Aminu ain't taking crack head danuel house deal from rockets. 1 point, a free throw from restbrook, Westbrook but restbrook. Lol
Nobody to help Westbrick. Lol Yet, just a few weeks ago, didn't we hear the Thunder was one of the favorites to go to Western conference finals? Double lol.
Tmac was rarely healthy so there goes the argument. Russ has to go within himself and ask himself what it really takes to win. Go somewhere else if it needs to. He is still young and durable enough to re-define his role and help a team. He has to realize he is just a semi star with gaudy numbers at this point. His biggest forte is his drive to never let up and go relentlessly at the rim, I think he has to use that.
The biggest issue with Russ is that he always relied on athleticism. I called this years ago, I wish I could dig up the post, but these players always fizzle out. He never worked on adding new skills and new moves and just expects to blow past everyone and YAM on everyone and be that physical imposing guard. The problem is he's 30. He's getting worse. He never really was an excellent shooter and he created space with his speed, not his skill. You look at other guards they create space by dribble moves and skills. Westbrook just runs past guys or he runs so fast up the court that they have to back up and then he pulls up...but it's not something you want to consistently rely on. Meanwhile Harden was always adding things to his arsenal because he was never the most athletic on the court. It's going to be like Dwight and other uber athletic players. He's going to hit a wall and wonder why it's so hard to dominate. That's not what is going on right now though, he's just missing shots lol but I don't think Russ will be a player like Duncan or Dirk or Nash or Kobe or Lebron or Curry that gets better with age. I think we've seen his prime. Someone mentioned trading him and they should pragmatically, they could get a king's ransom for him right now and rebuild.
I recall him using the Pick and Pop a ton in his younger years. It was actually quite efficient. Dun mind him going back to that. It is too late for him to learn a whole arsenal of weapons, he needs to pick one or two and stick with it. No shame in admitting he is no superstar no longer. I think for an athletic dude he actually lasted really long - watch Tmac as you said, was as good as gone in 7-8 seasons.
Problem too is his GM sucks... Well Presti doesn't suck, he's good at drafting...but he seems really bad at managing contracts, who to pay and who not to pay, and any kind of trade deal (I mean...Harden trade will be the worst trade ever) They keep giving Russ guys that are average shooters at best. They really should have been all over Ryno lol and Korver and other shooters... Their roster is just broken. They can't run it back next year, will need a major shake up...but they will probably run it back since the playoff fodder treadmill is addicting to owners.
Lots of inefficient streaky shooters like Russ. I would shake up their entire organization and management. Nothing against OKC but I really liked the Sonics, the organization was good. City was fine. Really wished they could go back to that culture. Payton, Kemp, Schrempf, also older ones Terry Cummings, Nate McMillan, Sam Perkins...... The OKC Super Sonics.
Westbrick 5-21 and -17 for the game Harden 3-20 BUT +4 for the game We know who is da real MVP and who is just a stat padder and doesn't contribute to winning.
Nah Presti is a decent GM imo. The problem is he picked the wrong horse to ride which is Westbrick over KD and esp. Harden. OKC looks flawed because they are built around Westbrick and he just sucks, 100% dependent on his athleticism with no skills or understanding of the game. Having a 1 dimensional shooter like Korver or Anderson won't do any good because Westbrick takes almost all the shots available and doesn't play defense, pure shooters aren't utilized to the max and they just become defensive liabilities. To get around that Presti tried to get 2 way players like PG but that wasn't enough. OKC is way better than Portland esp with Nurkic out only reason they keep losing is Westbrick: Gm 1: -10 Gm 2: -27 Gm 4: -17 Guess what the game they won Westbrick was +15. He just causes his team to lose with his bricking, stat padding and horrible decision making. Wonder if PG regrets staying with OKC he is getting injured tryong to fix the mess WB is making every game.
But how do they do that given their current cap situation? Russ, PG, and Adams are all on huge contracts and are essential pieces, so they can't be traded. Roberson has an expiring deal next year and could be moved for something, but that would mean bringing back salary. I don't know if a team paying as much as they are in luxury tax is gonna be too keen on that. They could also trade Schroder for a shooter or two, but he's been important for them as a backup PG and again, it means taking back salary. OKC bet it all on this roster and it's failed. Aside from either blowing it up or running it back with a few minor tweaks(and paying a sh-t ton of money in salary and luxury tax), I don't see any other options.
"Rockets don't want to see this OKC team." @Reeko Since going up 3-1 on Golden State: 4-14 Spoiler L GS 9 L GS -7 L GS -8 --- L HOU -31 L HOU -4 W HOU +2 L HOU -4 L HOU -6 --- W UTAH +8 L UTAH -7 L UTAH -13 L UTAH -17 W UTAH +8 L UTAH -5 --- L POR -5 L POR -20 W POR +12 L POR -13 And we'll hear again next year OKC is the biggest threat to Golden State(or what's left of them at that point.)
I'm still glad we didn't draw them in Round 1. They were a terrible matchup for us. I don't know why, but they'd turn into the g-ddamn Warriors against us from 3-point range despite being a horrendous shooting team.
Cant stand Westbrook, a baby is what he is, when they lose a game he becomes a brat but when they win he loves to talk to people, I have no respect for him
