Over the next week or so, I’m sure there will be about 500 articles, tributes, explainers, think pieces, and all that other fun stuff about Russell Westbrook’s legacy, and the close of Oklahoma City’s promising, fun, thrilling and ultimately-never-100%-fulfilling basketball trilogy that featured three MVPS and some other fantastic stars. This article, and a tribute to Russ that Lucas is working on for next week, will be a couple of them.
Like most people who were born and raised in Oklahoma City, own Thunder season tickets and try to watch every game on TV, I am a Russell Westbrook fan. Although he could be frustrating to watch at times, he was a spectacular player, good dude, and not a soft turncoat who took the easy way out and sabotaged the franchise. His MVP season was an incredible joy to watch. I appreciate everything he’s done for Oklahoma City and wish him the best of luck in Houston with the guy we should have probably kept over him – James Harden.
Naturally, a good portion of the OKC social media echo chamber was cluttered with sad emoji reactions about the move. I can’t blame them. Although the trade – along with the Paul George move – was great for OKC’s basketball future, and hits the reset button on the good-but-not-great purgatory the team was stuck in, it’s bittersweet to see Russ go. Who cares that he is just a professional athlete, primarily lives in California, and only played basketball here because he was drafted by the Thunder franchise in 2008. He was the undisputed king of OKC hoops (after Kevin and James bolted), and stuck with us when he had massive financial incentives to do so. For that, we shall be forever grateful.
As a result, I decided to play to the OKC Twitteratti crowd and get their ideas and suggestions for things we should name after Russ immediately.
I think I should just play to the crowd on this one and write a “10 Things We Should Name After Russell Westbrook RIGHT NOW.” Any suggestions?
— thelostogle (@TheLostOgle) July 12, 2019
Because I’m lazy and don’t want to spend another hour writing this, here are some replies:
The Russell Westbrook American Indian Cultural Center and Museum
— Louis Fowler (@LouisFowler) July 12, 2019
Northwestbrook Expressway
— Andrew Culp (@wxdroid) July 12, 2019
The departure terminal at Will Rogers?
— No Justice, No Peace (@TheDoorOKC) July 12, 2019
https://twitter.com/sirhappiness/status/1149521087534731272
Nipple church
— Josh the Seahawks Guy (@12thManinMoore) July 12, 2019
One of our state's many potholes.
— Tim Berry (@theTimothyB) July 12, 2019
The Lost Westbrook, obviously
— Kane Ogle (@kaneogle) July 12, 2019
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Anyway, thanks for all the great (and occasionally frustrating) memories, Russ. Best of luck in Houston. Go Thunder!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZv5zvky5AU
9 Responses
Why the Triple Double ice cream cone at Braums, of course!
It’s been fun. But it will also be fun to see what Presti can do with all those draft picks.
OK folks, we have a winner…..move along!
Wow way to hint that Russell did not care about the community, sit on the fence much?
Somewhere, KD is sulking because nobody’s burning Russell’s jerseys.
Valley WestBrook
Sorry couldn’t resist
I-35 Southbound?
The largest hog farm in Oklahoma should take his name…since he was such a ball hog.
I’m more bummed about the Jerami Grant trade than this. He had tremendous upside, was several years younger and was fun to watch. My suggestion for the next deal is to trade Billy Donovan and 5 of those draft picks to the Spurs for Popovich. That way, you get the best coach in the NBA and still have the Westbrook attitude.
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