Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook yelled at each other last night. And now everyone is yelling about that.
But one thing that I think is very important to note is what this whole thing originated from: Thabo Sefolosha.
Westbrook, as he often gets, was hot and emotional about Thabo passing on a shot. So during the timeout, the team tried to calm him down. The leader of the team, Kevin Durant, was mainly charged with this. Westbrook didn’t like it and freaked out more. If you really think about the situation, you’ll realize it’s not as big a deal as a lot of people think. It’s not as if KD had taken too many shots and Westbrook wanted his. Or that Westbrook was ball-hogging and Durant was frustrated his teammate wasn’t driving between the lines. This was about Thabo Sefolosha for crying out loud.
You can hear Westbrook yell at Thabo loudly in the video above. “Shoot the f—— ball!’ And you know what, Thabo should’ve shot it. He was open in the corner where he’s supposed to take and make that shot. He passed on good setup from Westbrook and Russ being a point guard that felt he did his job to get his teammate a shot, let him down. Westbrook was upset because he wanted something else to shoot it. Shouldn’t that actually be viewed as a good thing?
We’ve heard Durant, Westbrook, Scott Brooks, Sam Presti and everyone else say over and over that arguments happen between teammates and players get frustrated. It’s a long season. These guys are together all the time. If you play pickup basketball long enough on a Wednesday night, you’re bound to get pissed at one of your friends on your team. It’s life in competition.
But it’s important to realize what this was really about. It wasn’t about Durant questioning Westbrook’s shot selection or telling him to know his place. It was about Westbrook getting upset at a teammate and Durant trying to be the leader and put everything back in place.
At GQ, Bethlehem Shoals said this much better than I:
Russell Westbrook lost it when his teammate wouldn’t shoot, the polar opposite of what we’re supposed to expect of him. In some ways, though, this might be the quinessential Westbrook incident. The intensity, even irrationality, behind this reaction goes deeper than egoism.
It’s an unreconstructed competitive impulse that makes his bouts of selfishness and futility more pitiable than malicious. In his own way, he’s as much of an absolutist as Durant. But while Durant is slippery, and savvy, trained to insert himself into any situation and win, Westbrook is still learning how to care too much and still have it amount to something useful.
Translated: Russell Westbrook is still immature and luckily, he’s just 23 years old so that’s sort of a natural thing. Remember when you were 23? I know I did dumb things. Lucky for me, I didn’t have millions of people watching me lose my cool and embarrass myself.
I can promise you that I’m not sitting here with my fingers in my ears saying, “LALALALALALA” trying to block out this noise. This isn’t a good look for the Thunder. It’s now another distraction the team will have to deal with and answer questions on. It’s all good still because the team is 3-0 and that’s what everyone wants. I think chemistry is a bit overrated in sports, but where it bites you is when things don’t go so well. Lose five in a row and that’s when Westbrook taking a bad shot becomes an issue. And if there’s a preexisting deep-rooted problem, then the fireworks might really start.
But like Doug Gottlieb said Thursday, it would be worse if they weren’t talking. It would be worse if Westbrook and Durant had the type of relationship where it was too awkward or touchy to get into it. That would signal something deeper and darker. An emotional outburst in a big road game though? Is that really that big of a deal? The whole thing happened in the span of a TV timeout and within three minutes, Westbrook and Durant were back on the floor together with KD drilling a sweet 3.
I won’t say this won’t come crumbling down. But it’s just not fair to paint this picture the wrong way. Westbrook didn’t want to be the alpha dog last night. This outburst wasn’t over the things that people wanted it to be over. Again, Thabo Sefolosha. Westbrook actually deferred almost everything Durant’s way late in the game, setting two picks that freed up KD for big shots.
Honestly, it’s more about whether or not KD and Westbrook’s games fit and a lot less about whether or not they like each other. You can be good and hate your whole team. I think this is also known as the Kobe Bryant Rule.
People want to say Westbrook and Durant are feuding. They want to say there’s a rivalry there, they want to ask if they can co-exist. They’re fine, at least right now. They’re talking, they’re yelling, they’re arguing and they’re winning.
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I can understand being a little annoyed that he didn't get his dime, but Thabo made a good basketball play--fake to drawn in extra defender, drive to pull Durant's defender wayyy off him, then pass to Durant to take an open 3 or drive against a compromised defense.
I actually feel like these arguments are kind of a positive from time to time. It shows they uber-competitive and genuinely care about the end results. The best time to learn from mistakes or wrongs is right when they happen with constructive feedback. As long as they are on the same page when they leave the bench, I'm cool with it. As long as it's not all the time, so be it. I would be more concerned if they didn't care enough to be that emotional.
I'm with Adande--this is just another example that Russ just doesn't fit the culture that Presti's trying to build here. I can understand being a little annoyed that he didn't get his dime, but Thabo made a good basketball play--fake to drawn in extra defender, drive to pull Durant's defender wayyy off him, then pass to Durant to take an open 3 or drive against a compromised defense.
Even before all this came out, and even ignoring the 0-fer shooting night, I hated the way Russ was playing defense on Pargo, like it was beneath him to try to defend a sub. Gambled way too much to steal against him, went out of his way to help off him when he didn't need to, etc. Reminded me of his contemptuous non-defense against Rubio.
@howlingfantods Who are you going to replace him with, having a certain culture is one thing, but doing it at the expense of winning is another. Right now we are a title contender, dropping russ for nearly any other player and we are a mid level playoff team that will be good not great every year. Kobe and shaq hated each other and still won and when they dumped shaq it took a few years to rebuild.
@f5alcon@howlingfantods Totally agree falcon. I spent all morning playing around on trade machine and there were only 2 people worth trading russ for. since Dwight Howard is untouchable the only guy is steph curry
@f5alcon I thought Presti should have considered the CP3 trade. Too late now obviously. I would also very strongly consider Rajon Rondo, especially if he can get Danny to throw in a first rounder or something. Obviously a much less able scorer, but makes up for it by how much he helps his teammates' offense with his passing and his individual defensive brilliance. Rondo is on a much better contract than whatever Westbrook will demand.
Disagree with Adande on the Stephen Curry suggestion. Rondo's a much better fit--OKC doesn't need more scoring, they need more passing, better team offensive execution, and better defense.
I'm confused. Royce....aren't you still like just 23? LOL
So thabo passed up a shot because the defender was running at him full-speed? Wow russell. He did give it to KD who had a good shot at a 3 point play and there was enough time on the shot-clock. I am sorry but this is no reason to get emotional like that. Royce, you wrote this like you were upset at Thabo. I dont know if that was your intention, but this "article" sounded like "Oh man this thabo guy again!!". The big thabo homer in me didnt like it.
@Jermaine i dont think his intention was to diss thabo. i thought he was trying to make the point that it was a thabo-westbrook (mild) feud that turned into a westbrook-durant feud through a bit of media spin
@Jermaine I don't know if it's Thabo's problem or the coaches, but if he isn't going to shoot that three - and I do mean the one from the play in question, I don't care how quickly the defender is closing (see one Daequan Cook for examples - then he shouldn't be sitting around on the perimeter waiting for the ball. This was not an isolated incident; throughout the game Thabo got the ball when he was open but hesitated and lost the open look. His defense on Gay last night was not enough to warrant his play time considering Gay was still getting his points and Thabo was a TOTAL offensive liability. Even Perk is playing better on offense and if Serge starts hitting his 18-footer he will be too. Either the coaches need to get Thabo cutting, he needs to start shooting, or he needs to be benched.
David Thorpe had excellent analysis on the situation. Westbrook is immature in the sense that when he's having a bad game he lets it affect him emotionally and either 1) tries to overcompensate by doing everything himself because he is so competitive or 2) being unsure of himself. this is a function of thinking about "why am i messing up" rather than "What does the team need"
We all know that Russ was a big pile of nerves in this game.Thabo not shooting the open three only triggered it.
I think Mayberry is the one that blew this whole thing out of proportion. Nobody else knew anything about it until he brought it up. We're all going off of what he said about the situation. If whatever happened was over after coming out of the timeout, how extreme could it have been?
I was thinking exactly what Russ said. I'm sure most of his teammates were, too.
Hey Royce, I know a brotha haven't been posting as I used to in the past, but what does a brotha have to do for some points on my comments..... :)
@GAP I used to have points, but then one day I had 0, and I've never earned them back. Or, I'm not even sure 'earned' is the right word. I just don't have them anymore. But it's okay. One day, about a month or so ago, one the livefyre guys posted on here that the points don't mean anything just yet, but there will be a day when they do.
So when that day comes, I'll be needing my points back. I think. Not sure why yet, but still. They're MY POINTS dammit!
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
Yeah, your're right.... It just felt weird when I have a big 0 on my pts.... LOL
@GAP@Jax Raging Bile Duct I have noticed that it shows wrong for myself sometimes but if i am not logged in it shows correctly.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct For me it shows that you have 34, idk if it's different for you or that you should have more than that, but you're certainly not at 0!
Brooks went way to long without calling a timeout during the drought. Big Mistake.....and someone in that lineup should have said look Russ you are off tonight give me the ball.
@OkcBaby To his credit, Russ only took 13 shots and a lot of them were good looks. 13 sounds like a lot, but he is the second best scorer on the team (though Harden may pass him up). I was more concerned about how often he lost the ball. That needs to get cleaned up in a hurry.
I really think this shows how good the thunder are... Could you imagine Z-Bo going 0-13 and the Grizzlies winning the game? or Kobe going 0-13 and winning? We're deep like that... Its a shortned season, so we just gotta work the kinks out and move on
@RRRWHOAAAA We were a little lucky that Conley didn't play. Though that rookie 'zag probably did just as well.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct@RRRWHOAAAA Pargo's legit, don't let anybody tell you otherwise!
@Jax Raging Bile Duct@RRRWHOAAAA Too me Russ' defense was almost more disappointing than his shooting.
Old man Kidd tonight. We ll see what happens.
I will be surprised if Russ doesn't lead the Thunder in scoring tonight. He's the type of personality that will want to come out and make up for the poor performance last night, and I bet he lights it up tonight. Hopefully he will and this arguement will be a non issue at least until the next one. Of course, if he comes out shooting a ton and we lose, it'll probably even cause more commotion.
@zsspanther Exactly! With all eyes on him, I bet he comes out of the gate firing on all cylinders. That's what we love about him: he's a competitor.
@zsspanther It will be Thabo's or Ibaka's fault
I agree with a previous post. I trust that durant had enough of a reason to get into it with a teammate like that. I bet it wasn't because Russ cursed at Thabo. I'm sure we will never hear exactly what the exchange was. Point is you don't see any other player on this team acting like that. And definently not to durant.
All of a sudden Thabo is supposed to be Ray Allen. hahaha Thabo played well. Scape goat
@OkcBaby
Thabo did play well, which makes him passing up a wide open 3 even more puzzling.
@anonymous12345 Thats part of the reason he is playing well. He didnt feel comfortable shooting it. Its called shot selection. So he gave it to the best player on the team with a higher percentage shot.
@Daniel Hawaii@anonymous12345 But that wasn't the only time Thabo did that in the game. He consistently shrunk away from shooting open 3's. He took all of 3 shots in a game where the opposing D was essentially daring him to shoot. If he isn't even going to try to play offense, then what's the point?
@anonymous12345 To be fair, Thabo was open for maybe a split second, but Rudy Gay was closing in on him fast. Thabo doesn't exactly have a lightning quick Daequan Cook-like release, so I don't blame him for not taking shot and instead finding KD, who eventually got to the line.
This is more about Russell being frustrated about his poor shooting night, and a singular moment of frustration that later blew up into something more than it really is.
@OkcBaby
Whats a better shot selection than a wide open jumpshot? He had already hit a 3 earlier in the game. He's an NBA 2 guard, if he doesn't feel comfortable shooting a wide open 3, then there is a serious problem.
I cant tell you how many times that as a point guard, ive gone off on teammates, even close friends, for blowing my beautiful setup. I see no problem with this. It's what youre supposed to do. It just got a) carried away and b) taken out of context
@JimboSlice I agree. Didn't MJ chew people out and yell at them? Larry Bird too. When a person has very high expectations, that person demands a lot from those around him. Thabo has the ability. If Thabo doesn't have confidence, he's not going to gain the needed confidence by passing on the shot.
@jallenmorris@JimboSlice
I have high expectations too, I expect my starting PG to make atleast one basket in a game....
@GAP@jallenmorris@JimboSlice And everyone is calling him out on that. But on a play where he did the right thing, he ends up getting ripped. Going 0-13 did not mean he didn't have any good plays. He had a bad game; he didn't fail 100% of the time. And he is almost never as bad as he was last night.
@jallenmorris@JimboSlice The thing no one seems to be asking is why did Durant take exception to the treatment of Thabo. I find myself trusting Durant's take on the situation.
@OkcBaby@BradTGR@jallenmorris@JimboSlice The point is, he doesn't need to be babied. If he can't take criticism, he needs to get off the court. Same is true for LeBron.
@yehoshuagardner@BradTGR@jallenmorris@JimboSlice Why does Lebron need confidence in the 4th? Who knows
@OkcBaby@BradTGR@jallenmorris@JimboSlice Why does Thabo need help with confidence? Is he in high school? He's a starting NBA SHOOTING guard. Shoot the ball.
@BradTGR@jallenmorris@JimboSlice How is yelling at Thabo going to help his confidence. Exactly its not. KD is right.
@jallenmorris@JimboSlice Problem with this argument is that MJ and Bird were the best players on their teams.
@BradTGR@JimboSlice Having competitive drive doesn't require a person to be the best on the team. Also, notice that it doesn't sound like Durant was telling Russ that he was wrong, but just to calm down.
@jallenmorris@JimboSlice MJ and Larry Bird. Didnt whine at the refs and go 0-13 and turn the ball over like that much either
@jallenmorris@JimboSlice They were pretty good defenders as well.