Russell Westbrook!!

[acieEarl]

He's pretty much carrying that team on his back. Other than Durant (whos out) that team is pretty thin. They're winning because of Westbrook, but barely. Don't see them getting out of the first round even with Durant. Credit Westbrook thou, he's doing everything for that team. He should get MVP this year.

[crimson_stallion]

And to think I (as well as many others) thought a Rondo for Westbrook trade would be plausible. Good thing you can't take Tommy Points away! 

Yeah I never understood those people.  Westbrook has always been clearly better than Rondo.  That said, I do think a trade could have been made where those two were the centerpieces but with OKC getting more value from Boston, I just don't think OKC ever had any interest in it.  Westbrook has always been the most important player to that team's success and they know it.

That's not true. 

During his peak seasons Rondo was at least on par with Westbrook, arguably better. Lets not forget the beast Rondo was in his beastliest days - he knocked out Rose and the Bulls by practically averaging a triple double over an entire playoff series...almost single handedly led Boston through that series. 

Rondo has gone downhill hard in the last few seasons though, and Westbook has only improved - these days there is obviously no comparison. 

[crimson_stallion]

Oh and P.s.

Durant is no longer the best player in OKC

[crimson_stallion]

He's pretty much carrying that team on his back. Other than Durant (whos out) that team is pretty thin. They're winning because of Westbrook, but barely. Don't see them getting out of the first round even with Durant. Credit Westbrook thou, he's doing everything for that team. He should get MVP this year.

I agree wholeheartedly - TP for you!

[saltlover]

He's pretty much carrying that team on his back. Other than Durant (whos out) that team is pretty thin. They're winning because of Westbrook, but barely. Don't see them getting out of the first round even with Durant. Credit Westbrook thou, he's doing everything for that team. He should get MVP this year.

Westbrook has been great, but that team is anything but thin.  Ibaka is a terrific player who creates mismatches on both ends of the floor.  They've got young bigs who can also create a spark in Adams, McGary, and Kanter.  They've got a great bench scoring option in Dion Waiters   They've got useful veteran role players for various situations in Nick Collison and Steve Novak, as well as young guys like Lamb and Roberson.  There isn't a player on that roster who resembles deadweight.  Thin is the last word I'd use to describe the Thunder.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Funny thing is his shooting percentage has been awful overall in those four games.  Scoring a ton of points because he is getting to the line like a crazy person and shooting a ton of shots, but not exactly hitting a great clip.

That said on the season he is currently at 27 p, 8.2 a, 7 r, and 2.1 s which puts him on pace for one of the greatest seasons in NBA history when accounting for pace (this season is actually more impressive than Oscar's triple double season given the pace).

He had one poor shooting game against Phoenix, but even with that game he has been shooting 42% over this amazing stretch. That's slightly less than his season and career averages.

Particularly with the way that his already ridiculous usage rate has actually gone up, it's pretty amazing that his efficiency has remained the same or even improved (according to the true shooting percentage)

[moiso]

And to think I (as well as many others) thought a Rondo for Westbrook trade would be plausible. Good thing you can't take Tommy Points away! 

Yeah I never understood those people.  Westbrook has always been clearly better than Rondo.  That said, I do think a trade could have been made where those two were the centerpieces but with OKC getting more value from Boston, I just don't think OKC ever had any interest in it.  Westbrook has always been the most important player to that team's success and they know it.

That's not true. 

During his peak seasons Rondo was at least on par with Westbrook, arguably better. Lets not forget the beast Rondo was in his beastliest days - he knocked out Rose and the Bulls by practically averaging a triple double over an entire playoff series...almost single handedly led Boston through that series. 

Rondo has gone downhill hard in the last few seasons though, and Westbook has only improved - these days there is obviously no comparison.

Yeah, that is pretty fascinating.  There was a time when I was against trading Rondo for Curry and I probably wouldn't have traded Rondo for Westbrook while the Big 3 were here.

[gpap]

Yes, I recall there were a few who blasted me for wanting to deal Rondo for Westbrook.

[manl_lui]

Yes, I recall there were a few who blasted me for wanting to deal Rondo for Westbrook.

not sure if I was one of them, but I was against the trade originally. I think there were a lot of people talking about it around 2010, 2011? Then I hated Westbrook with a burning passion. I thought he was a bad leader and that he wanted to be the alpha in the OKC, to the point where he wanted to take it away from Durant.

Last season and this season, I have grown to like Westbrook, and kinda regretted that I was against that trade. 

[Moranis]

And to think I (as well as many others) thought a Rondo for Westbrook trade would be plausible. Good thing you can't take Tommy Points away! 

Yeah I never understood those people.  Westbrook has always been clearly better than Rondo.  That said, I do think a trade could have been made where those two were the centerpieces but with OKC getting more value from Boston, I just don't think OKC ever had any interest in it.  Westbrook has always been the most important player to that team's success and they know it.

That's not true. 

During his peak seasons Rondo was at least on par with Westbrook, arguably better. Lets not forget the beast Rondo was in his beastliest days - he knocked out Rose and the Bulls by practically averaging a triple double over an entire playoff series...almost single handedly led Boston through that series. 

Rondo has gone downhill hard in the last few seasons though, and Westbook has only improved - these days there is obviously no comparison.

Rondo was never on par with Westbrook (at least in comparable years, I mean in 08/09 Rondo was in his third year and Westbrook was a rookie).  They weren't even that close.  Rondo certainly had some excellent games and some excellent playoff series, but Rondo is not and has never been the player Westbrook is or was. 

[Blaze4G]

First off I must say Westbrook has been out of this world the past month, no discounting that. However MVP talks and saying he is better than Durant? What an overreaction IMHO.

It seems like everyone forgot last year when Westbrook was out how Durant was also playing out of this world. He averaged 36 points, 55% shooting, 43.6% from 3's. Russell Westbrook stats sure are more impressive apart from his shooting percentage.

With Durant out OKC is 12-9

With Westbrook out OKC was 24-11

Now they had basically the same team before the reggie jackson trade. After the trade the team arguable got better. IMHO it got much better with Kanter and Augustine. Mcgary has also been playing good.

Regarding MVP talk, I dont think westbrook is close to the two front runners because westbrook was out with injury. Not only that but lets compare:

OKC is currently 8th seed, take westbrook from that team and OKC would be about 11th (better than lakers, wolves, nuggets, jazz). Possibly 10th if you think they would be better than kings.

Take Curry from Warriors, where do you think the warriors would be in the standings?

Take Harden from the rockets which is currently in 3rd without Howard! Where would Rockets fall? I predict without Harden they would be around 10th-11th. A team of beverley, ariza, dontas, brewer, etc would not go anywhere close to playoff contention in the west.

So the question remains, who deserves MVP?

To me it is clearly Harden.

Edit: Ibaka imo is far better than anyone else on the rockets team apart from harden and howard. Harden is winning with a bunch of role players while Westbrook has a "top" player next to him with Durant out.

[moiso]

Yes, I recall there were a few who blasted me for wanting to deal Rondo for Westbrook.

As recently as last year there were a lot of people claiming that Westbrook was a ballhog who hindered Durant.

[Endless Paradise]

Anybody who understands the game of basketball knows that Westbrook, while he has ascended up the ranks this year, is not a better player than Kevin Durant. I wouldn't take crimson_stallion's proclamations to heart; he's prone to veer towards sensationalism over realism.

[Moranis]

Anybody who understands the game of basketball knows that Westbrook, while he has ascended up the ranks this year, is not a better player than Kevin Durant. I wouldn't take crimson_stallion's proclamations to heart; he's prone to veer towards sensationalism over realism.

In 2012 (or maybe 2011) I remember Ric Bucher listing his 7 best players in the NBA and Westbrook was on the list and Durant was not.  Now granted it is 2015, but there are plenty of people that realize just how good Westbrook is and that he might in fact be better than Durant.  I'd lean towards Durant, personally, but I can see the argument for Westbrook.

[Endless Paradise]

How quickly people forget about January 2014 and just that whole season in general.