Perhaps Westbrook was not to blame after all

[Ogaju]

At the end of the day we are all who we are, and know one should know us better than ourselves.

For many years fans blamed Westbrook for being a chucker and not deferring to the 'better' player Kevin Durant. Well maybe Westbrook knew his teammate better than us. Maybe the coaches knew their players better than us. Leadership does not thrive on deference, leadership demands deference. Most were apologists for Durant in the Westbrook vs. Durant leadership debate. Yes, debate, because it was never a leadership struggle, and should never have been a debate. Durant never sought to lead OKC nor wrest from Westbrook the leadership he had assumed. In fact Durant in many ways has telegraphed his personality on and off the court, but the world refused to accept that one blessed with so much talent could be devoid of leadership instinct, but here we are with incontrovertible evidence that dude is what he is a follower and not a leader. The evidence?

1. This may seem trivial but why would a 7 ft tall guy list himself as 6' 9. If he was not deliberately avoiding the limelight?

2. The failure to demand the leadership position in OKC when Westbrook walked all over him.

3. When finally given the opportunity to go and lead a team he has chosen instead to go into a situation with three established superstars.

Durant knows himself better than anyone else does. Given a chance to declare his independence on Independence Day he chose the most dependent of the situations before him. Kevin Durant is who we should have known he is...

[Ilikesports17]

Garnett always listed himself at 6'11 despite pretty clearly being a 7 footer.

[mr. dee]

I'm guilty of this and I feel sorry for Westbrook. But that doesn't excuse him for poor execution in crunch time.

[jpotter33]

I've always loved Westbrook's fire, but I've always thought they weren't good fits for each other. I still don't think they are, but perhaps it's not as much due to both of them being 1A type leader options.

Durant might just not be a leader type, and he might very well be more of a follower and secondary guy than primary star. I'm not a Lebron fan at all, but you can undeniably say that he's always been the undisputed leader and best player on his team. In fact, it wasn't until Wade ultimately accepted this fact in 2012 in Miami that they actually started really winning.

Still, it's an absolute waste. He has the physical tools and God-given talents to be a top-10 player of all time, but he's going to squander that opportunity by taking a backseat and jumping on the bandwagon in GS.

[CelticSooner]

Westbrook was always the scapegoat of that team. I always felt like Durant got a free pass. He got his wish, more open looks on a 73 win team.

[Ogaju]

this is the ultimate redemption for Westbrook, a tacit admission by KD that when given a chance to chart his own course, to declare his independence, he opted to go and depend on Curry, Thompson, and Green. Time will tell but he may surprise us all and demand leadership when he gets to GSW though I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

[tankcity!]

The one thing I will say is that the reason Thunder blew the 3-1 series lead was because Durant had bad 4th quarters. So technically, he is to blame. Westbrook would also be better if he didn't need to play the entire game because of OKC's lack of depth. Westbrook is a two way player unlike Curry who got embarassed by Westbrook on defense. It was so bad, they had to take Curry and put him on Roberson. It's kind of unfair to Westbrook that he has to play the entire game and play both sides.

[chiken Green]

KD is no Apha dog. I have been saying this for his whole career..  The pressure of leading men into battle is not his thing. I guess at the end of the day there is nothing wrong with that..  It is what it is.

[Monkhouse]

I never understood why Westbrook was always the scapegoat.

Every year, people blame him. He's the villain. The notorious B.I.G. It was easy and deliberate to go out of your way to put the losses, the choking, and the un-clutch shooting on him, because he never seemed to enjoy talking to the media, his nonchalant attitude when addressed with stupid questions, and his response to post game interviews.

But as far as I'm concerned, he has that fire. Rebounding, and scoring like he does on the fast break takes plenty of energy and determination from said person. He may be a freak of nature, but he's a freak of nature, because he competes like that. Consistently? Probably not. Coach Nick has had more than 500 videos of bad mouthing, and how he led OKC into the 3-1 losses, because of his lackluster defense. Although, Nick clearly doesn't bring up the fact Durant also choked game 6, by taking mainly iso ball and hero ball shots instead of passing it up for a better open shot.

The thing is, not many people can guard Westbrook, 1 on 1, or on the fast break. Westbrook just seems to beat himself by taking even tougher shots or trying to be fancy with difficult finishes. But if he played the game the right way, under the coaching tutelage of Stevens, I have no doubt we'll get a walking triple double every night. 18/10/12/2 type of player, any time of the day, and I'm not convinced he's headed to LA. You'd be surprised at how much more he would love it here. He thrives on the crowds energy and gets loud whenever he tries to dunk hard to deter players from contesting. What better crowd, than the one crowd that lured Al Horford away from the meaningless bottomless pit that is Atlanta Hawks?