Why Russell Westbrook's pursuit of triple-doubles is a problem for the Thunder

Even at their very best on Friday night, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder were playing from behind against the Houston Rockets. And unless Westbrook makes a conscious effort to change his game, this is the best the Thunder will ever be: A playoff contender destined for heartbreaking exits at the hands of the truly elite teams.

Make no mistake — this is not a criticism of Westbrook. He puts on the most spectacular show in the NBA, and he's undoubtedly a top-10 player. No one can emulate his ferocity on the court, and no one, other than maybe LeBron James, could ever dream of averaging a triple-double for an entire season. He is a singular driving force the likes of which we haven’t seen since Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers.

That spectacle has been on full display so far this season. The Thunder are at their very best when Westbrook turns into a whirling dervish of knives spinning down the lane, eviscerating everything and anything in his way. Even when a team manages to stifle Westbrook, as the Rockets largely did, he inevitably breaks out: He tallied 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists on Friday, equaling Michael Jordan with his seventh consecutive triple-double. He also kept the Thunder in the game until the very last minute — before he shot them out of it with an awful airball in the closing seconds, as Oklahoma City fell at home to Houston 102-99.

Unfortunately, the statement that the Thunder are at their very best with Westbrook playing like this cuts both ways. This is who the Thunder are going forward, for better and for worse. All the important players (Westbrook, Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Victor Oladipo) are under contract for the coming years; more importantly, they take up the bulk of Oklahoma City’s cap space. There is no major free agent acquisition to be made in the coming years, and the Thunder are too good to secure a high lottery pick in the near future. Barring a trade, Oklahoma City must improve from within.

Yet it’s hard to see how there’s any room for growth in the shadow of Westbrook — particularly for Oladipo, the one player who could alleviate some of the offensive burden on the Thunder point guard. Instead, when he shares the court with Westbrook, Oladipo is relegated to the part of glorified spot-up shooter. Nearly 40 percent of his field goal attempts this year have been from behind the arc, with the vast majority of those coming on catch-and-shoot opportunities.

Now, there's nothing wrong with taking advantage of the attention Westbrook draws from opposing defenses. The Thunder don't have a ton of 3-point shooting, so Oladipo is doing his team a service by playing his role well. He should be commended for subverting his ego for the good of the team — but he should also be working on his skills as a secondary playmaker and the central cog in a sophisticated Oklahoma City offensive attack, if the Thunder want to be better than they are this season.

Adams can thrive, of course, as he so often does in the space created by Westbrook’s incessant drives to the rim. But his game involves little else these days. What happens when his point guard starts to lose a step? Remember, Westbrook is 28 years old. He’s in his prime at this moment, and with the beating he takes on offense, his decline could be precipitous. If Adams doesn’t develop an all-around offensive game, his own production could suffer accordingly.

For now, though, such development is dead on arrival. While Westbrook's insane usage rate makes for a potentially historic season, the question remains: at what cost? Is it worth pursuing Big O if it means suppressing your team’s future?

Or conversely, let's assume that this hypothesis is completely incorrect. Perhaps these Thunder really are destined to have half their possessions end in Westbrook's hands, and that's an effective strategy for this squad. Oklahoma City would still have a problem. The Thunder offense is incredibly predictable — even more than last season. Which is part of the reason Westbrook's turnover rate is so extraordinarily high, even when you account for how often he has the ball in his hands. Opposing defenses are able to overload the paint and wait for the Thunder point guard to come right to them.

Sometimes, it results in a big dunk for Adams, like in the play above. Sometimes, Westbrook slithers through the defense for his own look at the rim. Yet too often, the Thunder can simply watch as their opponents sprint in the other direction for a transition layup, all because they knew exactly what to expect from Oklahoma City's offense.

Again, this isn’t a criticism of Westbrook, per se. It’s not his job to make the most of the roster — or to build an elite roster in the first place. And there’s that whole “Kevin Durant abandoning the Thunder” thing, too. Westbrook didn’t choose this situation; he’s simply trying to make the best of the hand he was dealt. In this moment, his approach is probably optimal, at least in the short-term. (For an in-depth look at Westbrook's 2016-17, I'd be remiss not to recommend this breakdown from friend of the program Matt Moore at CBS.) But it’s up to him how he wants to approach things moving forward.

Because at this rate, the best-case scenario for Westbrook is those aforementioned Sixers — a team that faded as quickly as it burst onto the scene, taking advantage of weak competition to make the Finals and ultimately win a lone game against a much, much better Lakers squad. That Philly team, though, was built on the back of veterans: The likes of Dikembe Mutombo and Eric Snow knew who they were as players. There was no development to worry about.

On the other hand, Westbrook could take just a slight step back and still chase history while nurturing his young teammates and helping them become the very best they can be. And if the Thunder can embrace that kind of holistic growth, perhaps they can be the 2004 Detroit Pistons — a hard-nosed, defense-first squad that depended on its point guard to lead the offense but counted on contributions from everyone to win a title.

Honestly, I want Westbrook to average a triple-double. I enjoy watching history unfold, and I will continue to sit here and watch him on a nightly basis. There is truly no experience in sports like watching the brodie devour his competition from one game to the next.

I also want him to prove everyone wrong and get a ring with the Thunder. But if he wants to do that, he has to do more than lead Oklahoma City in most of the major statistical categories: He has to be the Thunder’s leader.