Media so far this year: "Harden is a ballhog. Nobody else on that team ever sees the ball." Media a month from now: "Westbrook shouldn't make the All-Star Team. He's just benefiting from all the attention Harden gets."
I was looking for stats on his 1st half/2nd half splits and couldn't find anything. I did, however, find an interesting Russ split: 3PT% home: .300 3PT% away: .159 That is brutal.
Well I haven’t taken the time to look into Thomas or Heywards stats post injury, but I have with Paul. And Paul wasn’t even half as bad as Westbrook has been this year. So there’s that. I’m willing to give it more time. Hell I even stated in my post Gordon coming back could really help our Westbrook lineups because they HAVE to have good shooters. But the results thus far have been sooooo bad. There is no argument any other way. You can give explanations as to why it has been bad, but there is no spinning his performance into something positive. SO FAR!
Not much to complain about last game! Sure, he took a couple ill advised outside shots but nothing outlandish at all. Even Harden takes the occasional questionable shot so no one is perfect. The thing that I like is that he is really trying his best to attack the rim as much as possible. If he misses a few contested layups or gets his shot blocked here and there, hey fair enough. At least he is trying to play Moreyball. Way way better than those 20 foot jumpers off the dribble, which I think he had maybe 1 of the entire night? Definitely a step in the right direction. He hasn't been perfect the past couple weeks, but I feel like there is a legitimate effort to get to the hoop as his first option and be a bit more selective when shooting from outside. Also, dat free throw shooting. Crazy.
It's so crazy how I see them completely different. Paul might have been more efficient and better on defense but no way did I like him better. Paul didn't rebound great, wasn't near as fast, didn't put up the kind of numbers Russ does, and most importantly, missed far too many games to be counted upon.
Well. Being an efficient scoring, good defensive player holds a **** ton of value in the NBA. I don’t want to be lumped into the I want CP3 back group. The trade was made. For whatever reason. It’s done. I just can’t swallow the “Westbrook is great” pill some posters have been trying to shove down our throats. He has absolutely had some great games. He absolutely has some strengths that Paul lacked, but to delude yourself into thinking that Westbrook’s overall performance thus far has been really good or even kinda good is just wild. At this point he’s at about a 40% rate of good to great games. That’s disappointing for a max player. I have said it before and I will say it again. His declining performance over the last few years and the pretty shitty start to this season does not mean it’s impossible for this to all eventually work out. Last 10 games or so there has been a much better ratio of good games to bad games for Westbrook. Really great sign.
I think Houston has chances to win the champion this year. This year no Durrant, Curry and Thompson. We just think about how to beat Lakers, Clippers and Bucks.
Westbrook win in stats. Cp3 win in rhythm and shoots the final minutes ball to secure the win. If we have both we will get champion
Be more interested to see Harden/Westbrook average 70 total points in January. Bring on the double teams!!
Imagine how many of the top 5 spots Harden/Westbrook will own after a full season. Next season may be even more insane since they will be more in sync. Possibilities are hard to even imagine.
