Sunday Shootaround: Why Russell Westbrook plays like this

BOSTON -- The following things should not be mentioned to Russell Westbrook: triple doubles and the pursuit thereof, Kevin Durant, rest, his shot selection, his usage rate, et cetera, et cetera.

When he is asked about any of these things, Westbrook tends to shut down the questioner with an icy stare much to the delight of websites like the one you’re reading. When he does answer in any way, his words rocket around the internet and find their way onto websites like the one you’re reading. Either way he makes great, if reluctant, content.

On the list of approved Russ topics: his teammates. Seriously, his eyes light up when the attention is directed elsewhere.

"That’s the best part of the game, to see the smiles on their faces and the breakthroughs they have as individuals," Westbrook said. "Once you put in all the work pre-practice and post-practice and see it in a game and see it in play, that’s a great feeling."

It’s easy to say Westbrook is misunderstood, but that doesn’t get us anywhere useful. The truth is we’ve never been able to truly understand Russ as a player, or what makes him tick. Better to suggest that Westbrook is the most interesting player in the NBA this season precisely because he’s the most inscrutable. Peruse any of the in-season lists for Most Valuable Player and Westbrook is at the top of every one. Peruse any of the numerous media outlets that cover the sport and you won’t find a single soft-focus feature or profile.

Beyond banal daily quotes, his game does all the talking. It’s a steady assault from the opening tip to the final buzzer, filled with end-to-end dashes, brilliant passes, clutch threes, and monstrous dunks. Russ plays with one speed and that speed is always revved to the highest levels of his speedometer. That it burns hotter than everyone else’s is his greatest strength. Asking him to temper his approach is counterproductive at best and sheer negligence at worst.

"I just read and react," he said, providing a perfect distillation of his work. "The game will tell you what to do on the floor, and that’s what I try to do."

Of course, those instincts are fortified by hours of film work and prep, which is not for public consumption. What he does and how he goes about doing it are different things. So, round and round it goes. On the court, Westbrook is a delight. His numbers are eye-popping, but it’s the visceral feel of watching him play that truly sets him apart from everyone else. Off the court, he’s a cypher, at least to everyone outside the Oklahoma City bubble.

There is one maddening question at the heart of any Russell Westbrook discussion: is this a good thing? Can your best player soak up so many tangible things in the box score, and still be a positive influence on a winning culture? This is the crux of the Westbrook debate and to the Thunder, the answer is obvious.

"He’s a guy that impacts the game maybe like no other player in this league," his coach Billy Donovan said. "Because he’s so rare and impacts the game in so many different ways, you see the usage and the amount of time he’s playing and say, ‘is this sustainable?’ I look at it the other way. Are we playing the right way, are we playing together as a team, and what are his minutes like? This is not a guy that’s playing 42 minutes a night. When he goes out there he’s going to play to who he is, and I think he also understands that in order for our team to be the best we can be he’s got to incorporate and help everybody grow as players."

The Thunder are a decent, but hardly great team. They’ll make the playoffs but aren’t expected to do much damage once they get there. Maybe they’ll exact a pound of flesh from some contender forced to keep up with Westbrook. Maybe they’ll even win a round against the right match-up, but no one is seriously considering them a threat to emerge from the Western Conference.

That’s to be expected, considering the way they lost Durant in the offseason. General manager Sam Presti didn’t have a lot of time to recover, but he had already managed to pull off a coup when he traded veteran Serge Ibaka for Victor Oladipo and rookie big man Domantis Sabonis. Would they be better with Ibaka in the lineup today? Probably, but Presti has always played the long game even before KD jumped ship.

There may not be a second star on the roster at the moment, but Oladipo was coming along before a wrist sprain knocked him out of the lineup. Steven Adams is the kind of burly but skilled big man anyone would want and Enes Kanter has been a reliable bench scorer. The bulk of their roster is made up on young players in their early 20s. Some of them are rookies, while the rest are playing meaningful minutes for the first time in their careers. Given the parameters in place, Westbrook’s dominating presence is absolutely necessary.

What the Thunder are and what they can be with the benefit of time are not the same thing. This is obviously a transition year and it speaks well to the amount of talent Presti and his crew have amassed that they haven’t completely fallen apart. Unlike so many other teams that lost a great player, the Thunder haven’t cratered into the abyss.

There’s a decent core to begin the rebuilding process, but the Thunder’s continued relevance mostly speaks to how overwhelming a force Westbrook is and where he ranks among the game’s elite. The mark of a great player isn’t just winning championships and awards, it’s making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. In his own way, Westbrook has done exactly that.

Presti’s challenge, assuming Westbrook does stay in OKC for the duration, is to construct a team around his unique franchise player. To that end, Presti and the Thunder were given a gift -- some would call it overdue payback -- when they were granted an exception under the new terms of the collective bargaining agreement. As reported by Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, both the Thunder and the Rockets could grant the newly created super max upon their superstars: Westbrook and James Harden, respectively. That would allow OKC to re-sign Westbrook this summer to a five-year extension worth $219 million on top of the $28.5 million he’d make in 2017-18.

Given the new rules, it’s possible that we could see a future when single-star franchises become the norm. As with all CBA talk, we won’t know the full extent of the rules for years to come, and it will be at least that long before the cap spike begins to level off and we get a truer picture of the landscape. As they were under the prior CBA, the Thunder will be a fascinating test case.

While that’s an interesting academic exercise, it gets away from the very reason that makes Westbrook so compelling. Consider the final stretch of their game against the Celtics on Friday: tie game, on the road, with his counterpart Isaiah Thomas beginning to heat up. Westbrook scored 17 of the Thunder’s final 20 points. He converted an and-one. He knocked down threes in front of Marcus Smart and then Avery Bradley. He shimmied. He stared. He drove daggers through the parquet.

"Why not?" he said. "That’s my motto. That’s what I stand by. That’s what I believe in. Just continue to tell yourself ‘why not?’ Continue to strive and make the right play to help your team win."

Russell Westbrook was everything and the Thunder needed everything he had to give. The subsequent triple double -- 45 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists -- was beside the point. He’s made the entire concept seem superfluous and there’s no point in asking about it anymore. It’s just there to be marveled at, and it’s phenomenal to behold. Why not, indeed.

Christmas Day is the NBA’s version of Festivus. There are so many games and so much family time to be shared that we thought it would be helpful to provide a few conversation starters to bring everyone under our big tent.

Boston vs. New York: Isaiah Thomas is averaging 27 points a game. No, they’re not related. Kristaps Porzingis is what Dave DeBusschere would have been if they let big men shoot from distance. Also his mixtape is fire. Please tell me more about the ‘80s Celtics or the 1969 Knicks. That never gets old.

Golden State vs. Cleveland: LeBron James is the best player since Michael Jordan, and when it’s all said and done there will be a debate between who was better. Kevin Durant prioritized quality of life in his work decision and we all should be so fortunate as to have agency over our own destinies. (Wait, this got contentious. Let’s steer it toward safer ground.) Did you know Tristan Thompson is dating a Kardashian? Those Steph Currys make for some fine tennis shoes.

San Antonio vs. Chicago: Do you side with Gibbon’s classical formulation or Demandt’s sprawling rationale regarding the fall of Rome? I’m torn between Pop-Kerr in 2020, or Kerr-Pop. The secret to the Spurs success is it’s a secret. Think about that. Jimmy Butler is the second best player in the East. Probably.

OKC vs. Minnesota: Unicorns are mythical creatures who shoot threes and something-something. Look, no one really knows what makes a unicorn but there’s one right there. His name is KAT and he gets yarn. It’s pronounced Thibs, like thimble. Russell Westbrook is averaging a triple double … just like Oscar Robertson. Please tell me more stories about Oscar Robertson. That never gets old.

Clippers vs. Lakers: Finally, everyone else is asleep and we can all get back to doing what we always do at 10:30 on a Sunday night: make jokes about the Clippers. Thanks to everyone for reading. Safe travels and be excellent to one another.