Mr. Doonan, now a judge on the TV show “Making It,” calls past collections with Mr. Westbrook where he “selected fabrics, working on and approving designs,” and shot videos together, “the most fun I’ve had in my career.”
But while Mr. Westbrook’s off-court life is filled with successes, his basketball season has been so rocky that the hometown faithful have turned on the Los Angeles native — so much so that his wife recently tweeted that the family had been sent “death wishes.” The former Laker Shaquille O’Neal has advised slowing down, and he’s even been benched and shopped in trade talks.
Mr. Westbrook has reacted to the boos and taunts of “Westbrick” with defiance; speaking to a pool of reporters after the Pelicans loss, he said, “I got three beautiful kids at my house, my wife, I ain’t taking it home.”
But just days later, in a postgame interview, he shifted, saying that the taunts had gotten to him, alluding to more important things than basketball, a revelation that was a similar vein to the Showtime film, “Passion Play,” in which he is introspective in a way that can still be uncommon among professional athletes. “The way I compete has made me an easy target,” he says in the film, almost as if there are two Russells. “In the sports world, I am the bad guy. People don’t really understand who I am. I’ll be lying to say it didn’t affect me.”
The Return
Born in Long Beach, Calif., Mr. Westbrook grew up in Hawthorne, near South Central Los Angeles, went to high school in Lawndale, then spent two years in Westwood at the University of California, Los Angeles. He entered the N.B.A. in 2008 and immediately became known for his fiery play and fashion sense.

Source: New York Times

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