The NBA season is barely a week old, and things are already starting to go sideways for the Washington Wizards.
Washington fell to 0-4 with a 115-107 loss against the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday. The Wizards have been in every game early, but they've looked listless at times during second halves and watched their chances of winning slip away.
Russell Westbrook, the Wizards' biggest offseason acquisition, has had a tough go of it. While he's recorded a triple-double in all three games he's played, Westbrook has struggled shooting the ball and hasn't been able to get to the rim as effectively as he has in the past.
Westbrook seemed to acknowledge his struggles after Tuesday's game when he took to Instagram to post a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. about facing adversity.
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy," read the quote on Westbrook's page.
The passage is one of King's most cited quotations. It appears in Strength to Love, a collection of King's sermons published in 1963. It is also one of 14 quotations on The Inscription Wall at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.
"When adversity hits, it's a true measurement of who you are as a man," Westbrook said during his postgame media session. "To have a little adversity early on, that's okay. Stick to your principles, stick to what you know, continue to lead and stay positive and that's something that I'm going to continue to emphasize to our guys. It's a long season and we're going to figure it out."
Westbrook is averaging 19 points, 13.7 rebounds and 12.7 assists in his three games played. However, he is shooting just 41.4% from the field, including 1-of-10 from 3-point range, and averaging 5.7 turnovers per game.
Follow Matt Eppers on Twitter @meppers_.
