here). He's doing absolutely everything on the floor and doing it all well. To wit, the Thunder have a +10.6 net rating (107.3 offensive, 96.7 defensive) in the 294 minutes he's been on the floor and a -3.1 (96.8 offensive, 99.8 defensive) in the 863 he's been off.
Considering he's missed more than half the season, Russ doesn't show up on the standard leaderboards just yet. If he keeps up this pace, though, he'll be all over them in a few games. Take a look at where he would land in some categories if he qualified up to this point.
| Category | Average | NBA Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Points | 25.8 | 2nd |
| Assists | 6.8 | 11th |
| Assist % | 52.1% | 1st |
| Steal % | 3.0 | 9th |
| Usage % | 39.2% | 1st |
| WS/48 | .298 | 1st |
| PER | 33.1 | 1st |
| BPM | 12.9 | 1st |
That's right, Westbrook would be leading the league in win shares per 48 minutes (WS/48), player efficiency rating (PER), and BPM (box plus/minus) if he qualified to this point. (His BPM would actually be the greatest of all time but, you know, sample size.) He'd be second in scoring while simultaneously leading the league in assist percentage. He's essentially pleasing the crowd that wants him to score at will and the opposing group that wants him to facilitate more at the same time, all while playing his mean and pesky brand of perimeter defense on the other end.
Playing with the league's reigning MVP in Durant will probably keep Westbrook out of MVP talk for 2014-15, even if he keeps up this torrid pace. Regardless, after starting the season 3-12, the Thunder have gone 8-1 in their last nine - eight games of which have been with Westbrook and seven with both Russ and KD. There was talk of it already being too late for the Thunder to push for a playoff spot two weeks ago, yet now they sit only half a game out of eighth place and have a chance to overtake the Pelicans, Suns, and Kings for the spot tonight in one fell swoop (if they take care of Sacramento and the Pelicans lose to the Jazz).
Considering how different the Thunder have looked both with and without their superstar duo this season, we might have to consider Russ and KD co-MVP candidates if they can lead the Thunder back to a position among the NBA's elite as they appear to be doing.
Do you think they can get a shared spot on the ballot?