{"id":471359,"date":"2021-05-04T15:36:08","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T19:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=471359"},"modified":"2021-05-04T15:36:10","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T19:36:10","slug":"its-time-to-give-russell-westbrook-the-respect-he-deserves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/its-time-to-give-russell-westbrook-the-respect-he-deserves\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Time To Give Russell Westbrook The Respect He Deserves"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fits-time-to-give-russell-westbrook-the-respect-he-deserves%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=471359&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1316181483.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>It\u2019s probably about time we put some respect on the man\u2019s name.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Russell Westbrook, who for years has taken a beating from the fans and the more analytically inclined <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/news\/thunder-latest-playoff-failure-russell-westbrook-okc-question\/3y78tq7ri5j6zyg6nf5rnfsy\"><span>media members<\/span><\/a><span>, is the same player he\u2019s always been. It\u2019s just taken us until now to fully appreciate him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>If the world didn\u2019t yet appreciate Westbrook the player, Monday night\u2019s historic performance \u2014 14 points, 21 rebounds and 24 assists \u2014 did the trick.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s only the third time in NBA history that a player has gone for 20-plus rebounds and 20-plus assists in a game. The first was NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain in 1968. The second? Russell Westbrook back in 2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Few saw this coming when the Houston Rockets and Washington Wizards swapped their polarizing point guards in the offseason\u2014 John Wall was sent to Houston and Westbrook to Washington. It was simply seen as two teams trading away one problematic, overpaid superstar for another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As it turns out, the two point guards shouldn\u2019t even be mentioned in the same sentence. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Yes. The Daily Wire is covering sports \u2013 without the woke. Want more? <\/i><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe?utm_source=adwords&#038;utm_term=daily%20wire&#038;utm_campaign=Search+-+Daily+Wire+Brand&#038;utm_medium=ppc&#038;hsa_kw=daily%20wire&#038;hsa_ad=432007871445&#038;hsa_src=g&#038;hsa_ver=3&#038;hsa_grp=71680674390&#038;hsa_cam=927227687&#038;hsa_tgt=kwd-316236076046&#038;hsa_acc=6411461344&#038;hsa_mt=p&#038;hsa_net=adwords&#038;gclid=Cj0KCQjw1PSDBhDbARIsAPeTqrfwVNC1MZnI5ZRWdzEbOk3Pjz0oFVeTr7sA8iGOgsyrhbqydkk91vsaAkuXEALw_wcB\"><b><i>Become a member.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>The season started out with the usual narrative around Westbrook \u2014 he still continues to take too many three\u2019s, he doesn\u2019t make his teammates better, the triple-doubles aren\u2019t really that impressive in today\u2019s game. At the start of the season, those critiques may have held water, as Westbrook wasn\u2019t himself after coming off a torn quad suffered in the NBA bubble last season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The injuries to start the year didn\u2019t allow Westbrook to be, well, Westbrook. His patented explosiveness wasn\u2019t there, and as a result, he was often left to settle for jumpers when, in past years, he would have blown by his defender.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He\u2019s healthy now, and the Wizards are on a roll.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As a result, Washington is in a great spot to squeak into the play-in tournament \u2014 three games up on the Toronto Raptors and four games up on the Bulls for the 10th and final play-in spot. They sit a half-game behind the Pacers for the ninth spot, and much of it is due to Westbrook\u2019s resurgence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Since April 7, the Wizards are 13-3 and according to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/insider\/story\/_\/id\/31384185\/why-washington-wizards-star-russell-westbrook-great-inefficient-ever\"><span>ESPN<\/span><\/a><span>, rank fourth in offensive rating (116.5), eighth in defensive rating (109.4), and third in net rating (+7.1). Westbrook is averaging 21.8 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 13.1 assists per game during the stretch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Wizards head coach Scott Brooks began his postgame press conference on Monday night almost in awe of his point guard.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHe\u2019s amazing. Everyone describes him in so many different ways,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate enough to see him for eight years, do a lot of things that are superhuman at times.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cPoint guards don\u2019t do what he does, they\u2019re not built that way. There might be some that probably shoot better, there might be some that can do certain things better but there\u2019s nobody in the history of the game that can do what he does throughout the stat sheet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Brooks went on to describe Westbrook as one of the all-time greats at the point guard position.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI used to always say he\u2019s going to probably go down as the third-best point guard ever,\u201d Brooks said, \u201cbut I think he\u2019s passed one and he\u2019s going to go down as probably the second-best. One is obviously Magic (Johnson). What he does, there\u2019s no point guard that has ever done it. Nobody. Nobody.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s doing MVP-type things every game. He\u2019s an MVP-type things every game. He\u2019s an MVP winner every night, on the floor and off the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span>Westbrook still has his flaws, he\u2019ll never be the perfect player, and Washington won\u2019t be winning a championship anytime soon, but that doesn\u2019t matter. What does matter is that Westbrook is proving us all wrong. The game around him may have changed, but he never has. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Thank goodness for that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers and the NBA for Sporting News. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">member<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s probably about time we put some respect on the man\u2019s name.\u00a0Russell Westbrook, who for years has taken a beating from the fans and the more analytically inclined media members, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2277308,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1316181483.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"It\u2019s Time To Give Russell Westbrook The Respect He Deserves","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1316181483.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"It\u2019s Time To Give Russell Westbrook The Respect He Deserves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2277308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}