Exhibit 1: https://www.si.com/nba/2017/04/03/nba-franchise-star-james-harden-stephen-curry-russell-westbrook 3 of 6 Sports Illustrated writers would build a team with Harden over Westbrook and Curry. NONE picked Westbrook.
Only a homer OKC fan would choose to build a team with Westbrook over Harden or Curry. Westbrook is the least efficient by far while dominating the ball the most, and his game won't age as gracefully as Curry's or Harden's. He's also the guy I think other stars would be the least willing to play with.
Sports illustrated has taken the route of smart informed takes and articles appealing to the more dedicated fan rather than the casual fan and click bait material. I like it. I haven't watched ESPN in years except for clips people post.
We're seeing this year what happens when you build a team around Westbrook. Every teammate that went into the season with promise (Steven Adams was supposed to be a top 40 player, Oladipo top 60) got worse. And the team record speaks for itself.
I get that people do not like Russell's game but it would be asinine to automatically assume he will decline rapidly once he declines. His willpower is impressive and as Kobe said Russell started his career going full throttle and now is gradually starting to learn to think strategically. In today's NBA only few good teams have one leader and all role players. We are an exception to the rule and our role players play very well, sometimes like allstars. You need several allstars normally.
Maybe he won't decline rapidly, but I'd bet my money on Harden and Curry not having as big of a drop off as Westbrook will as he ages.
For all of Westbrook's talent, he does come across as an "I'm-gettin'-mine" player. Similar to AI in that Iverson also got a lot of assists but dominated the ball so much that he blocked out the sun. Which seems to be okay with him. I can't be a hypocrite and say Harden isn't ball-dominant. But he isn't a ball-hog. And the roster is set up now where others can create, too (even if I'm sure it doesn't hurt Harden's feelings to lead the league in assists). So Harden looks more the part of someone you can build around.
Curry is the only one amongst these 3 that is not a scoring machine. His game is well balanced but he is no scorer first but a shooter who will have bad shooting nights. His game won't decline much because he won't score like Harden or WB. Although he still can if he is on. And he does not use his body to bang with players in the post and defend much. He uses all kinds of tear drops when going to the rim. His team has and will have the glaring need for good players. I think all 3 will be competitive until they are 32. And even then who knows?
I don't see how u can say that Curry isn't a scoring machine. He most definitely can be considered a scoring machine. Westbrook is the worst scorer out of these 3 players if u ask me. His high ppg is entirely due to his absurd usage rate and incredibly large amount of shot attempts. Curry could average 27 or 28 ppg on elite efficiency if he needed to, he just doesn't have to. Curry's game won't decline much because he's the best shooter of all time. Harden's game won't decline much because he relies far more on skill and craftiness than on athleticism. Westbrook on the other hand is overly reliant on his speed, athleticism, and explosion in order to be effective. He can't shoot like Curry or Harden. He's not as skilled as Curry or Harden either. Westbrook can still be effective when he's 32. He's still so great that he can still be an all star caliber player in his 30's.
You could make the same case with harden last year. He was pretty good last year too. I mean he average 29-6-7. You surround him with a bunch of guys who can't shoot 3s who happen to jack up a lot of 3s and your end up with 41-41.
chemistry issues and guys not giving a **** were the biggest reasons why we only won 41 games last year...it's not like we had some elite 3 point snipers when we won 56 games in 14-15 we shot 34.8% from 3 in 14-15 and 34.2% from 3 in 15-16
Westbrook is a teammate killer, coach killer and franchise killer. Just watch, he will destroy the team when the team starts losing. Westbrook has a mentality of me or nothing. When the Rockets were having a bad time with McHale, or Harden's dysfunctional relationship with Howard, Harden didn't throw anyone under the bus. And Harden played all 82 games last year despite having an inept coach and an egomaniac Howard.
I think Westbrook resembles Post Shaq era Kobe a tad before he found Gasol. Inefficient but still hungry for stats. I guess he will stat pad until he finds his Gasol and Bynum in prime. It could take couple years or it could happen the next year. New Orleans, Utah, Boston and Minny have the roster to contend with him for example. I think that is a reasonable plan for someone like him.
I do think the "all athleticism narrative" is old, partly incorrect and outdated. So WB never picked up some of Harden and Durant's skills? I think that is a tad naive to believe otherwise. I believe they all copied Harden's euro step early on but never used it as much. Curry's responsibility on the GSW is not scoring alone or almost never has been just scoring. WB did just that with Harden and Durant on board. He rebounded but rarely assisted. It all depends on what type of team he is on and if that team has a great coach and system in the future.
Westbrook + Curry = Harden has the best traits of both. Harden > Everyone Harden can play hard too (he's thrown it down in defenders face many times but chooses not because that does not win you games, he is smart and good enough to not have to be explosive all the time. Once again critics cant have it both ways. Either playing hard wears and tears, or it doesnt, and Lebron and company are resting for nothing.They say Westbrook plays with his heart every game, thats nice, but is it translating to wins? Can his body hold up? Going all out for loses? Only novelty prize is manufactured triple doubles and MVP talk that he probably wouldnt be in. Harden has mastered the art of "turning it on" when need be. He's like the point guard version of Tim Duncan not as fundamental but consistant. Harden has the body to bulldoze to the rim and the grace to finish. At some point OKC has to acknowledge their obvious mistake.
Lol, remember Kobe almost demanded a trade after losing in the second round (I think it was) without Shaq? But wanted Shaq gone? Westbrook = Carmelo Anthony 2.0 Skilled scorer, thats about it.
I think this year we can compare their stats strictly from the playoffs if every guy is healthy of course.