Russell Westbrook's 2015 MVP Case Growing Louder by the Day
The stellar play of Russell Westbrook has helped catapult the Oklahoma City Thunder out of an early-season hole and into the Western Conference's eighth seed.
Westbrook is carrying the Thunder in what has been an up-and-down year for reigning MVP Kevin Durant, revolutionizing the point guard's reputation around the league in the process.
Injuries threatened to derail a promising season for the Thunder. Durant missed the first six weeks of the season following foot surgery, and Westbrook was sidelined for 14 games with a broken hand. The team was 4-12 before Westbrook made his return against the New York Knicks on Nov. 28.
While Durant's foot has continued to be an issue (he had a procedure to replace a screw in his surgically repaired right foot and will be re-evaluated in one week, per NBA.com), Westbrook has thrown on his cape and saved Oklahoma City from a disappointing campaign. He has taken his game to another level statistically and should be firmly in the discussion for this year's Most Valuable Player.
The Thunder are 32-25 and have won their last seven contests. In the month of February, Westbrook is averaging an eye-popping 29.5 points, 10.1 assists, 8.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 10 games. OKC is 9-1 during that stretch, with a very unlikely loss at the buzzer to the New Orleans Pelicans being the only blemish.
Even more important than the gaudy numbers, the 26-year-old's leadership has been key to the Thunder keeping things together in the face of adversity. Center Enes Kanter, who has been on the roster for less than a week, noticed Westbrook's command of the game almost immediately, per Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman.
""Russ is a really good leader," Kanter said. "On the court, off the court, on the bench. He just talks to guys. Communicates with his teammates and his coaches and everything and just makes us have more energy which is really good.”
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For at least this season, the Thunder is Russ' team.
Legitimate MVP Candidate
Westbrook has imposed his will on the NBA's statistical categories with the aggression of a teenager attempting to achieve the high score on every video game in the arcade. It's next to impossible to look at the leaders in traditional or advanced stats without finding the Long Beach Blur's name somewhere in the top half.
In 43 games, the UCLA product is averaging 25.9 points (second in the NBA), 6.5 boards (tops among point guards), eight assists (fifth) and two steals (second). He's tied for the league lead in triple-doubles with three, and his 29.17 player-efficiency rating (PER) is second only to the Pelicans' Anthony Davis, per ESPN.com.
Also per ESPN.com, Westbrook has a real plus/minus (the number of points a player adds or subtracts to his team's net scoring margin, per 100 possessions) of 7.36. That trails only the Houston Rockets' James Harden and Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry, both legitimate MVP candidates for their respective teams.
In the chart below, you'll see where Westbrook stands in other advanced metrics. (For the uninitiated, here's a glossary to help you with any stats you may not understand, courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.)
| Value Over Replacement Player | 4.7 (3rd) |
| Win Shares | 6.9 (12th) |
| Box Plus/Minus | 11.2 (1st) |
| Defensive Box Plus/Minus | 2.3 |
| Offensive Box Plus/Minus | 8.9 (2nd) |
| Steal Percentage | 3.2 (5th) |
| Assist Percentage | 47.8 (1st) |
| Usage Rate | 37.3 (1st) |
There have also been plays where Westbrook has displayed irrational confidence like this, where the point guard effortlessly zips a bullet pass to Serge Ibaka with the kind of precision that would make Madden developers blush.
Westbrook's defense has been solid. According to NBA.com, opponents are shooting 42.9 percent with him defending, compared to 44.4 percent normally. He's also posting a defensive rating of 101, per Basketball-Reference.com.
This season, the pool for league MVP is surprisingly deep.
Curry and Harden are likely at the top of most ballots due to both their individual performances and their respective team's placement in the standings—Golden State and Houston are first and third in the West, respectively. Davis has also been in the mix, but injuries and his team's record may hold back his overall candidacy. And you can never count out Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James, especially with how well his team has played over the last two to three weeks.
However, with Davis injured and New Orleans slipping out of the playoff picture, the opportunity is there for Westbrook to slide into the MVP discussion like it's a direct message on Twitter. To help make Russ' case, let's compare his numbers to the last point guard to win basketball's most prestigious individual honor: the Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose.
| Name | Year | Games Played | Minutes Per Game | Points Per Game | Rebounds Per Game | Assists Per Game | Offensive Rating | Defensive Rating |
| Derrick Rose | 2010-11 | 81 | 37.4 | 25.0 | 4.1 | 7.7 | 113 | 103 |
| Russell Westbrook | 2014-15 | 42 | 32.7 | 25.9 | 6.5 | 8.0 | 111 | 101 |
We are dealing with a smaller sample size with Russell than Rose, as the Thunder have 25 games to go, but what Westbrook has been able to achieve to date goes beyond impressive. If Westbrook can sustain this level of play, it's not crazy to think he can finish with numbers that rival or surpass Rose's stats.
Granted, no two MVP seasons are alike, but being in the same sentence with one of the best years by a point guard in recent memory speaks volumes to how Westbrook has evolved. He's playing with the same ruthless aggression that has been his calling card, but without the iffy shot selection and mental mistakes that we've seen from him before.
Success Without Durant
If there are obstacles standing in the way of Westbrook's MVP candidacy, it's the 14 missed games and the Thunder's less-than-stellar record. After all, guys like Harden and Curry have been playing at an elite level all season, as have their teams, while Westbrook didn't really hit the ground running until the start of 2015.
As seen in this tweet from ClipsNation.com writer Justin Russo, a player hasn't won MVP with a team winning percentage lower than 61 percent in the last 30 years. Golden State (81.5), Houston (67.9) and Cleveland (62.1) all cross that threshold, while Oklahoma City (56.1) currently does not.
In the last 10 years, the most time a winner has missed is just six games (James in 2009-10, per Basketball-Reference).
While Westbrook can't change being out for almost all of November, the team's rise since his return and his success playing without Durant are a couple of nice feathers in his cap.
In the games Westbrook has played, the Thunder are 28-14 (66.6 percent). That doesn't include the Oct. 30 clash with the Los Angeles Clippers, when he played only nine minutes after breaking his hand. Even if you throw that loss in there, the team still holds a winning percentage of 65.1 percent when he plays.
Westbrook has also played 15 games without Durant. In those outings, OKC is 10-5. Russ' stat line in those contests without KD: 30.2 points, 8.6 assists, 6.5 rebounds and 2.2 steals.
As Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman points out, that gives Westbrook even more of a chance to shine without his Thunder buddy:
"And it bears mentioning that Westbrook and the Thunder have been without Durant in three games already this month. That number is going to rise as he recovers from surgery to replace a screw put into his broken foot earlier this season. If the Thunder can continue to win at this high clip without KD, Westbrook is sure to have a big hand in it and that is sure to improve his MVP candidacy.
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Westbrook still has a ways to go to catch the league's other contenders, but he's clearly following the MVP blueprint KD left behind last season. With Westbrook out for nearly two months due to knee troubles, Durant excelled en route to hoisting the Maurice Podoloff Trophy.
This time around, the tables have turned and Russ is the one putting the Thunder on his back.
While the Thunder may never get to the top of the Western Conference standings, Westbrook's amazing production and ability to carry the team back to championship-contender status without one of the league's best players can't be ignored.
Russell Westbrook is on pace to have one of his best seasons ever, and right now, it doesn't look like there's much capable of stopping him.
He is playing at a level that we've rarely seen from an NBA point guard. With Kevin Durant hobbled, Westbrook has put the team on his back and is poised to carry them into the playoffs.
If he can continue to play at this insane level, the league could have two teammates win MVPs in back-to-back years for the first time since the Boston Celtics' Bob Cousy and Bill Russell did it 57 years ago, per Basketball-Reference.com.
Most importantly, Westbrook's evolution has raised the Oklahoma City Thunder's ceiling and made a dangerous team even more explosive.
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