I don't know if the blessed talent of which Russell Westbrook speaks is of his personality or his play, but I'll be damned if I...well...give a fuck. That's just an all-time quote that should, at least temporarily, transcend however you may have felt about a player who has a tendency to be polarizing. We often say we don't care, but it's nowhere near as often that we actually remain entirely unscathed by criticism, so it is very much a skill to keep a blind eye to the haters and a deaf ear to the doubters. Now, I suppose it's technically impossible to say that whether or not that's a skill Russell Westbrook possesses, as he could very well go home and curse the name of every person who has ever criticized him into his pillow at night. However, if the lack of alterations he's made to a style of play that was seen by many as selfish during a season in which he chased both stats and history by design is any indication then he didn't exactly pay much mind to the idea that he's impossible to play with. Paul George is helping proving any negative commentary wrong in making a strong play for MVP alongside the former MVP, and it's not like the latter has had to go out of his way to pass up the torch (or a ton of shots, for that matter) for the former to do so...
The formula that presumably sparked Kevin Durant's exodus from Oklahoma City is pretty close to the same one that has the Thunder as one of the most well-rounded teams in the West and - ironically enough - one the biggest threats to Golden State. Therefore, I'm more than willing to believe Russell Westbrook when he says he doesn't give a fuck what people have to say about his hogging of boards and his floundering shooting percentage. For better or worse, he's unabashedly himself both on and off the court. Without naming names...or reptiles, that's more than can be said for even some of his more accomplished peers who merely dream of being internally talented enough to remain undeterred by the opinions of others.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
January 2020
|