Sadly, Rockets’ Russell Westbrook is still misunderstood by the national media

Houston Rockets guard Russell Westbrook is still being portrayed as a malcontent by the national media, which couldn’t be any further than the truth.

Houston Rockets superstar Russell Westbrook has often been misinterpreted by the media as both a hothead and as someone who is unapproachable. Much of this has been because of the manner in which Westbrook plays the game, as many see a fiery, passionate guy on the court and naturally mistake him as the same way off of it.

We’ve seen several post-game interviews from when Russ was with the Oklahoma City Thunder in which he turned to his signature “next question” response. For many, this has been further proof and validation that Westbrook is mercurial and a malcontent.

One of those people is Colin Cowherd of FS1, who was speaking on The Herd with Colin Cowherd and had interesting remarks about the Houston Rockets guard. Cowherd stated, “Russell Westbrook is bad with the press and is too often unhinged and difficult.”

Although this is a fairly brief statement, it’s incredibly erroneous, and especially from the Houston media perspective, which I’ll delve into in a bit. But over the last several years we’ve only seen Westbrook spar with one specific journalist, which is Barry Tramel of The Oklahoman, who drew the “next question” response from both Russ and even Paul George at times.

And as Tramel explained, he was actually the antagonist of the feud between him and Russ. Yet in spite of that, the lasting effect of the toxic relationship he sparked with Russ has portrayed Russ as a guy who is “unhinged and difficult,” in the words of Cowherd.

But the true Westbrook is actually a genuine, caring person away from the playing surface, who has been a model citizen with the Houston media ever since becoming a member of the Rockets.

Next: Cayleigh Griffin shares encounters with Russ