There was one question that strangely surrounded the Oklahoma City-Houston playoff series. Would the real MVP stand up? All season long there has been a constant debate over who would win the NBA’s MVP award between Russell Westbrook and James Harden.

Once this playoff matchup became a reality, both sides of the debate took their places. As long as this series goes, each game will be a “referendum” on the MVP race for the casual fan. This series, and the MVP award, comes down to Harden’s efficiency versus the volume of Westbrook.

The only problem with that is the voting for the award is already over. In reality, whoever wins this award is already set in stone but we just won’t find out until after the NBA Finals. While Twitter blew up last night with hot takes about the MVP award, everyone seemed to miss the bigger point. Russell Westbrook is a hell of a player, but his style of play will never win a championship.

Was Westbrook’s regular season impressive? Yes, he averaged a triple-double on the season for the first time since Oscar Robertson and broke the single-season record for triple-doubles. Westbrook deserves a ton of credit for that and getting his team into the playoffs.

However, a Westbrook triple-double is more about style than substance. We all knew coming into the season that Kevin Durant leaving would allow Westbrook to be in total control of this offense. Westbrook was in line to put up monster numbers now that he was the only alpha dog left on the roster. Well, we were all right, but lets take a closer look at how he did it.

As the unquestioned top player on this team, Westbrook did take full control of how this offense went. He set a new record for usage rate in NBA history (41.7), topping the mark set by Kobe Bryant in 2005-06. Now you’re probably saying, “well of course, the guy averaged a triple-double.”

Usage rate is a good advanced statistic but you need to understand how it is calculated. There are a lot of stats that go into it, and I’ll link the formula here. To simplify this stat, it is a measure of how much you are attempting field goals, free throws and turning the ball over relative to the minutes you play compared to the team.

As great as Westbrook’s numbers were this season, they were inflated by the fact that he always had the ball. Now, you can argue that he needed to be like that to win with this team, and I’ll agree but it is also why I don’t believe he can win a championship with the way he plays the game. No one in the top ten in usage rate in NBA history have won a title.

Of all the career highs that were set this season, the one that concern me the most were Westbrook’s shooting numbers, specifically his attempts. Prior to this season, the most shots that he took in one season were 1,535. That number was broken, shattered, and left in the dust by the gaudy 1,941 attempts (24 attempts per game) that Westbrook took this season. Westbrook had the third-worst shooting percentage of his career in 2016-17, despite having a career best in three-point shooting.

Essentially that’s how Westbrook was able to lead the league in scoring while averaging a triple-double. Now for the assists, Westbrook didn’t have to change too much. As much as he gets the “ballhog” moniker, he only tied his career-high for assists per game this season. Granted, it was a little more difficult without KD.

In fact the assists were the most important stat to the success of the Thunder this season. Of the 42 triple-doubles Westbrook achieved this season, the Thunder were 33-9. Out of the 35 total losses that OKC had this season, 23 of those came when Westbrook didn’t surpass ten or more assists.

Then there are the rebounds, the one stat of the bunch that can be manipulated a little bit. If you watched closely, the Thunder were more inclined to set up Westbrook for defensive rebounds off of free throws to jump start the offense. That isn’t to say this is how he got all of his rebounds, but it does explain how a point guard improves from 7.8 rebounds per game in 2015-16 to 10.7 in 2016-17.

Now we can all agree that Westbrook is a great player, but why don’t I think he can win a championship? It goes back to something that I saw last night, and has been a recurring theme over the course of his career. Westbrook needs the ball to reach his full potential as a individual player. The problem is that it is also his downfall when it comes to the big stage.

Look at last night for example, because through three quarters Westbrook was fantastic. However, the fourth quarter was not so kind to Mr. Triple-Double. He had the most missed shots in a fourth quarter in 20 years. 4-for-18 from the field in the quarter eventually led to the demise of OKC as Houston caught fire in the closing moments.

Westbrook doesn’t get all the blame for this particular loss. In the six minutes that he was on the bench the Thunder were -15. Putting that aside though, this is another example of Westbrook going cold and shooting himself out of a game. It is something that he has done his entire career, and something that I believe is what caused KD to bolt to Golden State.

Durant leaving made me realize something about Westbrook, and it’s why I don’t think that he can win a championship. KD and Westbrook were an example of “the Scorpion and the Frog.” Durant is the type of player that you need to get to the Finals. As dangerous as Westbrook can be any given night, it will ultimately be to a fault, and kill your chances at a championship.

At this point, you know what you are getting when it comes to the newly crowned king of triple-doubles. He is a ball-centric point guard who needs to run the offense through him to be the best version of himself. We have already seen what he can do with an elite teammate, and the ceiling is short of an NBA championship.

 

That’s it for me today. Be on the lookout tomorrow for a new episode of the Shooting the Moon Podcast. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.