How Russell Westbrook Can Make 1 Final Push to Win 2015 NBA MVP
The fight for the NBA MVP is entering the championship rounds, and Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook still has some work to do in order to emerge in a crowded field.
Westbrook's odds of winning the league's top individual honor are long, as he's embroiled in the deepest MVP race in recent memory.
The Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry is the best player on the best team in basketball. James Harden carried the Houston Rockets while Dwight Howard missed two months with a bum knee, and he is putting together the best statistical season of his career (27.7 points, 6.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds).
Meanwhile, LeBron James' homecoming has helped catapult the Cleveland Cavaliers from one of the worst teams in the East to the No. 2 seed. Anthony Davis' meteoric rise is keeping the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans in the playoff mix, and Chris Paul's stellar all-around play allowed the Los Angeles Clippers to survive Blake Griffin's month-long absence.
| Name | Games Played | Points Per Game | Rebounds Per Game | Assists Per Game |
| Curry | 75 | 23.6 | 4.3 | 7.7 |
| Harden | 76 | 27.7 | 5.7 | 6.9 |
| Westbrook | 62 | 27.7 | 7.3 | 8.7 |
| James | 66 | 25.6 | 6.0 | 7.3 |
| Paul | 78 | 19.1 | 4.6 | 10.2 |
| Davis | 62 | 24.4 | 10.3 | 2.1 |
Still, while all except Davis have led their respective teams to better records than Westbrook's Thunder, Russ has the numbers on his side. He's averaging 27.7 points (tied for first), 8.7 assists (fourth), 7.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals (second) while posting a league-leading 11 triple-doubles.
Most importantly, he's been the glue that has kept OKC in the playoff race despite getting only 27 games from reigning MVP Kevin Durant, while top defender Serge Ibaka has been out since March 11 due to a knee procedure that has kept him sidelined indefinitely. At 42-35, the Thunder hold a half-game lead over the New Orleans Pelicans with two weeks left in the season.
However, as compelling as Westbrook's Superman act has been to watch, his MVP case still has some rough edges that need smoothing.
Make Better Decisions
Westbrook plays with a reckless abandon that is akin to a Fast and Furious movie or a Mick Foley cage match. Every game, he's Full Throttle Russell, and there's no chill anywhere in his 6'3", 200-pound body. It's part of what makes him one of the league's most exciting players, but it can also be equally frustrating to watch.
As impressive as Westbrook's gaudy offensive numbers are, they come at a price. While his 34.3 minutes per game are the third-lowest of his seven seasons in the pros, he leads the league with a career-high usage rate of 38.3 percent, per Basketball-Reference.com. His 21.7 field-goal attempts and 4.4 turnovers per game, both tops in the NBA, are also personal worsts.
To put those numbers into better perspective, consider that Westbrook has taken only 44 fewer shots than Harden's league-leading 1,390 attempts this season despite playing in 14 fewer games than The Beard. Making matters worse, Westbrook (41.9 percent) is the only player of the league's 10-highest shot-takers who is shooting under 43 percent from the field, per ESPN.com.
In fairness to Russ, injuries forced him to take on a massive role. With no Durant or Ibaka, the Thunder didn't have a better alternative than letting Westbrook be Westbrook. The volume of shots wouldn't be as daunting if Westbrook was connecting on a decent percentage of them. Instead, it's like watching a boxer eat three jabs just to land a hook.
As seen below, Westbrook has the third-most total turnovers of any player in the league.
Westbrook's aggressiveness was less of a concern in the previous two months when he averaged 31 points, 10.2 assists and 8.8 boards while leading the Thunder to an 18-8 record during that span. However, Westbrook is 27-of-81 (33.3 percent) from the field in three losing April efforts, and it's not crazy to wonder if the heavy workload is finally catching up to the NBA's Energizer Bunny.
Head coach Scott Brooks doesn't believe Westbrook's recent shooting slump has anything to do with fatigue, per ESPN.com's Royce Young.
"That has nothing to do with his minutes. His minutes have been good all year long and we've monitored them. He missed some shots. Every time you have a bad shooting game, or a couple bad shooting games, it's not because you're tired. It's just things don't fall. He competes, he leaves everything on the floor and I couldn't be more proud of him.
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Westbrook's shot selection and tendency to give the ball away have been fodder for critics since he entered the league in 2008. If he's going to change the minds of his detractors, he must find a way to be the runaway train he's always been without completely flying off the tracks.
Just Win, Baby!
One of the biggest obstacles that stands in the way of Westbrook's MVP chances is the Thunder's record, which is 13th-best in the NBA. As Sam Amick of USA Today points out, voters tend to favor the best players on the teams atop the standings.
"The MVP award almost always goes to the best player on one of the top teams – 54 of the 59 MVPs in league history led their team to a top four record, and 50 of those teams had a top two record. It may not make it right or just, but voters have a long track record of rewarding that success. … Were Westbrook to somehow win the award this season, his Thunder – at their current pace – would have the fourth-worst winning percentage (.567) of the 59 teams that had the MVP (and the worst since the 1981-82 campaign).
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Based on that league history, Curry and Harden are the obvious front-runners, as they've led their teams to 63 and 53 wins, respectively. However, Amick offered up a silver lining that gives Westbrook's MVP chances some hope by referencing Bob Pettit's award-winning 1955-56 campaign and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's nod in 1975-76.
Both players put together great statistical efforts on losing teams and still won the MVP award. They may be rare instances, but it still sets a precedent that could help Westbrook's cause. Of course, nothing will work to Russ' benefit more than finishing the final five games of the season in style.
Right now, things can go either way for the Thunder, as the team has a tough remaining schedule and New Orleans' gumbo-infused breath on the back of its neck. A few bad losses can take Oklahoma City out of the playoffs, further crippling Westbrook's MVP candidacy.
On the other hand, the club trails the Dallas Mavericks by four games and could challenge for the seventh seed by sweeping the remaining contests on its slate. Westbrook can't close the gap on Curry and Harden in the win column, but proving he can move the Thunder up the standings without Durant and Ibaka would be pretty impressive.
Russell Westbrook has put together a season for the ages that might have been good enough to win the MVP if the Oklahoma City Thunder had a better record. For the first two months of the second half, he was the best player in basketball and had his name aligned with some of the greatest players ever.
Unfortunately, the NBA season isn't only two months long.
If Westbrook is going to beat the odds, he will have to continue building on his historic pace by elevating himself and the short-handed Thunder to previously unfathomable levels.
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