Respecting Russell Westbrook: Rings culture rant
THE trailer for “Avengers: Age of Ultron” started with the word “Strings.” It eventually introduced the whole theme of the movie, with the tagline that the villain was “free” as “there are no strings no me.” Strings were used as a method to control, and in the NBA, we have something similar: Rings.
The narrative for today’s NBA players is getting no less than a championship ring. This generation will keep blaming LeBron James for that, but decades ago, there were already “ring chasers.” The desire for rings have dictated their career path — not money, geography, or loyalty.
One ring to rule them all
Many stars from the late 80s and 90s have been sentenced to the Fellowship of No Rings by one Michael Jordan. Jordan’s Chicago Bulls took 6 out of 10 titles in the 90s, which means he shut the door on many opportunities from other superstars, some of whom were moving past their prime. All-time greats like MVPs Charles Barkley and Karl Malone, assists leader John Stockton, Patrick Ewing, Shawn Kemp and their teams ended their careers without a title.
If we abide by the current “Rings Culture,” the career achievements of the names above would not mean anything, simply because they were not validated by a championship ring.
Numbers don’t lie, but they’re not always right
Today’s NBA are governed by advanced analytics. While they could be helpful from a coaching standpoint, they could not be used to predict the outcome of games. Five Thirty-Eight, a statistical analysis website, strongly predicted the LA Clippers to win the title last year, based on their “advanced analysis.”
No one was prepared for what happened last season, but upsets can happen even in a Best of 7 series. The margin of skill between professional basketball players in the playoffs is thinner than you think. Throughout a series of seven games, it evolves into a war of wills. All the players on the floor can dunk, play defense and hit the three point-shot. Kawhi Leonard is skilled as any player on any basketball floor in the world, but he refused to take over and impose his will on the game. No title for the Clippers.
Reversing the ring culture
There will only be one champion in any year. Again, that means being the best you can be is not enough — you need to be better than everybody else. It can sometimes take a confluence of events to change your destiny. Jamal Murray chose to be a superstar in the last playoffs, this year, he won’t even be there. The Nuggets added pieces around Nikola Jokic and Murray, but they never thought they would need to replace him.
Russell Westbrook understands how championships are won, because he knows how they are lost. There are factors involved that Westbrook, or any one cannot control, like analysts’ opinion of how he plays, or what a loudmouthed talk show host thinks about his achievements. What Westbrook can control is how much effort he pours into the game, and we can all see the answer to that.
Russ against the rings
Westbrook has the words of a winner: “A championship doesn’t change my life. I’m happy. I was a champion once I made it to the NBA. I grew up in the streets. I know many people that got NBA championships that’s miserable.”
We call him overpaid, overrated, stat padder, not a clutch player. GMs shy away from him, and he was traded for a player who hardly played in 2 years, and yet, a local Washington analyst went on a podcast to say that “we lost the trade.”
But no teammate, opponent, coach, fan, or critic can ever question his effort on the court. I watched a dirtiest players compilation and two of them, Zaza Pachulia and Patrick Beverley, tried to injure Westbrook. If you want to win, you take out the guy who works the hardest, because as long they’re working, they have a chance at winning.
Westbrook can leave the game knowing he left it all out there. No regrets, no compromises. He didn’t always win, but he didn’t stop trying.