I keep seeing this. What adjustments are people expecting he's gonna make? Stop shooting long 2's, that takes no adjustment time and he's still f**king doing it. He's playing the exact same way he played in OKC, and it brings us down. That's why his teams were consistently mediocre, even last season when Paul George played at an MVP level. After the first few games, which were clearly an aberration, he's making no effort whatsoever to play more in line with our style. Harden creates an absurd amount of space, and gives him a ton of time to conserve energy for attacking and he's still mostly just taking jump shots. I feared this when we acquired him. He's not adding to Harden's greatness, he's just bringing us closer to OKC's level. Were still gonna win over 50 games, but it's solely due to Harden. I'm sure he'll have some good games, and people will scream about how doubters are idiots, but this is Westbrook, stupid basketball with flashes of greatness, and he has no desire to change.
Westbrook can only be successful on a team built around sublime defense that leads to fast breaks. That defense cannot come from him - which is why the Thunder always ended up with a starting SG that was entirely defensively minded (Sefolosha, Roberson).On offense, Westbrook is abysmal in the half-court. People predicted that with Harden, he could return to being more effective. But there are issues with that. 1) Westbrook is not the finisher he once was. The knee injuries have taken a toll on that. He's still superhuman, but that small decrease leads to him being easier to challenge on layups and he just doesn't have the touch of someone like Jordan had. Further, defenses have gotten better at predicting and rotating to cover penetration over the last decade - both due to schemes and dramatic change in the athleticism of the PF and C positions. 2) His free throw woes over the past 3 years have meant that fouling him is an extremely effective defensive tactic- especially late in the game. Poor FT shooting for a penetration-dependent player is like a slugger that can't hit a breaking ball. 3) He is an outstanding passer ... in the open court. He is not in the half court where his passing is not as fluid and precise to facilitate teammates being able to easily shoot off of the pass. The small delay in either getting the pass to them or for them to adjust to the pass allows the defense to close. 4) Irrespective of these two flaws, there has to be others on the floor - engaged in the game - that he can pass to that forces defenses to allow him to effectively penetrate. Durant is elite at this. Harden as a sixth man was too. Harden as prima donna (which he is and deserves to be) is not that guy. This tendency drove CP3 nuts but he could still be effective. Westbrook can't be effective like that. If this experiment fails, it's not going to be Westbrook's fault. He is what he is - terrible shooter but a great fast break guy. You cannot adapt a bad 3P and FT shooter to a scheme that requires a high TS%. You can't have two guards that check out half the time on defense. You can't have your best shooter often disengaging from the offense when Westbrook has that ball. Westbrook is already a liability in the half-court 5 on 5. He's a tragedy in it 4 on 5. And you certainly can't use him as a second teamer - he can only be effective with 1-2 elite shooters around him.
The Clippers didn't respect Westbrook at all in the clutch in the last game. They doubled Harden off of him hard and he couldn't make them pay. I'm sure we'll adjust. EGo being in the game will help and maybe we can play Westbrook completely on the opposite side of Harden so that it will be harder to double. We need to give Harden enough space to operate.
This is exactly who I wanted. I don’t understand why Morey had to blow his load on trading for Westbrook instead of waiting. Phoenix needed a PG too and CP3 would’ve been their perfect fit to pair with Ayton. Booker’s the perfect fit next to Harden and an underrated playmaker in his own right.
Dbook is very young, and PHX best player going forward. Westbrook was desired by Tilman's son so daddy went and got him. Don't think this is realistic. You really think PHX would have taken a 34 year old Chris Paul with an injury history and trade away a 23 year old franchise building block who already has better numbers?(He has nearly identical assist and rebound numbers, and averages 10 more ppg, and 11 years younger at that) It makes zero sense to pair a washed up CP3 with a young big.
It is disgusting watching this guy play. He makes the worst decision in every situation. I can’t wait until he’s off my team
If morey watch the guy play he could tell hes low IQ player who plays for his stats and doesnt plays defense
And yup since that play the entire game changed instead of being down 3 this team has folded since that
Not straight up, Rockets could’ve added like 4 first rd picks to the trade too or something. Were you living under a rock last season when Phoenix was desperate for a PG badly?
They're desperate for a point guard to PAIR with Booker, dude. He's one of the most untouchable players in the league.