Russel Westbrook does not have A low IQ

[jmcwilliams]

He actually did well in school and is A relatively smart guy. My observation of him is that he is A poor shooter and sloppy ball handler.
Aside from that his attitude is what leads to disaster. He has A pitbull mentality which is why he garnered A huge fan base in the first place. When things get tough his response is "play harder" even when that is not the appropriate response.
He is not the first athlete to have this mentality. Anderson Silva famously broke his own leg because he thought In order to win the fight he had to kick harder.
In other words, it becomes about the individual and not the strategy, gameplan or team effort.
In contrast we can look at Lebron James "trust the process".
It really is A process and there are very few individuals who can rise above the process and carry the team in their backs. Michael Jordan could do it but Michael was A great shooter. Steph can do but Steph is A great shooter. Russel Westbrook is A good player that hasn't figured out his limitations or simply refuses to accept them. He is not that guy but will gladly try and be that guy. Who knows maybe as the season progresses he will find A way to be that guy when he is running hot as A shooter. Lebron, generally, knows when he is not that guy and defers to the guy that is.

[higuys]

++

[GimmeThat]

a lot of what you said doesn't make sense when you factor in he wanted to keep Harden when the OKC front office chose not to, and if I recall correctly, he even went as far as wanting to keep Harden over Ibaka

[PeroAntic]

When things get tough his response is "play harder" even when that is not the appropriate response.

Russel Westbrook is A good player that hasn't figured out his limitations or simply refuses to accept them.

Aren't these literal examples of having low IQ? Performance in school means nothing here. He has zero self awareness and completely incapable of adapting and evolving both as a person and as a player.

[jmcwilliams]

Aren't these literal examples of having low IQ? Performance in school means nothing here. He has zero self awareness and completely incapable of adapting and evolving both as a person and as a player.

I suppose you could call it low IQ. Personally, I think it's attitude and ego more than IQ. Unfortunately, his attitude and ego do not match his ability. Who else fell into this trap? Isaiah Thomas? Doesn't seem to be very easy to separate yourself from the hero ball mentality once it has become part of your NBA narrative and the reason fans love you. Isaiah Thomas will always be chasing his glory days under the Celtics system to the point that he made himself unfit for team ball. Russel may be in the same trap. He keeps going back to what brought him moderate success in the past.

[Shogon]

Intelligence has many different facets but uh...

If we're talking about in game basketball IQ, to say that "Russell Westbrook doesn't have a low IQ" is right up there with "Ivanka Trump is currently bouncing on my lap and thrusting her chest in my face as I type this" in terms of the severity of the misrepresentation of objective reality.

His decision making is absolutely putrid.

Russell Westbrook is absolutely unquestionably one of the very best examples of guys in league history that would be absolutely NO WHERE NEAR being in the league if it were not for his athleticism. He is not in league because of basketball IQ. He would not be a dleague player nor would he be a D1 player if in game IQ was the primary part of his game.

[8Ball]

His shot selection is god awful.

If we can give him Rondo IQ on the court he'd be a top 5 player even being an awful shooter.

[ImKobe]

His shot selection is god awful.

If we can give him Rondo IQ on the court he'd be a top 5 player even being an awful shooter.

Pretty much. He seems like a good/smart dude off the court but god does he make some terrible decisions in big moments. He should know his own strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else, yet he keeps trying to force the issue when he has better options on this team, he's always done this, dating back to his OKC days with prime KD on the court. You can't give him the ball in crunch time unless he's cutting to the basket or making an inbounds play. He's a top 5 player in the first 3 quarters and then finds ways to lose games.

[Phoenix]

Russell doesn't make decisions that I'd want from a lead guard. Really should be a shooting guard, except he can't shoot either which wasn't a huge deal in 2010 but is now. But he needs to be on the back-end of plays and not the one initiating the offense or orchestrating the whos/whats/whens/hows in the 4th quarter.

[imdaman99]

If he had a higher IQ, I would have more hair. As it is, I'm gonna start shaving my hair really short soon

[PP34Deuce]

Russell was a football player before basketball player. It shows. Dude was 5 8 until he hit a growth spurt to 6 3 senior year. He wasn't highly regarded until senior year year was a late bloomer.

[Phoenix]

Russell was a football player before basketball player. It shows. Dude was 5 8 until he hit a growth spurt to 6 3 senior year. He wasn't highly regarded until senior year year was a late bloomer.

Yeah, he'd make a hell of a running back....not quarterback.

[RRR3]

Westbrook isn’t a stupid person but he is a stupid basketball player. He’s not the first. Jeremy Lin was a dumb player and he went to Harvard.

[Phoenix]

Nah, it's not about his general 'IQ' but he doesn't have the 'feel' for the game you want from a PG, because he's gone at one speed his entire career, and never evolved his game( even someone like Kidd became a better shooter later in this career). He lacks the game management skills you want in a PG especially in clutch situations.

[coin24]

He’s an out of control spaz on the court.. really needs to stop taking 3s