Even when he has a good shooting night he goes and turns it over 9 times. Honestly, I didn't notice a big change in his shot selection outside of a couple of less 3's taken (which is nice). For the most part, he just made mid-range shots tonight that he's been missing for most of the season.
so far he's not any better than CP production wise, so let's see if he'll be more durable than Paul. Russ' best days have definitely gone past him, watching him run an offense while Harden's on the bench is so nerve wrecking and cringy.
9 turnovers and a foul out. Be serious here. And Chris Paul’s probably had several better, more complete basketball games than that. Statistically he lit Philly up. Russ is just worse than CP3 but he still has Impressive quickness in halfcourt. I’ll give him that.
I just looked. He did light Philly up. Good call there. 27, 8, 5 with 0 turnovers in 38 minutes. Definitely surprised me. The rest of his games aren’t anything special though. If you don’t like the game Westbrook played tonight then you will definitely hate on him the rest of the season. I think he will have more games like this one but it’s about as good as he’s going to get. Which I think is easily good enough for our 2nd option. We have the pieces to win a ring. Our coach needs to get the most from them.
Some of the same dudes that wanted CP3 gone and called his contract a mistake and called him 'washed' are now praising him as if he was an all-star PG That goes both ways. Now we have people acting like Westbrook is a scrub player that makes his team worse when the lineup stats say the opposite.
Or do what the Blazers did with Mo Harkless's contract a couple years back. Put a clause in his contract that rewards bonuses for games with 0 attempts from 3.
He was going to take shots away from other guys, that was clear for starters. His stats suggest he is a star but not a superstar worth 40 millions, he plays like someone earning 28 millions. I think his shooting and above all his ability to draw contact isn't elite no more. His shooting never was though. I guess CP3 also didn't 'earn' his 40 millions. CP3 does other things well but he doesn't take shots away, he gives them up.
Westbrook shoot 2 points only. No 3 points Harden shoot 3 points and final hero ball Give house to shoot more Gary Clark is a surprise, hope he can become more stable. Less time for rivers and Ben, they does not really know how to shoot now, ask them to do slam dunk only.
Russ's value might be less than what he's paid, in actual value, but in ope market value? If Westbrook hit FA in 2019 he'd get Max. I don't think that's even a question. Someone would give him the max because he has shown that he by himself can carry a team to the playoffs. What CP3 is now is a really great role player but there are plenty of guards in the NBA that can 3 and D and pass, not with his handlaing, to be sure, but he's not blowing past dudes anymore at his age with any consistency. I think people are waaaay undervaluing Russ and what he can bring to a team. I think his mid range shot is pretty money, that pull up he's been doing for most of his career where he runs at a guy that has to retreat and he just pulls up for two. That's his go to jump shot and I still think he's elite in transition, I know @heypartner pulled up the Rockets transition stats and they were nothing to balk at. One thing Russ can do that CP3 just can't anymore is take over a game, we've already seen him do this earlier in the year. Harden just hasn't played with a guy on the Rockets capable of just going off for 30 and taking over the load. In the end, I think people are way underrating him at this point. Some are making him out to be a garbage player or something, he's not that.
My word against yours....I dun think he can in 2021......he could barely get into the Playoffs with Paul George shooting a high percentage and being No 1. 2019 is soon to be over, doesn't matter, because he was no Free agent. This is not 2016 or 2017. What makes you think he still can, carry a team by himself for 80 games into the Playoffs? Not with his injuries and shooting percentages. I do believe he is capable of being a borderline superstar for stretches but not consistently. Only 'average' FOs still pay him Super Max. The problem with teams is they never know the time to cut ties or move on, they drag it out too long.
Random thought Have coach coach his players and not a system. Our TEAM should look a little different as the players rotate in and out. Now the system (coaching) is set for all Harden all the time. Of course Westbrook looks out of sorts coach hasn’t done anything to use his talents.
Because the shooting %s thing is overplayed, he's shooting about the same for his career from the field and from 3, it's a bit worse from 3, but it's not even the worst he's shot from 3, he's shooting almost the same % from 2, in fact, he's shooting better inside the field than the past 3 years. People keep knocking him for his lack of a 3 pointer but that was never his game and that's alright. Many players dominate without ever being even average from three, even guards, people just put way too much emphasis on it. He just has to understand that's not his game and that other than the 2-3 wide open looks that he's dared to take, he should keep away from that line. So he's been carrying teams with this same shooting % because his game doesn't rely on hitting three pointers. It relies on hustle and pushing the pace off of rebounds and getting guys open looks. We are judging Russ by his worst attribute and not his best. It would be like saying Giannis poor 3p% hurts his team...it doesn't because he knows its not his shot and knows he can affect a game another way. That is Russ. Other than guys like Lebron, Hakeem, Jordan, guys best all time at their positions, no one is perfect. It is like people that undervalue Harden because of his poor defense. It's not his game, but he dominates the game in other ways as we know with his playmaking and shot making he makes up for his poor defense...sometimes. As for his injuries, that is always a concern, but CP3 was even more injury prone, a lot more, he was playing 50 games a season and at any time could pull his hammy and has a history of getting injured in the post season and is a lot older. On the right team Russ is leading the charge, if he were on Miami they'd be a terror right now since they have so many shooters and athletic young players and that's why Miami wanted him but he wanted to play with Harden. Chris Paul is going to have good games every now and then, flashback games, even Vince Carter at his old age pulls out a good game like 3x a year, but Russ is averaging 22/7/7 and some are acting like he's some scrub.
Some folks dont pay attention to detail. The dude is still recovering from hand injuries which doesnt explain all his turnovers and poor shooting but id bet it covers about half of it. He will get better with time.
I think we have a misunderstanding here. Let me at least attempt to clear it up. 1) Nobody is purposely denigrating Russell WB. You do not have to defend him. I cannot care less about him. However, his contract we cannot deny. It keeps us from signing shooters like Van vleet, forwards like Jamychael Green, players like Josh Richardson. It isn't all Fertitta's fault. 2) Are you seriously comparing Giannis' style of play to WB's. Greek is getting away with it by being a big and bullying. He is much younger and improves each season. 3) You said yourself, WB would be a better fit on them Heat and on other teams. 4) I am not the one trying to get WB and CP3 tangled up all the while. That is just a colossal waste of our time and bandwidth. Chris is gone. Period. Show must go on. WB isn't ideal. Harden is a guarantee for 52 regular s. Wins by himself.
1) I know you aren't denigrating Westbrook, but others are. Also, Westbrook is better than all of those guys you mentioned and none of those guys are going to push us over the edge to bring us a championship. Those are role players, you will need another star to win a championship, those guys aren't that. We are not going to win a championship with a bunch of role players surrounding Harden. It's not going to happen. 2) I'm not comparing his style but expanding on the fact that you don't need to shoot 3s to dominate games. And again, Russ has done this his entire career. People bring up his FG% as if it has changed, it hasn't. He's sitll shooting around 30% from 3 and around 50% from 2. 3 and 4) Right, which means Westbrook even with his contract has more value than CP3 does, CP3 is a player that is hard to trade and that can't be ignored because CP3s contract, if we did not get rid of it, would still hamper who we could sign. Also, Westbrook isn't ideal but its what we got. People name all these other superstars as if we can just pick and choose. Nah, we can't. We see how many guys turned down playing with the Rockets, Russ was the one guy that wanted to be here that wanted to play for us. CP3, the window closed with him. But I think with Russ it is slightly open. Remember last series Harden needed ANYONE just anyone to step up and add to the scoring, he at least has that and the way I see it, Russ is just fine because he's the one dude that shouldn't chuck threes while the rest of the team is building a brick house. This is how we should use him, limit his 3pa to 1-3 per game and let him eat inside that way when the rest of the team is going 0-27 from 3 he's still getting his and the team is still moving the scoreboard.
Your first statement is valid. The flip flopping is strange. However...I don’t think anybody thinks Westbrook is a “scrub”, just that he is a bad playoff fit for a team trying to win it all, which remains true. I look at it mostly through a playoff lense, and I can’t ignore how badly he’s been exposed the last 3 years in the playoffs. I hope it changes, but we shall see. As for the lineup stats, which are you referring to? Westbrook’s net rating is terrible if Harden isn’t on the floor, and the Rockets have dominated lineups with Westbrook on the bench. I’m sure EG having a slow start to the year has something to do with that to a degree, but the point remains. That’s my main issue. Westbrook is not raising the floor nearly enough for what we paid to get him, when that was the primary reasoning I saw as to why he would be better than Chris Paul for the team.
Actually, last night was exactly what I want to see from Westbrook. If he can play like that nightly, I think he’s an incredible asset. On the other hand, if he jacks up more than 4 or 5 threes a night he becomes a liability. He’s not a good fit for the system, but if they modify it slightly he’ll do just fine in Houston.
