Colin Cowherd: “Psychologists tell you as a parent ‘don’t tell your kid how great they are all the time.’ You don’t want to beat down on them but don’t just tell them how amazing they are for doing regular kid’s stuff, because it gives them a warped sense of reality…. Russell Westbrook is a hyper-athletic, turnover-prone guard who is fun to watch, wildly inefficient at times, and regressing badly as I predicted he would. I said his game would not age well and Steph Curry’s would. The media and fans built up Westbrook beyond what he was, even at UCLA the Bruins would never figure out what the hell to do with him. He’s just a great athlete. The year he won the MVP I thought it was a complete and utter sham. Oklahoma City that year was a sixth seed. MVP for the triple-double? He shot 42% from the field, goosed his rebounding stats – even his teammates admitted it, and because of his ball-usage rate he gets lots of assists, but nobody has ever considered him an elite passer. But the media elevated him to a Steph/KD level and it was just outrageous. He’s never been that and literally nobody gets better playing with him. Fans now are booing and mocking him, and YOU are somewhat to blame because you have put him in a stratosphere that he’s never deserved to be in. Westbrook has never worked in the playoffs, is out of control, inefficient when it matters, can’t shoot, and turns it over too much. In the end, he’s just aging poorly and more of what he’s always been. Fun, a little messy, wild, out of control, and for spurts amazing. When Westbrook came to LA, I said he would give them what they desperately need: passion, production, and minutes when AD and LeBron don’t play. Buddy Hield is a better fit but Westbrook is more inclined to have a 20-30-point night, which LA can wrap their arms around. Now it’s BAD. Saturday night was a disaster and I kind of felt bad for him because I’ve ever held him to an elevated level, he’s just wildly athletic. UCLA could never figure him out, he should have never been given an MVP, he’s never been in the class of leader like Chris Paul, as a playmaker like Steph Curry, Magic Johnson, or Isiah Thomas, but you put him there and now you’re on him because he’s not delivering on that level. C’mon, you could see this coming years ago. I said 5-6 years ago he was going to age poorly because he’s all about athleticism. The only thing that made sense was Westbrook’s passion, production, and minutes, and now that – being benched – is in jeopardy.” (Full Video Above)
Listen to Colin Cowherd explain why he thinks Russell Westbook’s Lakers tenure has suddenly turned disastrous, as Colin believes fans are overreacting to Westbrook’s struggles on LeBron James' Lakers team simply because they had been overrating his true value over the course of his entire career.
Colin doesn’t believe Westbrook should have ever won an MVP, and said Westbrook should have never been put into the same elite point guard category as Steph Curry or Chris Paul either, calling his game ‘wildly inefficient' and ‘out of control.’
Check out the video above as Colin details why he believes Westbrook has become a victim of the unrealistic expectations fans mistakenly laid upon him.
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