May 5, 2011 – Kevin Burke

Batman and Robin (Or according to the Welcome to Loud City OKC Blog maybe Durant is Kermit the Frog?). Two fictious characters that mean so much when talking about sports – basketball in particular. No team knows this more than the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have the tools and physical ability to be the face of a franchise and carry a team to victory. Unfortunately, they’re on the same roster and there can only be one face of any particular franchise.

Long before the playoffs began, I watched Russell Westbrook emerge and come into his own this year. His offense and assist production climbed dramatically and aside from Kevin Love, I feel he had the best season over season improvement in the entire League. There were times where he won games for the Thunder, even when Kevin Durant was on the floor. Out of nowhere, Durant and Westbrook have become one of the best 1-2 punches in the NBA. Because of Westbrook’s emergence, I think it will be very tough for Kevin Durant to win an MVP as long as he plays alongside Russell. I also think that Westbrook is just as talented as Durant, but of course, KD’s height makes him unguardable and therefore the much more effective player.

So here we are in the postseason where the Thunder have a 5-2 record. Since we arrived in the playoffs, Westbrook has come under much scrutiny lately, primarily because of the volume of shots that he has taken. Not necessarily because he’s a Point Guard, because let’s be real, which legit PGs are pass first nowadays anyway? But because he’s out shooting the two-time defending scoring champ.

Things really caught notice when Russell had 30 points on 30 shots in the Game 4 loss against Denver in the first round. If they won, it would not have been talked about as much. After the game, Durant, head coach Scott Brooks and the media all subliminally and indirectly told Westbrook not to take that many shots again. Russell got the point and dialed it back considerably. The next game, in the series clincher, he took a playoff low 15 shots in the victory. In fact, if you can believe this, Westbrook has out shot Durant in the playoffs 144 to 143. It’s just by one shot, but still. The NBA’s leading scorer isn’t even taking the majority of the shots on his own team.

But it isn’t entirely Westbrook’s fault. It’s not as if he’s just rebelling against Durant because he “wants to be the man.” It has nothing to do with that. It’s because that’s his game. He primarily played off the ball at UCLA and was depended on to score. When Oklahoma City drafted him, they took him as a Point Guard and asked him to be something else, even though they saw him fill it up in college.

Ultimately, I think this will blow over because winning cures all and at the end of the day it will make them better teammates. However, in order for this team to reach it’s full potential, Durant should be number one in shots taken on the team every single night. But because of this dynamic, the real question is whether or not Westbrook will remain with the Thunder when his contract is up.

If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook