Russell Westbrook got a warning from the NBA after dodging the media for three straight games.
When he finally spoke up, he said a lot of “I don’t know” and “I’m not sure,” offering zero insight into the Nuggets’ four-game losing streak. The local reporters in Denver tried to get answers, but Westbrook either had nothing or wasn’t willing to offer anything.
Meanwhile, the powers that be decided the answer was firing both the head coach and general manager.
But even though Denver found a solution to its problems on Tuesday — at least for now — Westbrook wasn’t off the hook. There’s still plenty of media scrutiny surrounding him, and it’s not just from the local beat. It came in the form of Shannon Sharpe, who was very critical of Westbrook’s avoidance of the media and wanted to know who was responsible for the miscues that had plagued the Nuggets over the last week or so.
That would be Westbrook.
“Now, he did gone three games without talking to the media,” said Sharpe. “You know what that’s about; that’s a part of your obligation. That’s in the [CBA]. That’s a part of the obligation. That’s why you make the big bucks. And now, when things go bad, you don’t want to talk. But, when he was getting those triple-doubles, you couldn’t beat him to the microphone.”
“What you do is your profession,” Sharpe later added. “That’s a professional. A pro is how you go about doing your job. They’re entirely two different things, and sometimes people confuse the two. You can be a professional without being a pro. And you can be a pro without being a professional. One thing I prided myself on; I hated to lose. I did. When I was growing up, I would cry. I would kick things and tear things. And my granny said, ‘I’m gonna tear your ass because you not gonna be winning everything in life, and you not going to be doing this.’ I just don’t get it, man.”
Sharpe’s Nightcap co-host, Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson, asked Sharpe if he faulted Westbrook for not talking to the media, even though there was no cool-down period in between.
“Yes,” Sharpe emphatically said. “You go three games?”
Nikola Jokić, even though he had a 61-point triple-double, still had to face the music.
“Everybody else has to stand and face the music,” Sharpe adds. “You see, I’m big on accountability. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. I just have to be man enough to come stand before you to say, ‘I was wrong. I was wrong. I made a mistake. I’ve got to be better. I’m not perfect. But my goal is to, hopefully, one day, show you that this is not who I am.’ No matter what it is, because I’ve been in situations where I’ve lost. Like I said, I dropped a touchdown that would’ve given us home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. You go stand before the media.
“Because I believe sunshine’s going to follow rain. I’m not going to drop many more, but if I do, I’m going to be man enough to stand up before you and say, ‘Hey, I dropped it; this one’s on me. John [Elway] threw a perfect pass. Everybody did everything right. All I had to was my job in that situation. I failed.’ Don’t put it on anyone else. Don’t put it on the team. Yes, it’s a team, but that plate, they trusted me in that moment, and I let 53 guys down, and I let everybody in the stadium, and I let every Broncos fan down. That’s on me. I got to wear that. And I don’t just wear it for tonight; I wear it for the rest of my life.”
It’s really that simple. And Sharpe just doesn’t get Westbrook’s perspective.