Photo via Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images North America

What seems like every day, Skip Bayless, an Oklahoma City native and self-proclaimed Thunder/Kevin Durant fan, criticizes Russell Westbrook for being a shoot first, pass second point guard.  Bayless doesn’t hold back in ripping Westbrook for what can be interpreted as selfish play.  As Bayless sees it, Westbrook shouldn’t dominate the ball when he has Kevin Durant, the two-time scoring champion as his number one option.  During last year’s NBA playoffs, Bayless blamed the Thunder loss on Westbrook’s poor shot selection which resulted in many missed shots, wasted possessions, and losing to the eventual NBA Champions, the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals.

Bayless’s shock jock approach to “First Take” often gets athletes and fans riled up.  Whether they love him or love to hate him, Bayless knows how to get people talking about him and the show.  But rarely do athletes clap back and challenge Bayless, especially when stats directly contradict everything he spews.

According to Thunder Rumblings, an OKC team blog, before last night’s 94-88 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, the Thunder was 20-4 when Westbrook takes more shots than Durant.  And Oklahoma City has won by an average margin of 12.4 points.  And after checking the stats of last night’s game, Durant led the team in shot attempts (8-20, 21 points) while Westbrook shot 5-16, 19 points, which resulted in the Thunder adding another game to the ‘L’ column.

While this may come as a surprise to Bayless and other Westbrook critics, Durant is well aware of what drives the team.  Durant had this to say, “Like I said, that guy doesn’t know a thing.  I don’t think he watches us. I think he just looks at stats.  And traditionally, a point guard is not supposed to take more than everybody else on the team.  But we’re better when he does do that and he’s aggressive.  And I’m better when I’m out there facilitating, rebounding, defending and being more efficient on my shots with less shots.” Durant continued, “I’ll stick up for all my guys, especially against a guy that I have never seen at an NBA game before.  It just starts to get sickening when you hear somebody talk about your teammate like that almost every day.  So I’ll stick up for him every single day.”

More athletes need to follow Durant’s lead and defend their teammates, especially against talking heads with questionable credibility.  They’re not in the trenches with the team on the daily and have no idea what keeps the machine running smoothly.  Too many sports journalists and personalities pop off without being called out by athletes.  For example, Donovan McNabb was criticized throughout much of his career and chose the high road.  While his name was being dragged through the mud, he never responded causing fans to scratch their heads in wonderment.   But now that he’s no longer playing, he’s finally grown a pair and is taking shots at former coaches, organizations, and players he barely even knows.  But instead of being applauded for his outspokenness, his too little too late effort has him being written off as bitter and fodder for further criticism.

Meanwhile, Durant wasn’t the only player to speak up.  When asked about Bayless, Westbrook offered a mouthful.  He said,

I don’t really have no thoughts.  That’s his job. He’s supposed to do that. He finds somebody that he wants to talk about and that’s what he does. He (doesn’t) play so he don’t know. That’s how I look at it. I really don’t care. Nobody says that honestly. But when it comes to him, he doesn’t play. He hasn’t played in the NBA. So he wouldn’t know what’s going on at all.  I just let my play speak for itself, honestly. As a team we’re doing great. We’re (nearly) tied for the best record in the league. So I’l just take the good with the bad and I guess just go with it. I don’t really mind it.

Westbrook also said that his number of shot attempts isn’t an issue on the team, it’s something created by the media.

The KD-RW tandem is the best one-two punch in the league.  Durant and Westbrook are the number two and five leading scorers in the league; respectively.  Also, OKC Thunder has already clinched a playoff spot with the best record in the Western Conference.  While Skip Bayless may think Westbrook’s trigger happiness may be a detriment to the team, numbers don’t lie.

-@sdotrenee