Bleacher Report released their annual list of the top 15 point guards in the NBA over the weekend with Russell Westbrook coming in at third on the list.

For a player that is coming off another historic year, averaging a triple-double for a second straight season, Westbrook still seems to be slept on by national pundits in point guard conversations. However, there are some points made that make sense for placing him behind Chris Paul and Stephen Curry.

For the 2017-18 season, Westbrook averaged 25.4 points, a league-leading 10.3 assists and 10.1 rebounds a game. However, he got these numbers shooting only 44.9 percent from the field and 29.8 percent from three. He also put up 17 shots a game on average, second highest of his career.

Bleacher Report’s national NBA writers Dan Favale and Adam Fromal explained their rationale for Westbrook’s ranking:

“Something needs to give for Westbrook. He has to rein in his jump shots or improve his efficiency. The latter is ideal but less likely. Players don’t usually take drastic leaps more than 10 years into their careers. Until something about Westbrook’s approach changes, though, there will always be stretches in which he does more harm than good.”

From purely a statistical standpoint, Russ is typically the all-around best point guard in the league most years while his teams post-Kevin Durant have underperformed.

Two straight first-round exits don’t help the reputation of a guy who is constantly seen as someone who shoots too much for a point guard and can bring his team down with a lack of efficiency.

Russ can change this narrative this season as the Thunder are projected to be a top-three team in a tough Western Conference with recently added Dennis Schroder as a guard who can take some scoring pressure off Westbrook in the backcourt.

Along with getting rid of Carmelo Anthony, this Thunder team improved this offseason and the team around Westbrook projects to be the strongest it has been since K.D. left in 2016.

If Russ can improve his shooting this year and become a more efficient player, the sky is the limit for this Thunder squad.

Russ also has a real opportunity to become the leader that the Thunder faithful have been looking for since his arrival in 2008. All of these will be huge factors in the Thunder’s success in 2018-19.