Kevin Durant has for the past several seasons been the Thunder’s top brass.  Unfortunately, his injury is keeping him from playing.  That leaves Russell Westbrook the only player keeping Oklahoma City clinging to the eighth seed in the Western Conference.  Know more about Westbrook by reading the following article.
Even when opening Russell's Reading Room, Westbrook's signature style is evident. | Image source: ESPN
In leopard-print shoes, at Oklahoma City's Eugene Field Elementary school last week, Russell Westbrook sat on a short red bench with a classroom's worth of kids gathered around. He was holding a book, mouthing the words and following along as a young boy and girl read each page.
"Y'all read better than I do!" he joked, eliciting adorable laughter.
Westbrook was opening the third Russell's Reading Room, a program from his Why Not? Foundation to help promote children's literacy in Oklahoma. And the book selected for him to read to complete the small ceremony was called "I Like Myself."
I'm glad I'm me.
There's no one else I'd rather be.
I like my eyes, my ears, my nose.
I like my fingers and my toes.
I like me wild.
I like me tame.
I like me different, and the same.
As much dissection, investigation and evaluation that still goes on around the Thunder's enigmatic point guard, one thing has always been abundantly clear: Russell Westbrook is comfortable being Russell Westbrook. Just watch this commercial.
Westbrook's style both on and off the floor have always been both somehow straightforward and nuanced. He's a maniacal fireball of fury, but also a strikingly intelligent person and player. He dresses like a 6-year-old playing in his dad's closet, but he somehow pulls it all off. He's impressively steadfast in being terse and awkward with the media.
When the schoolkids asked him rehearsed questions like "What's your favorite book?" and "How many hours have you read?" Westbrook couldn't help being himself.
"Not as much as I want to," he said honestly, which seems like kind of the wrong answer, given the setting.
But Westbrook isn't one to filter.
He'll tell a reporter he doesn't like him, because he was asked. He'll bristle at any question that he feels is unfair, rolling his eyes and blinking through irritation as he requests an explanation. He's an unapologetic person and player who can startle with his willingness to go without your affirmation.
He keeps a close circle. There no sweeping entourage of friends following him everywhere. His allegiances off the court rest with his mom, his dad, his brother and now, his fiancee. (He wore No. 4 in high school because it represented the number of people in his family.)
Theirs are the endorsements he seeks.
In Utah on Friday, as Thunder players filed out from the tunnel back onto the court following halftime, fans mostly wearing OKC apparel gathered around to high-five the team. Players spilled out in succession, celebrity autopilot driving them to fist-bump and high-five their way through the thicket of fans, and back to the floor. Westbrook emerged last. Fans leaned into his path, and screamed his name louder than any other player's. He stared straight ahead, at nothing in particular, arms at his sides. Three dozen or so Thunder fans: left hanging.
The fodder for those who would paint Westbrook as a jerk comes day after day. He's not exactly a social butterfly. He's not desperate for your approval. He's not going to beg you to like him. He is what he is, always, at all times. Take it or leave it.
'Sheldon Mitchell' sounds a good name for an Oklahoma City Thunder starter, yes? Just kidding. For now, it would be easier for me (and more advantageous for the team) to stick with blogging. Visit my blog for more stories about the Thunder.
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