Russ has been bad - but he also hasn't been given a chance

In 3 years, Russell will have a player option for the final year of his contract. He'll opt in and be an untradable, athletically declined 34 year old veteran (who can't shoot or defend) making $47M.

 

Westbrook shouldn’t be a poor defender. He has the athleticism to stay in front of anyone, but he gambles way too much and doesn’t lock in on that end of the court like should.

 

If Westbrook could be a 30-33% three-point shooter, you wouldn’t see him taking all these mid-range shots. When you are shooting in the low 20s, even the Rockets’ can’t justify having him shoot threes. Since teams won’t let him take every shot at the rim and his form looks much more fluid from 10-15 feet, D’Antoni and Morey probably haven’t pressed the issue as much as they would have otherwise.

 

HORSE **** !!!!

Russ can pass the ball, but he decides to shoot, and shoot and shoot....why? Because he is open on purpose.

No excuses, he is playing with the greatest scorer in a few generations, he is WIDE open, if he can't hit a wide open shot at a better rate than 30% he should not be in the league.

If it were me, I would BENCH him completely the team is far better off with him nailing pine than on the floor.

DD

 

his shot from 3 is absolutely broken...he’s more consistent from midrange

teams won’t let him take nothing but layups all game nor is it even a realistic thing to ask of him which is why Idk why people continue to bring that up like it’s an option

he settles for jumpers too much tho...I trust Markelle Fultz’s jumper more than I do Westbrook’s

 

Good post. I have absolutely seen times when Russ is distributing the ball well to open shooters repeatedly for bricks.

But guess what, he makes so much money and we invested so many assets in him that we don't have the ability to fix the shooters around him.

We should be able to expect a game-impacting MVP from our $36M-2-1st-round-picks acquisition.

Everyone here pits Westbrook against Paul but bear in mind that at this point Russell Westbrook is the combination of Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, Patrick Beverley, Sam Dekker, THREE first round picks, and a few warm bodies. We should expect production commensurate with that.

If all we wanted was a pass-first guard we could've spent $10M on a dime-a-dozen veteran like Ish Smith, or... kept Chris Paul. We would then have 2 first round picks to see how the team would play out and make further moves, like at wing where it's sorely needed.

It just hurts that we're so tied up in this experiment that we're watching.

 

Our coach will only bench Hartenstein and Clark. Russ gets to run wild with no coaching at all.

It really surprises me. I figured MDA would push back on Westbrook and mold him into a more efficient player. When Westbrook’s 3 point attempts showed a clear drop each game I gave MDA the benefit of the doubt and credited him for making that happen.

Last night made me change my mind. I now think Westbrook made that choice on his own and last night decided on his own to start chucking again.

MDA should have at least benched him long enough to discuss throwing up so many terrible shots and offered up a different strategy.

Being a players coach doesn’t mean you just hand over the keys. Even McHale benched Harden vs the Clippers in a playoff elimination game. Sometimes the coach needs to reign in the players and set the tone.

Westbrook can only run wild if MDA is letting him.

 

No doubt, Westbrook's status in the league is a major problem - Harden gives him the ball probably 2 times too much.

Literally EVERYONE else on the floor is a better shooter than Russ.

DD

 

I have no problem him taking 10-15 footers. Anecdotally I've seen him have some success hitting the open 12 ft. jumper in rhythm, and the data supports this. What I don't love is the contested, or semi contested 18-20 footers. Those are just burning money and killing our offense.

 

to add, they're also out of the stage one of the repeater.that they worked so hard to avoid a year ago, whereas they're right back at stage 1 now

boy what an investment

 

I wish Westbrook would be given much less of a chance. Let's give Rivers his minutes and push Westbrook as far towards the end of the bench as we can get away with. Will also accept a trade.

 

I completely agree that a poor shooter like Westbrook should never be taking contested jump shots. Like you, I have no problem with the open ones in rhythm.

 

So many people blaming MDA, telling him to figure it out, coach better or draw up plays for Russ. How is Westbricks recklessness, poor decision making, inability to shoot and propensity to turn the ball over Mike’s fault?

Westbrook has been in the league for 12 years. Part of his job is to make himself fit and at least try to make smart decisions and play within himself. But that’s not him. He’s a stubborn chucker.

There’s no magical coach or supporting cast that’s going to “make him fit”. He is what he is. A shitty, overrated, over paid player that opposing teams want to have him with the ball in his hands.

Harden and Westbrick were adamant they knew how to play with each other and be successful. Westbrick said it was going to be scary.... for the rest of the league. More like a nightmare for us.

I said he was a terrible fit and a disaster waiting to happen since day 1. Now that it’s been happening people are making excuses and saying he hasn’t been given a fair chance and blaming other factors.

KD left him, PG left him, I’m surprised Harden wanted to play with him but I’m sure he has doubts about that decision every day. If he doesn’t it’s only a matter of time. Take friendship/loyalty out of the equation and there’s no way James can be happy. Like I said we are going absolutely nowhere with Westbrick and it’s gonna be another wasted prime year for Harden.

 

He is good for 3~3.5 Quarters. . . .
Something happens are the 6 Minute Mark in the 4th

Rocket River

 

Is there any chance of getting a wing?

 

Some of y’all are finally starting to see the light. Took a little longer than expected but we’re getting there.

 

I was told we traded for an NBA MVP MR trip Dub
Westbrook over the summer........
I’m still waiting for him to arrive.......

 

If Westbrook was coachable he would have shown some progression in smarter shot selection somewhere during his 10+ year career.

It just hasn’t happened.

The stars aligned for one miracle season. It wasn’t the right group of guys or the right coaching. It was the one year his dumbass shot selection actually resulted in damn good efficiency. Unlikely to EVER repeat. He has always been a very low efficiency, very high volume chucker and coaching won’t change it.

The problem for MDA is this guy isn’t benchable. The owner and superstar just pushed to get this guy here. He makes max money for several more years. You can’t just not play him and expect to be coaching much longer. Don’t think there would be many players in the league who would think too highly of MDA going forward if he just benched him.

The only winner in this whole situation is OKC. They were gifted the scenario where they get to dump the guy that you know they knew was terrible, but their dumb fans loved and got to look like the good guys doing him a favor.

 

Should have ended the title at the hyphen