Cole on the cover, and you even were able to have Lil Wayne at 2K23 MT your launch event, how have you made these connections?Barnes an experienced professional of 15 years who spent two seasons with the Lakers of Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant He also mentioned that he was the host of an event for the launch of 2K and Westbrook's score was the most talked about 2K23 factoid of the night. "I thinkthat, even though Russ had an off-season last year, I feel his ranking is too low," Barnes opined. I think Pat Bev is right there... a 79 is a decent ranking but Russ's is too low."
If 79 is solid, wouldn't the 78 team also be strong? Beverley is an excellent defender and a good three-point shooter. Westbrook may be a better player (at most, within the beginning of an actual game) and rebounder, numbers that a video game could reward, but he is definitively not the "better" athlete than Beverley at this point in their careers. "Russ, as much as you doubt your abilities and point out his shortcomings, I think that he's still performing," Ogwumike contended on the show. "
He's there and offers you at least 20 [pointspossibly 8 or so assists? rebounds? unclear]. "Of course, a lot of that output is the direct result of Westbrook absconding with or refusing to speak to open teammates and causing low-percentage heaves while in traffic. As the primary focus of an offensive team, his six-foot-3" UCLA product is now the most ineffective obstacle to the team's success.
The decline of Westbrook occurred quickly. He was a fringe All-Star in his 20-year NBA time with James Harden's Houston Rockets. But even that model of Westbrook is gone now. His deficiencies outweigh his strengths. Sure, he puts up numbers (though even then those stats are declining), but he is likely to be used in the near future as spark plugs off the bench, facing off against teams' second units but not as a starting.
The public perception of Westbrook is more pronounced than his actual night-in 2K23 MT Buy , night-out contribution should show. I'm not alone to think this however, it's similar to the downfall of Allen Iverson, who bristled at the idea of coming off the bench until the point that he was out of the game entirely.There's still plenty of time to allow Russell Westbrook to avoid the same fate, if he's willing to go that route.