As LeBron James and the Miami Heat proved throughout the 2011-12 season, positions are simply labels and nothing more.
Classic positions work as heuristics to help us, as fans, wade through analysis and associate responsibilities with players we may or may not be familiar with.
In the case of Russell Westbrook, it simply does no good to classify him as a point guard.
Sure, he's going to appear next to the "PG" label in the box score every night, but that hardly helps in analyzing his play.
Westbrook's size makes him what many would consider a prototypical point guard, but make no mistake about it, there's nothing conventional about him.
He plays at a different pace and with a different mindset than the rest of the NBA's point guards, and it's almost impossible to pigeon-hole him and say that he's either this or he's that.
What's certain is that Westbrook is unique.
While he has a group of apologists, Westbrook's haters are typically the more vocal ones. As Grantland's Bill Simmons points out, haters have plenty of reasons, many of which are valid, to dislike Westbrook's play:
Westbrook's detract ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Alec Nathan
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