I'm *cautiously* hopeful that it will happen in the future. Everything I've read/heard so far says that Westbrook will be the primary ball handler when he/James are on the court together (which I guess is just speculation at this point). I'm fine with that as long as James is the decision maker down the stretch.
Just saying don’t be surprised to see it. Hardens demeanor when it comes to taking last second shots is very interesting. He doesn’t ever seem like he wants that shot. Most of our plays are run for him as a decoy is how it looks. I’ve seen way too many instances where he doesn’t even move for the ball unless we are drawing up this super slow developing play on purpose.
I'm actually fine with Russ taking the last shot... I just want James to be the one who creates the wide open shot for him. For me it's not really about the last shot though, it's about protecting and distributing the ball in the last 5-8 possessions of a game. Harden is better at doing that IMO.
This is so weird lmao Like an episode of black mirror or something. Imagine somebody waking up from a coma in 2017 and watching this lmfao
I am not hating on Harden. I love Harden, he’s converted me into a big fan. But if there is one part of his game I never understand it’s taking the last shot. Forget last two minutes. He can have the ball all he wants, but if game is tied or we are down 1 inbounding the ball. I’ve seen way too many Harden games to think he even wants that shot. His barely moves to go get it and most of the time Green or Cp, or Gordon end up shooting it. So I at least know Westbrook will get it and get a shot off. Honestly surprised we haven’t been called for a five second violation on a lot of those.
I mean it's defensible to be cautiously optimistic about this because both players have grown and walked different paths since their days in OKC. That being said, I think both realize that something has gotta change in order for this to work out. And if "change" means "hey, Russ, remember when I used to run point and you were the cutter? Let's do that" I'm okay with that.
Pre-Tilman era, I'm with you, but with Tilman it doesn't appear we will actually try to get players if it puts us over the luxury tax line or if the player isn't a big name.
Agreed. I honestly don't care what was done in the past, I just don't want Westbrook turning the ball over and taking the inefficient shots in the last handful of possessions of a game. Let James handle things the efficient way and get Gordon a wide open 3 or give Russ a backdoor lob/layup. James is great at getting the most efficient shots out of his teammates. Going in an even more positive direction... Who knows, maybe Russ can learn to be more efficient and correct his late game blowups so that he can sometimes be a primary ball handler at the end of games.