Russell Westbrook wins 2016-2017 MVP Award (Isaiah finishes 5th)


Pretty historic season for Russell Westbrook. Some people will say that the Thunder didn't win enough, but 47 wins with the rest of that roster in the West isn't shabby. The Thunder lost Kevin Durant (and Serge Ibaka) and only won 8 fewer games.

Westbrook led the league in scoring (31.6), was third in assists (10.4) and was 10th in rebounds (10.7) per game. He ranked first in PER at 30.7, fifth in win shares and ninth in real plus-minus. Westbrook normalized the 30-10-10 line during the season, but even with the remarkable consistency, he had a number of monstrous games, among them three 50-point triple-doubles, including a career-high 57 against the Orlando Magic, and 54, plus his first career buzzer-beating game winner, against the Denver Nuggets on the night he notched his 42nd triple-double.

With Westbrook on the floor this season, the Thunder outscored opponents by 3.3 points per 100 possessions. When Westbrook sat, the Thunder were outscored by 8.9 per 100 possessions, a mark that would've given them the worst scoring margin of any team in the league, by almost two points.

To the critics that claim Westbrook was just stat padding to get triple doubles, if that was the case he'd be passing up shots for assists and passing up shots to save energy for rebounds. But he averaged a triple double while also leading the league in scoring. He wasn't just going for triple doubles. Would have been a lot easier to get triple doubles if he was only putting up 20 a game.

Great speech too!

And congrats to Isaiah. 5th place in the MVP voting isn't too shabby for the #60 pick.



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