Can Westbrook Average Triple Double Again
Marc Stein on Basketball
Russell Westbrook Makes Triple-Doubles Await Piece of cake. They're Non.
Westbrook, the Washington Wizards guard, is on track to average a triple-double for the fourth time in five seasons, making it seem almost routine. And so why doesn't everyone do it?
Russell Westbrook and Scott Brooks huddled by phone late Lord's day. After the Washington Wizards' eighth consecutive victory, and with the second half of a back-to-back looming Mon night against San Antonio, Westbrook wanted to do some extra strategizing with his coach.
It was merely a few months before that vi consecutive Washington games were postponed because the Wizards had been ravaged by a coronavirus outbreak. Their U-turn has been so dramatic, with Westbrook's play reminiscent of his Oklahoma Metropolis best, that Brooks couldn't resist interrupting the serious tone by needling his star guard.
"I told him: 'You've got to start rebounding the ball — only five tonight?'" Brooks said. "Merely busting his chops."
Those v rebounds Westbrook managed in Sunday's victory over Cleveland, to get with 14 points and 11 assists in 36 minutes, were indeed an anomaly. In nine of his previous 10 games, xiii of the previous fifteen and 16 of the previous 20, Westbrook reached double figures in points, assists and rebounds.
In his first season as a Magician, at historic period 32, Westbrook is averaging 21.8 points, 11 rebounds and eleven assists per game — with a league-leading 29 triple-doubles to hike his career total to 175. Denver's Nikola Jokic, with 15 triple-doubles, is his closest pursuer this season. With vii more triple-doubles, Westbrook will pass Oscar Robertson as the North.B.A.'s career leader.
This is where it'south important to note that Westbrook, who is on a course to average more than 10 rebounds per game for the fourth time in five seasons, stands half dozen-foot-iii.
The official stance of this newsletter is that Westbrook's forthcoming achievement should be celebrated heartily, at the very least for his relentless rebounding at that size, merely it's hard to say how much fanfare awaits him when he eclipses the Big O. This isn't fifty-fifty a record that Robertson knew he set at the time, since the term "triple-double" didn't come into faddy until the 1980s.
Another catchy variable: In my 28 seasons of full-time N.B.A. reporting, Westbrook is right in that location with Allen Iverson when it comes to the nearly polarizing players I have covered. Because of Westbrook's ball-dominant style, fickle jump shot, high turnover rate, occasionally brusk demeanor and, most of all, zero championships, it is often easier to notice his critics than his admirers.
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Every bit Westbrook closes in on Robertson, there is likewise a ascent tendency to dismiss triple-doubles as empty calories considering they happen so frequently in the wide-open up modernistic game. (Example: On March 17, Westbrook was 1 of vi players to record a triple-double that day.) Westbrook'south triple-doubles in detail tend to be discounted in a manner that others aren't, which he brought upwards in a video session with reporters later on Monday'southward overtime loss to the Spurs.
"I recall information technology'southward very interesting that information technology'due south not useful at present that I'm doing it," Westbrook said.
As covered in a contempo slice by my colleague Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, there were only eighteen triple-doubles leaguewide as recently as the 2011-12 regular flavour. This season'south full has already topped 100, for the fifth flavour in a row, pointing to the various offensive advantages enjoyed in today's North.B.A. The faster step of play creates more possessions, and thus more statistical opportunities, and restrictions on defenders have been designed to promote more freedom of movement on offense. Players are likewise encouraged to shoot 3-pointers at record rates, boosting scoring numbers and leading to more long rebounds. Old schoolers resistant to the 3-betoken revolution, in response, are decumbent to scoff at some of the gaudy stuff we see in box scores these days.
Yet this is where I feel compelled to repeat that part about Westbrook standing just 6-iii. He is the only player in league history at that size or smaller to average at to the lowest degree 10 rebounds a game over a total season.
"Information technology's a lot harder at 6-3," said Lafayette Lever, who went by the nickname Fatty and amassed 43 triple-doubles from 1982-83 through 1993-94.
Lever understands Westbrook's challenge as well as anyone. He was a 6-3, 170-pound guard who rang upward a league-leading sixteen triple-doubles in 1986-87, ahead of both Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and he didn't have Westbrook'south explosion.
"Russell is so much more athletic than I was at any point in time," Lever said in a phone interview, "probably from the day he was built-in."
Lever, though, had an exceptional knack for rebounding, which he credited to playing on a high school team with no one taller than 6-3. He however ranks 10th in career triple-doubles. It wasn't until Johnson joined the Lakers, five seasons afterwards Robertson's retirement, that triple-doubles were seriously tracked and discussed, merely among my N.B.A.-obsessed high school friends in the 1980s, nosotros associated triple-doubles with Lever equally much every bit with Magic or Bird, since he seemed like such an unlikely source for them.
Lever accrued all 43 of his triple-doubles in a six-season span with the Denver Nuggets from 1984-85 to 1989-ninety as ane of the driving forces on a team that, like Westbrook, wasn't always appreciated. Detractors at the time took event with the freewheeling style those Nuggets played under Jitney Doug Moe — and the wild scores and stats their games produced.
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Turbocharged statistical lines are a staple now in a league where 13 teams out of 30, inbound Tuesday'southward play, were attempting at least 40 pct of their shots from 3-point range. Cries of stat padding became commonplace in Westbrook's later years with the Thunder, and the hyper-sensation of triple-doubles — and a corresponding urge to chase them — is some other perceived advantage for the Westbrook generation. But Lever insisted that achieving the consistency of Westbrook's lath work is far harder than it looks.
"Information technology'south still a big deal," Lever said, "because non everyone is able to do it."
Westbrook fabricated like statements after the Wizards' winning streak was snapped by the 146-143 loss to the Spurs. Asked about his latest triple-double, which included 22 points, thirteen rebounds and 14 assists — albeit on ix-for-26 shooting — Westbrook said: "I honestly believe at that place is no player like myself. And if people desire to take it for granted, distressing for them. But I'm pretty sure if everybody could do it, they would practise information technology."
It's difficult to argue with that logic, although many effort. In 2016-17, Westbrook became the start actor since the six-5 Robertson in 1961-62 to average a triple-double for an entire season. That feat helped Westbrook, starring for the 47-win Thunder, get the N.B.A.'s showtime Near Valuable Player Award winner from a sub-50-win team since Moses Malone in 1981-82.
With a boost from his recent surge, Westbrook is on a course to average a triple-double for the fourth time in five seasons, which in theory should position him equally an M.VP. candidate. The reality is much colder: Westbrook has seemingly normalized averaging a triple-double and has been traded twice during that run, suggesting to some that triple-doubles aren't especially valuable. Or, worse, that he is non a actor to build around.
Washington caused him from Houston on December. 2 in a swap of disgruntled backcourt stars that sent John Wall to the Rockets. In January and February, Westbrook'south play was alarmingly inefficient and turnover-laden, with noticeably fewer rushes to the rim. Since the All-Star break, Westbrook has consistently played at a top-30 level, and Washington has a net rating of plus-iv.4 points per 100 possessions with both Westbrook and Bradley Beal on the floor.
Concern persists over Westbrook's five turnovers per game, and his curious slippage at the free-throw line to a career-depression 62.8 percent from 76.three percent terminal season, but the constant thrust Westbrook plays with has made the Wizards hard to baby-sit. His presence has not hindered Beal's scoring, equally some surmised when the trade went down; Beal is locked in an almighty boxing with Gilded State's Stephen Back-scratch for the league'south scoring championship.
In March and April, Westbrook became the first thespian to register at least 300 points, 150 assists and 150 rebounds in consecutive calendar months since Wilt Chamberlain in February and March of 1968, co-ordinate to enquiry from the statistician Justin Kubatko. Westbrook will never exist for everybody, especially without a ring, but Brooks couldn't take lobbied harder for the Wizards to reunite them when the merchandise opportunity arose. He coached him through nearly all of Westbrook's first seven seasons in Oklahoma City,
"The rebounding is the nearly incredible thing," Brooks said. "He goes and gets them. He just has that knack. It doesn't matter who's in forepart of him; he always has one more pace on his ladder. The will, the athleticism the competitive drive — I knew what our team needed.
"Eleven rebounds a game for guy 6-3? We'll never run across a player like him always again, not in my generation or my kids' generation."
Corner Iii
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You enquire; I reply. Every week in this space, I'll field three questions posed via email at marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com . Please include your first and last proper name, as well every bit the city you lot're writing in from, and make sure "Corner 3" is in the subject area line.
(Questions may be condensed or lightly edited for clarity.)
Q: The Knicks have overperformed this season. The front end part did not make any splashes at the trade borderline. Jeff Van Gundy recently mentioned on boob tube that the Knicks were "still incredibly limited" talent-wise. Their best histrion is Julius Randle , but the North.B.A. has been a perimeter-based league for some fourth dimension. How will Leon Rose accost this? — Wallace Leeth (Paterson, North.J.)
Stein: April has been a month for Knicks fans to savor. Genuine optimism and joy are tangible at Madison Square Garden for the showtime time in years. I suppose it was inevitable that someone would inject a sober dose of pragmatism into the chat, but it's as well difficult to quibble with the patient arroyo — so far.
The Knicks are ahead of schedule and well positioned to pursue signings and trades to bolster an offensively challenged roster, with considerable salary-cap space and ii commencement-round picks forthcoming in the off-season. Squad officials know they even so have plenty of work to practice to upgrade the overall talent, but that wasn't imperative at the trade deadline in March. It'south not like there was a difference-maker they missed out on.
It's true that this front role will ultimately exist judged on its ability to sign or merchandise for at least 1 certifiable star to pair with Randle, which means persuading an established player to embrace the challenge of playing in New York as heartily every bit Randle did. Rose and his management team besides have to brace for ongoing second-guessing about their first draft pick if the rookie guard Tyrese Haliburton continues to flower in Sacramento, since they could accept drafted Haliburton at No. 8 rather than Obi Toppin.
The Rose authorities, though, has done many good things in its first twelvemonth. The Knicks appear to take hired the right jitney in Tom Thibodeau, helped conductor Randle to All-Star status and can signal to promising development from RJ Barrett and the rookie Immanuel Quickley to commencement the injuries that have derailed Mitchell Robinson's third season.
There have been whispers for weeks that the Knicks' flirtation with the East'due south No. 4 seed has helped restore their reputation to the point that star players are finally prepared to consider them a destination franchise again. If that proves true, they will have multiple pathways to address the concerns you lot raised, whether information technology's by trying to sign a savvy old All-Star like Kyle Lowry or DeMar DeRozan on a short-term deal as a bridge to free-agent classes more star-laden than this summer'due south, or by using future draft picks (perhaps packaged with Toppin) to construct a meaningful trade.
Things could always go askew if the Knicks rush into the wrong deal, every bit they have been known to practice over the years, or if the squad's owner, James L. Dolan, decides he needs to get involved after abiding by the organization's programme to permit Thibodeau and on-court results do all the talking. But I would say that the Knicks have certainly earned a grace period through the end of this surprising season. This is a time for Knicks fans, surely, to revel in what's going right.
Q: Do they actually go the Oscar itself? Kobe Bryant was very involved in co-creating his picture show, which is why he was given an Oscar . Executive producers oftentimes provide financing and aren't involved as easily-on producers. In any example, good for them. — @FromMeadows from Twitter
Stein: In my exuberance Sunday night, I tweeted that Kevin Durant, Mike Conley Jr. and Rich Kleiman, Durant's business managing director, joined Bryant equally Oscar winners from the Due north.B.A. because they were listed equally executive producers for "Two Distant Strangers," which won the best alive activeness short flick category at Lord's day's University Awards. That's wrong.
They were role of an Oscar-winning film, just did non get awards themselves. Kobe took habitation an Oscar trophy in 2018 for the blithe short moving-picture show "Dear Basketball game," which was based on a poem Bryant wrote in 2015 to announce his retirement at the end of the 2015-16 season.
Q: I've never seen so many tweets and stories most a squad signing a guy to a 10-day contract. We've seen posts about Mike James virtually l times over the past week. — @MrWright1218 from Twitter
Stein: At that place are some expert reasons for that.
It's partially a part of where nosotros are on the regular-season agenda. In that location simply aren't as many roster moves happening this shut to the postseason, especially involving championship contenders, so the ones that do happen generate actress coverage.
Nevertheless it's also a byproduct of the circumstances. James was one of the virtually prominent Americans playing abroad, with a high-profile European club (CSKA Moscow), and he had a complicated contractual state of affairs to negotiate — as well equally 6 days' worth of health and safety protocols to complete — earlier he could actually join the Nets on Friday. The fluidity of James's condition led to more frequent updates.
Numbers Game
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50
Recording fifty wins in an 82-game season is a traditional marker for North.B.A. excellence. Winning 50 games in a 72-game season is obviously harder, only half dozen teams notwithstanding have a take chances to do and then with 19 days remaining in the regular season: Utah (44-17), Phoenix (43-xviii), the Los Angeles Clippers (43-20), the Nets (42-xx), Philadelphia (twoscore-21) and Denver (40-21). Of those six, only the Jazz (52) and the Suns (51) are currently on a pace to do and so.
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Nikola Jokic'south M.V.P. case will undoubtedly exist bolstered past his immovability in this pandemic season. Jokic has played in all 61 of Denver's games and has led the Nuggets to a 6-one record since Jamal Murray's season-ending knee injury on April 12. Philadelphia'southward Joel Embiid, widely regarded as Jokic's closest pursuer in the Chiliad.V.P. race, has played in 42 of the 76ers' 61 games.
9
Monday'due south domicile loss to the Suns, the No. ii seed in the West, brought a halt to the Knicks' ix-game winning streak. The Knicks have had but ane longer unbeaten run in the 21st century, winning xiii sequent games late in the 2012-xiii season, which featured the club'south concluding playoff booth.
37.five
The Knicks' Julius Randle leads the league at 37.5 minutes per game. Coach Tom Thibodeau has faced criticism for years nearly overplaying his best players; Thibodeau nearly likely would counter that Randle, at 26, is young enough to handle the workload.
13
This is Seattle's 13th flavour without an N.B.A. squad. The W.Due north.B.A.'s Seattle Storm have won three championships in that time, but the await for a new franchise to supervene upon the SuperSonics will soon take on a new dynamic when the Seattle Kraken bring together the Due north.H.L. next season. We're less than three months away from the Kraken'south expansion draft on July 21.
Hit me up anytime on Twitter ( @TheSteinLine ) or Facebook ( @MarcSteinNBA ) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Send any other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com .
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/sports/basketball/russell-westbrook-triple-double.html
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