How Many Rebounds Does Russell Westbrook Need to Average a Triple Double Again
Marc Stein on Basketball
Russell Westbrook Makes Triple-Doubles Await Piece of cake. They're Not.
Westbrook, the Washington Wizards guard, is on track to boilerplate a triple-double for the quaternary fourth dimension in five seasons, making it seem almost routine. And then why doesn't anybody do it?
Russell Westbrook and Scott Brooks huddled by phone late Sunday. After the Washington Wizards' 8th sequent victory, and with the 2d one-half of a dorsum-to-dorsum looming Monday night confronting San Antonio, Westbrook wanted to do some extra strategizing with his coach.
It was only a few months earlier that six sequent 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 Urban center best, that Brooks couldn't resist interrupting the serious tone past needling his star guard.
"I told him: 'You've got to starting time rebounding the ball — only five tonight?'" Brooks said. "Just busting his chops."
Those five rebounds Westbrook managed in Sunday's victory over Cleveland, to go with 14 points and eleven assists in 36 minutes, were indeed an bibelot. In nine of his previous 10 games, xiii of the previous 15 and sixteen of the previous 20, Westbrook reached double figures in points, assists and rebounds.
In his first season as a Wizard, at historic period 32, Westbrook is averaging 21.8 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists per game — with a league-leading 29 triple-doubles to hike his career full to 175. Denver'southward Nikola Jokic, with xv triple-doubles, is his closest pursuer this season. With seven more triple-doubles, Westbrook volition pass Oscar Robertson as the N.B.A.'southward career leader.
This is where it's important to note that Westbrook, who is on a course to average more than 10 rebounds per game for the fourth time in 5 seasons, stands vi-foot-3.
The official opinion of this newsletter is that Westbrook'due south forthcoming achievement should exist celebrated heartily, at the very least for his relentless rebounding at that size, but it'due south 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 fourth dimension, since the term "triple-double" didn't come into faddy until the 1980s.
Another tricky variable: In my 28 seasons of total-fourth dimension Due north.B.A. reporting, Westbrook is right at that place with Allen Iverson when it comes to the near polarizing players I accept covered. Considering of Westbrook's ball-dominant style, fickle jump shot, high turnover rate, occasionally brusque demeanor and, most of all, nix championships, it is ofttimes easier to find his critics than his admirers.
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Equally Westbrook closes in on Robertson, at that place is also a ascent trend to dismiss triple-doubles every bit empty calories considering they happen so oftentimes in the wide-open modern game. (Example: On March 17, Westbrook was one of 6 players to record a triple-double that mean solar day.) Westbrook's triple-doubles in particular tend to be discounted in a way that others aren't, which he brought upwardly in a video session with reporters after Monday's overtime loss to the Spurs.
"I think information technology'southward very interesting that information technology's not useful now that I'm doing it," Westbrook said.
Every bit covered in a recent piece by my colleague Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, there were but 18 triple-doubles leaguewide as recently as the 2011-12 regular season. This season'south full has already topped 100, for the fifth season in a row, pointing to the diverse offensive advantages enjoyed in today'due south N.B.A. The faster pace of play creates more possessions, and thus more statistical opportunities, and restrictions on defenders accept been designed to promote more liberty 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-point revolution, in response, are prone to scoff at some of the gaudy stuff we see in box scores these days.
Yet this is where I experience compelled to repeat that part about Westbrook standing merely 6-3. He is the merely player in league history at that size or smaller to boilerplate at least x rebounds a game over a full season.
"It's a lot harder at 6-3," said Lafayette Lever, who went by the nickname Fat 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 up a league-leading 16 triple-doubles in 1986-87, ahead of both Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and he didn't have Westbrook's explosion.
"Russell is so much more able-bodied than I was at whatsoever point in time," Lever said in a phone interview, "probably from the day he was born."
Lever, though, had an infrequent knack for rebounding, which he credited to playing on a high schoolhouse team with no 1 taller than 6-3. He notwithstanding 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, but amongst my Due north.B.A.-obsessed loftier school friends in the 1980s, nosotros associated triple-doubles with Lever as much as 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 1989-90 equally 1 of the driving forces on a team that, like Westbrook, wasn't always appreciated. Detractors at the time took issue with the freewheeling style those Nuggets played nether Motorcoach Doug Moe — and the wild scores and stats their games produced.
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Turbocharged statistical lines are a staple at present in a league where 13 teams out of xxx, entering Tuesday'southward play, were attempting at least 40 per centum of their shots from 3-point range. Cries of stat padding became commonplace in Westbrook's later years with the Thunder, and the hyper-awareness of triple-doubles — and a corresponding urge to chase them — is another perceived advantage for the Westbrook generation. But Lever insisted that achieving the consistency of Westbrook's board work is far harder than information technology looks.
"It's all the same a large deal," Lever said, "considering not everyone is able to exercise it."
Westbrook made similar statements afterward the Wizards' winning streak was snapped by the 146-143 loss to the Spurs. Asked about his latest triple-double, which included 22 points, 13 rebounds and fourteen assists — albeit on 9-for-26 shooting — Westbrook said: "I honestly believe there is no player like myself. And if people want to take it for granted, pitiful for them. Simply I'm pretty sure if everybody could do it, they would do it."
It's difficult to argue with that logic, although many try. In 2016-17, Westbrook became the first role player since the 6-5 Robertson in 1961-62 to average a triple-double for an entire flavor. That feat helped Westbrook, starring for the 47-win Thunder, go the N.B.A.'s first Most 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 boilerplate a triple-double for the fourth fourth dimension in five seasons, which in theory should position him as an Thousand.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 specially valuable. Or, worse, that he is not a player to build around.
Washington acquired 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-4.4 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-low 62.8 percent from 76.three percent terminal flavour, merely the constant thrust Westbrook plays with has fabricated the Wizards difficult to baby-sit. His presence has not hindered Aggravate's scoring, equally some surmised when the trade went downwardly; Aggravate is locked in an omnipotent battle with Golden Land'southward Stephen Curry for the league'due south scoring title.
In March and April, Westbrook became the start player 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 research from the statistician Justin Kubatko. Westbrook will never exist for everybody, especially without a ring, but Brooks couldn't have lobbied harder for the Wizards to reunite them when the merchandise opportunity arose. He coached him through nearly all of Westbrook'due south start seven seasons in Oklahoma City,
"The rebounding is the almost incredible affair," Brooks said. "He goes and gets them. He simply has that knack. Information technology doesn't matter who'southward in front of him; he ever has one more footstep on his ladder. The will, the athleticism the competitive drive — I knew what our squad needed.
"Xi rebounds a game for guy half-dozen-3? We'll never see a histrion like him ever again, not in my generation or my kids' generation."
Corner Three
Epitome
You ask; I answer. Every calendar week in this infinite, I'll field three questions posed via email at marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com . Please include your first and last proper noun, as well as the city yous're writing in from, and make sure "Corner Three" is in the subject line.
(Questions may be condensed or lightly edited for clarity.)
Q: The Knicks accept overperformed this season. The front end office did not make whatever splashes at the trade deadline. Jeff Van Gundy recently mentioned on television that the Knicks were "still incredibly limited" talent-wise. Their best player is Julius Randle , just the N.B.A. has been a perimeter-based league for some time. How volition Leon Rose accost this? — Wallace Leeth (Paterson, North.J.)
Stein: Apr has been a calendar month for Knicks fans to savor. 18-carat optimism and joy are tangible at Madison Square Garden for the first fourth dimension in years. I suppose it was inevitable that someone would inject a sober dose of pragmatism into the conversation, but information technology's also 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 infinite and ii first-round picks forthcoming in the off-season. Team officials know they even so have plenty of piece of work to do to upgrade the overall talent, but that wasn't imperative at the trade deadline in March. It'due south not like there was a difference-maker they missed out on.
It'south true that this front role will ultimately be judged on its power to sign or trade for at least ane certifiable star to pair with Randle, which ways persuading an established player to embrace the challenge of playing in New York as heartily equally Randle did. Rose and his direction team also have to caryatid for ongoing second-guessing nearly their first typhoon choice if the rookie baby-sit Tyrese Haliburton continues to bloom in Sacramento, since they could accept drafted Haliburton at No. 8 rather than Obi Toppin.
The Rose government, though, has washed many proficient things in its first year. The Knicks announced to take hired the right passenger vehicle in Tom Thibodeau, helped usher Randle to All-Star status and tin can point to promising evolution from RJ Barrett and the rookie Immanuel Quickley to offset the injuries that have batty Mitchell Robinson'south tertiary flavor.
There have been whispers for weeks that the Knicks' flirtation with the East's No. iv 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 truthful, they volition have multiple pathways to address the concerns you raised, whether it's past trying to sign a savvy quondam All-Star like Kyle Lowry or DeMar DeRozan on a short-term deal every bit a bridge to gratis-agent classes more star-laden than this summer's, or by using time to come typhoon picks (perhaps packaged with Toppin) to construct a meaningful trade.
Things could always go askew if the Knicks rush into the incorrect deal, as they take been known to do over the years, or if the team's owner, James Fifty. Dolan, decides he needs to go involved after abiding past the organization'southward programme to let Thibodeau and on-court results practice all the talking. But I would say that the Knicks have certainly earned a grace menstruum through the terminate of this surprising season. This is a fourth dimension for Knicks fans, surely, to revel in what'south going right.
Q: Practice they really go the Oscar itself? Kobe Bryant was very involved in co-creating his film, which is why he was given an Oscar . Executive producers frequently provide financing and aren't involved as hands-on producers. In any instance, 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 organization manager, joined Bryant as Oscar winners from the Northward.B.A. because they were listed every bit executive producers for "Two Distant Strangers," which won the all-time alive activeness brusque moving picture category at Sunday's University Awards. That's incorrect.
They were part of an Oscar-winning film, merely did non get awards themselves. Kobe took home an Oscar trophy in 2018 for the animated curt film "Dear Basketball," 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 almost a team signing a guy to a 10-twenty-four hours contract. We've seen posts about Mike James most fifty times over the past week. — @MrWright1218 from Twitter
Stein: There are some good reasons for that.
It's partially a role of where we are on the regular-flavour calendar. At that place merely aren't as many roster moves happening this close to the postseason, particularly involving title contenders, and so the ones that exercise happen generate actress coverage.
Yet it's also a byproduct of the circumstances. James was one of the virtually prominent Americans playing away, with a loftier-profile European club (CSKA Moscow), and he had a complicated contractual situation to negotiate — besides as six days' worth of health and safety protocols to complete — before he could really join the Nets on Fri. The fluidity of James'south status led to more frequent updates.
Numbers Game
Prototype
50
Recording l wins in an 82-game season is a traditional marker for Northward.B.A. excellence. Winning 50 games in a 72-game season is obviously harder, but 6 teams still take a take a chance to do and so with xix days remaining in the regular season: Utah (44-17), Phoenix (43-18), the Los Angeles Clippers (43-twenty), the Nets (42-20), Philadelphia (40-21) and Denver (40-21). Of those six, just the Jazz (52) and the Suns (51) are currently on a pace to do so.
61
Nikola Jokic'due south Yard.5.P. case volition undoubtedly exist bolstered by his durability in this pandemic season. Jokic has played in all 61 of Denver's games and has led the Nuggets to a half-dozen-1 record since Jamal Murray's flavor-ending knee injury on April 12. Philadelphia'due south Joel Embiid, widely regarded as Jokic's closest pursuer in the M.5.P. race, has played in 42 of the 76ers' 61 games.
9
Monday's dwelling loss to the Suns, the No. two seed in the West, brought a halt to the Knicks' nine-game winning streak. The Knicks have had only one longer unbeaten run in the 21st century, winning 13 consecutive games late in the 2012-13 season, which featured the gild's last playoff berth.
37.v
The Knicks' Julius Randle leads the league at 37.5 minutes per game. Coach Tom Thibodeau has faced criticism for years about overplaying his best players; Thibodeau almost probable would counter that Randle, at 26, is young enough to handle the workload.
xiii
This is Seattle's 13th season without an N.B.A. team. The W.N.B.A.'s Seattle Storm take won three championships in that fourth dimension, but the wait for a new franchise to supervene upon the SuperSonics will soon take on a new dynamic when the Seattle Kraken join the North.H.L. adjacent season. We're less than iii months abroad from the Kraken'southward expansion typhoon on July 21.
Hit me upward 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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