After an eight day hiatus, I'm happy to say, welcome back to "Pat's Top 25 NBA Players Countdown". On Saturday, August 18th, 2018, Chris Paul of the Houston Rockets and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks was the 9th and 8th selection of my top 25 list.

Former MVP and emotional leader of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Russell Westbrook will be the lone appearance on today's list.

Lets look how the countdown is shaping out so far.

*Players that didn't make the cut

• C. Nikola Jokic *Denver Nuggets
• C. Andre Drummond *Detroit Pistons
• SG. Devin Booker *Phoenix Suns
• PF. Kevin Love *Cleveland Cavaliers
• PG. Kemba Walker *Charlotte Hornets  
• SG. C.J.McCollum *Portland Trail Blazers

*Players ranked #25-8

• (25.) SG. Bradley Beal *Washington Wizards
  
• (24.) C. Karl-Anthony Towns *Minnesota Timberwolves
  
• (23.) PG. Kyle Lowry *Toronto Raptors
  
• (22.) SG. Victor Oladipo *Indiana Pacers
  
• (21.) C. Rudy Gobert *Utah Jazz
  
• (20.) PF. LaMarcus Aldridge *San Antonio Spurs
  
• (19.) PF. Draymond Green *Golden State Warriors  
  
• (18.) SG. DeMar Derozan *Toronto Raptors
  
• (17.) C. Joel Embiid *Philadelphia 76ers  
  
• (16.) PG. John Wall *Washington Wizards
  
• (15.) SF. Paul George *Oklahoma City Thunder
  
• (14.) SG. Jimmy Butler *Minnesota Timberwolves
  
• (13.) SG. Klay Thompson *Golden State Warriors
  
• (12.) PG. Damian Lillard *Portland Trail Blazers
  
• (11.) C. DeMarcus Cousins *Golden State Warriors
  
• (10.) PG. Kyrie Irving *Boston Celtics
  
• (9.) PG. Chris Paul *Houston Rockets
  
• (8.) PF. Giannis AntetoKounmpo *Milwaukee Bucks
   

*Now the 7th selection

• (7.) PG. Russell Westbrook *Oklahoma City Thunder
  

The most explosive point guard in the NBA, Russell Westbrook a.k.a. Brodie is without a doubt a top seven player in the NBA.

Westbrook's stat line the past four seasons has been amazing. He has a cumulative average of  (27.2 Pts, 8.9 Rebs, 9.8 Ast, 1.8 Stls, 44 Fg%, 31 3pt% & 81 Ft%), he averages 4.7 Turnover per game over that span, but he still has a 2 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio which is good.  Also, during that span he has made the All- Star game four times (2015-2018), two-time All-Star game MVP, (2015,2016), Two-time NBA scoring champion, (2015,2017) and was the NBA assist leader (2018)

Next, since the beginning of 2015,  Westbrook has made the All-NBA First team twice , (2016,2017) , made the ALL-NBA Second team twice (2015,2018) and won MVP in 2017.

Speaking of 2017, that was Westbrook's best season of his career. He averaged a career high in points, (31.6), assist (10.4), rebounds, (10.7) , Ft% (85%) , 3pt% (34%) and Free throw attempts per game (10.4) . He finished 8th in Defensive Win shares (4.6), 5th in Win shares (13.1), 1st in Value over Replacement ( 12.4) and tenth in rebounds per game (10.7). The best feature from Russell Westbrook's 2016-2017 season was becoming the first player since Oscar Robertson's 1961-1962 season to average a triple-double. That was ultimately the deciding factor in Westbrook winning league MVP over James Harden . Westbrook received 69 First place votes compared to Harden's 22,  and ultimately had (888) total points won compared to Harden's (753). Overall, since 2015 , Westbrook has placed in the top four for MVP voting.

Furthermore, by the numbers one can make the case that Westbrook is a top five player in the NBA, but he falls short of the mark in my opinion.

Westbrook has a knock against him. There are speculations that he's difficult to play alongside if you're a Star player.  with. I don't know if that's true or not, but he has a former teammate in Victor Oladipo who had his worse season of his career playing alongside Westbrook and had his best season of his career and became an All-Star and most improved in the NBA the following season in Indiana . The same goes for Kevin Durant. Many people will say, Durant is a snake for leaving the Thunder for a stacked Warriors team that just beat them the season prior in a tough seven game season and that may hold some truth, but Kevin Durant has been the man since joining the Warriors and it shows and his two great NBA Finals performances against LeBron James and the Cavaliers that has earned him two straight Finals MVP'S. Westbrook losing against the Houston Rockets wasn't a surprise seeing they was the underdogs in that series, but losing in the first round against the Utah Jazz led by Rookie Donovan Mitchell did raise some eyebrows. What made this even more alarming was that, Westbrook took a battle against Ricky Rubio personally in game 4 instead of making the proper rotations on defense, because he felt Rubio got the better of him in Game three. Oklahoma City looked rattled in game four against Utah and lost 113-96 and went down 3-1 in the series. They stole game five after being down by as many as 23 points in the third quarter, but ultimately lost game 6 96-91.

Westbrook has shown in 2015 with a limited Durant only playing 27 games that he will miss the postseason and lose in the first round (2017,2018). In fact, it's similar to the criticism that Kobe Bryant once received after Shaquille O'Neal departure from the Lakers. The only difference was that Kobe Bryant was a three-time NBA champion during that stage of his career.

 Oklahoma City  being able to re-sign Paul George, getting rid of a toxic Carmelo Anthony and signing Dennis Schroder should definitely help improve the team, but it's now up to Westbrook to get the Thunder back in championship contention.

• https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/westbru01.html
• https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_2017.html
• http://www.nba.com/playoffs/2018/westseries4#

Let me know how you feel about Westbrook being placed number seven on the list!