Stephen A. Smith backed up his criticism of Russell Westbrook with another rant

He's not wrong about this, but neither is Russ.

Stephen A. Smith is back at it again with Russell Westbrook.

The Wizards point guard has beef with the First Take host after Smith criticized Westbrook for not winning a championship in his career just yet.

That clearly struck a chord of some sort with Westbrook. He fired back on Tuesday night in a brilliant response that was pretty incredible to listen to. He said he’d put together an incredible career and had done incredible things for so many people because of it. He wasn’t wrong at all.

Smith responded to Westbrook’s response on Wednesday’s episode of First Take and, to be honest, he isn’t exactly wrong either.

He addressed Westbrook’s response, saying that he wasn’t assassinating his character through his criticism and he also acknowledged all the work Westbrook had done in the community.

He also acknowledged that Westbrook is an incredible basketball player. But that didn’t change the fact that Smith wanted to see more from Westbrook on the court.

My full response to Russell and Nina Westbrook. pic.twitter.com/L4Af14a5KH

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) March 31, 2021

“You’ve been so phenomenal with the numbers. We don’t care about the numbers anymore — we know what you can do. You won a league MVP averaging a triple-double…You’re averaging a triple-double now…That season you won MVP you had 42 triple-doubles in a season. We know what you can do with the numbers. What about the chip? What about the championship? Because you’ve been to four Conference Finals.” 

Sheesh. He wasn’t done there.

“Russell Westbrook, regardless of his mean and acerbic demeanor at times, is one of the best people. The most real, straight up authentic people you will ever see in your life. I respect the hell out of the man. What does that have to do with your game? Damian Lillard sent you home. Donovan Mitchell sent you home. James Harden sent you home. And Kevin Durant left. In your career, you’ve had Kevin Durant, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Reggie Jackson, Victor Oladipo, Paul George, James Harden again and, now, Bradley Beal. And we want to celebrate triple-doubles 40-plus games into a regular season when it comes to you? No. You’re so great, we want to see more when it matters. And me saying that isn’t an indictment against your character.” 

Fair points all around. You would absolutely love to see Russell Westbrook finally be able to get back to the NBA Finals and win a championship. And the triple-doubles don’t feel as good this season with the Wizards’ lack of success.

But at the same time, Westbrook is also right. His career doesn’t come down to just championships. Sure, that’s a part of it. And if he retires without one, it’ll be a bit disappointing. But it’s not the end-all, be-all. He’s still a Hall of Famer. He’s still a great guy. He’s still one of the greatest, most captivating players we’ve ever seen play the game.

And, at the end of the day, that’s why we watch the game — so we can see that greatness. The championships are awesome. But there’s so much more to it than that. The lesson here is that we should appreciate all of it as a whole.

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