Minnesota Timberwolves dodged a bullet by missing out on Russell Westbrook

Chemistry and attitude

It’s no secret that Russell Westbrook loves himself some triple-doubles. And that isn’t a bad thing, in and of itself.

But it’s also no secret that Westbrook hasn’t always been consistent on the defensive end of the floor. While his overall metrics are solid and he remains a decent on-ball defender and is always among the league leaders in steal rate, he has often sacrificed optimal defensive position in the name of rebounds to his ledger.

Westbrook’s number of shots contested on defense did rise to 4.7 last year after hovering near the bottom of the pack in the 3.4 to 3.6 range from 2016 to 2018, but it’s till a worrying byproduct of his relentless rebound-hunting.

It’s not entirely clear what other NBA players think of Westbrook’s near-nightly triple-doubling, but it would be understandable if it were a point of contention among his teammates.

And then, there was the game last year in which Westbrook appeared dismissive of Towns and the Wolves, referencing KAT’s inability to lead his team to the playoffs in the midst of a small on-court spat.

Never mind that the Thunder missed the playoffs in the season that Kevin Durant was limited to 27 games. In the other Durant-less and George-less OKC season, the Thunder won just 47 games and were beat by Houston in five games in the playoffs — the exact same fate as the 2017-18 Timberwolves.

There’s certainly a feel-good attitude around the Wolves at the moment, and while much of it could appear at first glance to be somewhat contrived, some of the signs are undeniable.

From Jeff Teague and Robert Covington attending Summer League practice to Towns, Wiggins, and newcomers Jordan Bell, Jake Layman and Noah Vonleh sitting courtside in Las Vegas, they’re small things that simply didn’t happen over the past few seasons.

Clearly, the players adore new head coach Ryan Saunders, and perhaps swapping a mainstay like Wiggins for a dynamic personality such as Westbrook would have unnecessarily upset the applecart.

It’s also important to note that we don’t exactly know just how interested Rosas and the Wolves were in a potential Westbrook deal (The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski seems to think they weren’t seriously involved) but it’s fair to assume that they were weighing their options. Ultimately, it didn’t happen, and that’s a good thing.

But now, we turn our attention to Chris Paul…