Russell Westbrook reveals a lot in his candid interview with Graham Bensinger. The extremely generous, publicity-wary, triple-double machine whose friends call him Russ doesn’t usually give so much away. Then again, much of what Westbrook is telling Bensinger is why he doesn’t like to reveal too much — it’s sort of a Catch-22 interview. Russ is candid about why he’s so rarely candid. A deep and justified reluctance about being misunderstood — and the first rate intelligence that recognizes it’ll inevitably happen — those are the reasons. In a nutshell, Westbrook tells Bensinger: “There is a lot of different things that can be misconstrued. You can see different pictures and think something of one thing and you could see one thing and think another.”
[NBA: Russell Westbrook Sees Thunder As Contenders]
Still in an interview that captures the cool, unflappable, conscientious personality of the OKC Thunder’s sole remaining superstar, the interview does get some memorable facts down despite the famous Westbrook reluctance. Like that he appreciates being called the “Kate Moss of the NBA” (for his fashion sense). And Bensinger got Westbrook’s brother to rat out the NBA star on his conspicuous consumption/hoarding/shoe obsession. His brother disabused Bensinger about the rumor that Russ has 700 pairs of shoes. All wrong: Westbrook has a 1,000 pairs of shoes. His brother should know: Westbrook keeps some of his shoes in his brother’s closet too. Overflow, you know.
