We have a severe lack of shooters and Donovan hasn't been able to make drastic improvements in the offensive system yet. I'm still not pinning blame on Russ at this stage, he just has ZERO help on offense. His defense is an issue though, he needs to try a little harder there.
NBA 2016-17
- Thread starter ArmchairCritic
- Start date
30 ahots though is a lot of shots to take.
How can you keep saying this. If you remove Westbrook from the stats, as a TEAM you shot over 50%. There's some pretty good shooting going on there. Team OKC shot 32-62 for 51.6%. Team Westbrook shot 13-30 for 43.3%. Just as a matter of interest Team Lakers shot 42-83 for 50.6%. In other words, Team OKC was just that little bit better than Team Lakers from a shooting perspective.
Overall, Team Westbrook wasn't too bad from the floor tonight but they will be really upset that they missed out on the triple double. As a bonus, however, they are now leading the league in points/game (Go Team Westbrook!). Oh, they lost as well but of course nobody is really interested in that.
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He also scored 15 OKC points in a row in Q4 but yeah he's the reason they lost the game. As @charlton66 says they'd be better off without him, should trade him really.
He needs a second star next to him to share the ball with, otherwise Oklahoma will forever be about Westbrook going for glory.
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Let's just say it wasn't a surprise that Lakers won, who should have won a lot more comfortably if not for the almost choke late on. Lakers, who won 21 games last season against the Conference finalists. The state of OKC right now.
The Knicks will make it to the playoffs. They're a lot of fun to watch too
You keep saying that and I keep denying it. I actually like Westbrook, I keep saying this too. The trouble is Russ needs to figure out that it isn't just all about Russ (said that as well).
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It would probably help if he started watching film.
He's second in both total and per game assists, only Harden is ahead of him this season, but yeah he needs to share the ball more. :|
The fact that you don't think Thunder DESPERATELY need an outside shooter right now points more towards you not having watched them this season. Actually, how many full Thunder games have you watched?
Even the missed shot that @Sarni mentioned - Adams won the offensive rebound with 5 seconds on the clock, why did he give it to Russ? These idiots aren't just not capable of making important shots, they don't want to do it, they shy away from responsibility and are happy just giving it to Russ and hoping him to bail them out again and again. Anyway, this discussion is boring as hell now, we clearly seem to be watching different games (if you have actually watched them) and our assessments are simply way apart for any scope of discussion. And I know which one of them would be agreed by a Thunder fan so that's that.
First bold: Russ shares the ball fine except with the game on the line and then everybody in the building knows its going to be all him. That makes it very difficult to make shots at the end and he often makes bad choices.
Second bold: That's exactly what they need. They used to have a pretty good one who (is giving the impression in his interviews) left because he didn't think the ball was being shared around enough.
Third bold: Exactly what I pointed out the other day.
Fourth bold: A bit of a cheap shot but hey I'm magnanimous.
@Aldo, I'm not trying to give you a hard time about this. I respect your opinion and think you're very knowledgeable about the game as a whole. It's not even that we're poles apart when it comes to discussing Westbrook. I think he is a brilliant player, I just think that he AND HIS TEAM MATES need to come to a better understanding at the end of games - that's it really.
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I thought he was great down the stretch defensively, but then at the possession where Young hits the clutch 3, Westbrook was nowhere near him when he should've been guarding him. That's on Russ. Oladipo also hinted at that during his post game interview.
I haven't watched Thunder apart from the game last night. But it seems that a lot of the criticism being thrown at Russ is similar the the criticism thrown at Kobe, especially in his later years. Taking all the big shots, missing a majority of them, missing a lot of shots, putting up good numbers but percentages etc down and looking bad.
Kobe left and now Lakers are looking goodish.
Is that too simplistic?
Kobe left and now Lakers are looking goodish.
Is that too simplistic?
I think you're mixing up a couple things.
Westbrook is in his prime while Kobe in his later years was a shadow of his former self, mainly due to the achilles injury. He was still the main option for their offense after coming back, but Mitch Kupchak seemingly decided to rebuild and did that through the draft which got them Randle, Clarkson, Russell, Nance Jr. and Ingram. Now that Kobe is retired, you're seeing a young coach implementing his ideas with promising players.
Kobe in his prime dragged the Lakers to the playoffs and almost upset the Suns as an 8th seed. Westbrook is now facing a similar challenge.
The Thunder without Westbrook would be one of the worst teams in the league.
No I understand that. What I'm trying to compare is Kobe's performances to Russ' performances. The high volume, low percentage shooting in a terrible/bad team.
I get they were at different times in their careers, had different players around them and the teams intentions were to go in different directions.
Difference is though that Kobe made impossible shots on a decent percentage. Russ doesn't and that's okay, but he should try to improve other areas of his game such as decision making instead of thinking he's Kobe's heir.
For instance, last night. Westbrook was red hot from 3 in the 4th quarter, but we all know he's one of the worst 3 pts shooters in the league. The Thunder were only down by 2 and there was enough time left on the clock to get a better look. Shot selection has always been an issue for him and still is.
Because it is true? Look at the offensive players around him! Oladipo? Inconsistent. Although admittedly he has been quite decent lately. Adams? Still developing and hasn't progressed from the playoffs as hoped. Sabonis? A rookie who blows hot and cold. Roberson? Literally passes up open 3s and cannot finish to save himself.
You can put Morrow and Kanter in (who can finish and shoot) but then the defence suffers. The roster is just a mess at the moment. Some of Westbrook's shots are literally because the ball ends up in his hands with under 5 on the shot-clock. I have seen Russ start the ball-movement chain only for it to end with Roberson who passes up an open look to go back to Russ so many times this season.
I think you're being harsh on the whole 'team Westbrook' thing too. We have only started the season and he is still learning to play without Durant. Of course he is naturally going to think he has to make up for Durant being gone by doing more. It's what he did under Brooks and it is his nature. He deserves time to see if he can adjust, although he may not. But even if he does he doesn't have the talent around him really.
EDIT: And Durant can comment all he wants on the lack of ball movement at OKC but a lot of that is on him. It's easy to go into a new team and change your ways because they don't need him to win (and he knows this). And of course everything will be easier when you are playing with 3 all-stars and not getting double-team constantly.
Didn't he basically played the season before last without Durant and failed to reach the playoffs?
Yes, but under Scott Brooks. Who let him do whatever he wanted. I think Donovan can change him to a degree (but you will never fully transform him), but he needs time. He has only coached a Durant-less Westbrook for 15 games or so. That season was never going to be anything other than the Westbrook show too. Because Ibaka and others were also injured in that run and we literally had no one else. As I said before, Oladipo and Sabonis are inconsistent but Russ can (and does) share the ball with them at times.
Exactly what I've been saying all along! This is pretty much in line with what I've watched them do this season.
Love on fire!
20 points in 4 and a half minutes is insane!
What the hell is going on. 
Love is 6-6 from 3P with 4 odd minutes played!
Love is 6-6 from 3P with 4 odd minutes played!
Crazy!What the hell is going on.
Love is 6-6 from 3P with 4 odd minutes played!
And another one.
Cavs absolutely destroying Portland.
Cavs absolutely destroying Portland.
26 points!!!!
8-9
What.
What.
Imagine Kevin Love breaking the 100 points record, would be crazy.8-9
What.
I'm still trying to digest what just happened.Imagine Kevin Love breaking the 100 points record, would be crazy.
Quarter not over yet as well. Wow!
32 points now.
Finished the quarter on 34 points! I'm not a Cavaliers fan but it would be very exciting if he keeps going like this all game.
34 points in a quarter. Franchise record.
Cavs 81 in the first half must be a record points in a half, no?
2 short of Franchise record. Overall record is 107.
That was one hell of a performance by Cavs.
Dreading this Raptors-Rockets game, Raptors are too strong for us.
Lebron has been the best passer in the league this season. Some of his bounce passes are beautiful to watch.
Honestly not mad at this L against the Raptors, Rockets shot the 3 terribly even though they had a lot of open shots, on another night this would've been a win, horrible effort by Gordon and Anderson and 12 TO by Harden is unacceptable.
I wish the fecking Bulls would be consistent. Good or bad. Doesn't much matter. Just don't beat the Jazz and Trailblazers and Lakers then lose to the fecking Nuggets, especially after having a big lead. Fred's gotta find a better second unit lineup. The games they lose are usually the games where the second unit gets demolished.