1st Impression of Harden and Westbrook Sharing the Court Together

keep an eye on WB in spot-up position doing a catch-n-attack vs catch-n-shoot, from passes by Harden.

We've yet to see one in the first two games (whereas, House has, Gordon does, and Luc did). But he sure is pushing the ball in transition.

 

I didn't come away encouraged after watching.

Westbr(ick)ook gonna tear the paint off the rims.

 

MDA is going to have to get really creative this year to maximize Westbrook's impact. For the first time in years Harden will starting and closing games with 2 non-shooters on the court. When Russ does not have the ball it looks like having him spot up in the corner is the best option. He shoots his highest % from the corners and he can cut to the basket. He will probably get a few lobs from James in those situations. I know Russ's 3 point shooting %'s but i still cringe every time i see them.

I'm cautiously optimistic. Opening night can't get here fast enough.

 

I seen the video yestetday on yt ,best way to maximize when both are on court is to run p n roll with russ and clint and put james at the 3 because he can actually make them.Hes so fast that people go to help on defense because of Russ ability to break down the defense ,Now when Russ is off ball its better to put him at the right corner three last year he shot around 41% from there and shot around 29% at above the break 3 ,this year in preseason hes shooting around 27% with all his 3s above the 3 point break .

 

MDA keeps advocating for a faster pace and Harden keeps doing the walk it slow . This has to be sorted out first. 2nd concern is if Harden will run when Westbrook has the ball.

 

Not liking what I've seen so far. Russ holds the ball too often on the catch a la Melo. He needs to watch how decisive House is when playing off ball. House either goes up for the shot, or pump-and-drives. I agree with what I've heard in this thread about Russ in the weakside corner when Harden is up top.

There are two more wrinkles I'd like to see more of.
1) Russ setting the screen for Harden up top with Russ playing the Draymond Green role, going 4-on-3 with a head of steam. If the defense tries to switch Harden will have the smaller guard on him, which should be barbeque chicken.
2) Russ setting off ball screens for House/Gordon/Rivers trying to pop out for threes. He should have some decent chances to sneak back door on botched coverages.

 

Ugly.

 

Russ is garbage.

Garbage.

 

I have yet to see Harden have great chemistry with another star. He always says he'll play more off-ball at the beginning of the partnership, but it rarely happens. First Howard, then Christ Paul, and now the early signs of this. Maybe there's something there...

 

not gone even lie so far I'm not liking it its not only russ pj hasn't look good and neither has clint

 

I really dislike our opening night matchup though..

 

I mean Rockets had a 65 win season when CP3 was playing at a high level.

 

I won't be saying too much about it until about December.

 

I agree with this. I would add that Westbrook with MDA green light can easily just become Westbrook the chucker. That will lose is efficiency and games in a meangful way if allowed to happen.

 

Well they definitely look terrible together. Hopefully it's just preseason and this isn't any real indicator.

 

It's definitely not an ideal matchup for opening night. I think it's a good early test.

 

Westbrook is similar to Melo last year.

Big name who’s added just because he’s a big name, but doesn’t provide many of the things the Rockets need or fit with.

Let’s hope it’s just preseason...

 

It took drexler and dream about 20 games when they got back together to start to get it going again