Where is the next stop? What level is Westbrook this season?

Everyone knows that the Nuggets season has ended.

The second round tiebreak against the Thunder, almost all the Nuggets played miserably, including Westbrook on the bench.

Westbrook played for a total of 22 minutes, shooting 2 of 7 shots, 2 of 5 three-pointers, scoring 6 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, and 4 turnovers, with the lowest positive and negative values ​​in the team -34.

Let me first talk about it. Losing is definitely not a problem for one person, and it is even more impossible to blame Westbrook on the bench. However, in this round, facing his old club who had played for more than ten years, Westbrook's performance was indeed not ideal.

Seven games, Westbrook's performances were:

-G1, 7 of 13 shots, 18 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assists, 19 points, 1 rebound, 5 assists, 3 shots, 3 shots, 8 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 2 of 12 shots, 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 7 shots, , scored 4 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists

- G6, 3 shots, 8 points, 3 rebounds, 0 assists

- G7, 2 shots, 2 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists

The whole round of the series, Westbrook averaged 22.7 minutes per game, scored 9.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists, with a shooting percentage of 34.8%, a three-point shooting percentage of 21.9%, and a real shooting percentage of 45.3%.

Except for G1 and G2, Westbrook scored all single digits in the other five games, and sent a total of 17 assists in the series, but also made 18 turnovers, with a total of 7 of 32 three-pointers.

Again, the Nuggets will definitely not take the blame when they are eliminated by Westbrook. On the contrary, the Nuggets showed a huge rotation disadvantage in this round of the series. Except for Westbrook, the other players on the entire bench averaged no more than 15 minutes per game. And if G2 and G7 were not beaten by the Thunder, this number might have been lower. What is the roughly concept of

? The Knicks next door are always criticized for the Five Donkeys tactics, but in fact, they also have McBride and Mitchell Robinson on the bench, while the Nuggets have almost only Westbrook (and Strauser of G6).

Or we can say that without Westbrook, the Nuggets may not be able to enter the second round.

In the first round against the Clippers, Westbrook's performance can be said to be quite outstanding. In six games, he averaged 13.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, with a shooting percentage of 43.3%, a three-point shooting percentage of 41.9%, and a real shooting percentage of 55.7%, second only to Yomuden's three core points.

Note that the above data is still the case when Westbrook G3 only played less than 9 minutes of injury and retreated and only scored 3 points. If it is counted as the other five games, he averaged 16.0 points per game.

Westrow's performance was particularly outstanding in the last three games of the first round:

-G5, 8 of 15 shots, 3 of 6 three-pointers, and 21 points (16 points in the halftime)

-G6, 5 of 10 shots, 2 of 4 three-pointers, and 14 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and 6 assists in the last three-pointers, 5 of 9 shots, 2 of 4 three-pointers, and 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals in the first three-pointer. Going back to the regular season, Westbrook's joining the Nuggets was once despised by many fans, but in the end, he gave the performance: playing in 75 games, averaging 27.9 minutes per game, 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists, three shooting percentages were 44.9%/32.3%/66.1%, and the real shooting percentage was 53.2%.

Westrow has some of his shortcomings, such as unstable offense, many mistakes, easy to be released from the outside, and sometimes even fail to make an empty basket, but it is undeniable that Westbrook has indeed helped Yomu consume a lot of ball rights. At the same time, his defense has made huge progress this year, and he can even become the Nuggets' outside leader. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is the Nuggets' best sixth man.

What's important is that Westbrook only gets a basic salary.

It would be nice to be the eighth player of the team and to squeeze into rotation in the playoffs, but Westbrook not only became one of the six core members of the Nuggets, but also played far beyond his value in the first round of the playoffs.

If we have to summarize Westbrook's season, we would say this: there must be regrets and some shortcomings, and these shortcomings may not be changed in the future, but if we can't make such performance with a basic salary, we really can't ask for more.

What really has a problem with the Nuggets is the insufficient rotation problem we mentioned earlier. Because of the insufficient rotation, the Nuggets' core members including Jokic, Murray, and Gordon were overloaded, and Gordon eventually suffered a second-degree hamstring strain.

It is also because of insufficient rotation that Westbrook was allowed to play the sixth man role - not to deny Westbrook's performance throughout the season, but when the Nuggets faced a defensive strong team like the Thunder, it was still too difficult for Westbrook to be the sixth man now. At least from the second round, Westbrook did not give enough support to Jokic.

It is worth mentioning that this offseason, Westbrook will have a chance to become a free agent, or he can execute his own $3.47 million remaining player option for the remaining one year in Denver by June 30.

Personally, I think that staying in Denver may be a better decision for Westbrook. After all, as long as Jokic is available, the Nuggets have a chance to win the championship. If the Nuggets want to win the championship, they must make a fuss on the bench, giving Jokic and Westbrook a little (preferably a shot) helper.