantage, and a little cultural swag alongside with it.
No matter what you do, I think it’s good to keep this in mind. Sometimes you’re up and sometimes yur down.
And here’s the beauty, circumstances can change. Generations evolve. It’s why I’m actually so excited to see what happens when Russell Westbrook and Nikola Jokic start sharing the court together this upcoming 2024/2025 NBA season. Could there be a more ironic pairing?
I think they’re going to get a decent amount of playing time together, given the needs the Denver Nuggets have, and if there’s any genius who can unlock Russell Westbrook, it’s got to be Jokic, the most brilliant player in the league, perhaps ever, who ironically happens to be its most lethargic and physically unimpressive as well.
Schwarzenegger and DeVito. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Cheech and Chong? I don’t know.
What I do know is that it’s going to be the buddy movie of the year.
I gotta admit, it took me some time to get around to Jokic’s game. I’m attracted to a playing style of an aggressive piranha like Westbrook. The more cerebral NBA game doesn’t excite me as much as the pop-pop-zap of a player like Zion Williamson who can jump over your head. But Jokic is Jokic, and his game, over time, grew on me.
I’m fascinated to see what happens when these two mismatched NBA athletes team up. One, a passing and scoring master, who is still very much in his prime, and the other a scion of a fading basketball style that may still come back to haunt the NBA now that old man Westbrook is being welcomed by the NBA’s resident Splinter (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!), into a circumstance where his aging, yet still dynamic skillset, might prove urgent once again.
Thank U for reading. For more BBW check out BASKETBALLWEATHER: The podcast on Spotify, Apple, Youtube, or right here in the Substacky-licious platform. We go a lot deeper than we have time for in these posts, and if you’re a fan of what do here, you’ll really enjoy it.
Till next time,
BBW
After the starting unit of Jokic, Murray, Gordon, Porter, and Braun rotate, look for a Jokic, Porter, Westbrook, Watson, and Strawther rotation, then running with a Murray, Gordon, Braun, Westbrook and Saric group.
I bet the Russ/jokic team up will be one of the bigger stories in the nba this year. Either it becomes super problematic or, more likely, looks really good for most of the season. I think it will be good and a Westbrook resurgence with jokic would be super cool to see. But, I’d be skeptical for it to work in the playoffs.