It's taking me a little time to get used to the idea of Russ in a Rocket's uniform, but as I begin to warm up to it I can't help but think how valuable it'll be to have a guy like John Lucas on the staff to work with. Free throw shooting, mid-range shooting(yes it will be part of the offense this year!), decision making are the areas that come to mind, but I don't think we can easily quantify how important this relationship will be. What's crazy is they have almost identical shooting strokes too. That gives me hope that Russ can improve his %. Although Lucas' game as a player was somewhat different than Russ, from an athleticism standpoint, his entire career was spent in a combo guard alignment like we'll have. Playing in a starting lineup with Calvin Murphy or Lewis Lloyd as a Rocket or with JoJo White in Golden State or alongside Ricky Pierce and Craig Hodges at other stops. I'm anxious to see how this plays out.
Good point, I’d actually for different reasons: Lucas can check Westbrook and work with him. He’s been a loose cannon and has worked with all walks of life.
I doubt we'd be interested in having Westbrook contain his level of passion, he's never had issues with teammates, only issues have been isolated such as Beverley and Durant. He's one of those guys who you hate unless he's on your team, and the fact that we have mutual interests (Utah) is all the more reason to allow him to be as passionate as he needs to be on the court.
The biggest thing John Lucas is gonna help him out with is anger issues on and off the court. And if Russ decides to become an alcoholic, Mr Lucas would be there for that too.
Great point, OP. Lucas will hopefully be a big influence. Don't undersell Lucas's athleticism when he was Russ's age. He may be the only Rocket who has ever played two sports at the professional level (unless you count baton twirling, which I don't). Nah. This coach/GM combo are sold on the idea that mid-range shots are a terrible idea as anything other than an end-of-the-shot-clock last resort. It doesn't matter how good Russ may be at them. CP3 was deadly at mid-range, but he shot fewer of them with us and more 3s. That's Rocketball, for better or worse.
I think the difference with Russ and his mid-range game is that his level of athleticism is on a whole other level so the stop-and-pop is like a layup or a counter move to avoid the charge, it's somewhat instinctual
the pattern here is that basketball decisions are a waste of money. business decisions like adding westbrook so the fans get hyped, prices go up, more national TV money, that's a good investment.
Ok WB is near the tail end of his career the last thing you want to do is mess with his shot mechanics you are fighting against decades of muscle memory and tbh WB has resisted shot doctors for decades highly doubt he will listen to John Lucas or whoever, he thinks his mid range shot is a "cotton shot" meaning it always goes in when he has never shot better than 30% on mid range Js his entire career lol. If he has not seen a reason to improve his shot after all these years highly doubt he will magically improve in a summer short of a divine intervention. He is what he is. However what you can do with him is tell him mid range is bad, I think he is gonna be ok shooting 3s and layups just like Cp3 was. 30% from 3 isnt great but neither is it the worst in the world, Ariza was shooting 31% his last year here and he was ok.
Great - he has substance abuse issues too? Actually wait this makes sense, he's addicted to a powerful synthetic called FGA - he will do it anytime, anywhere, even in the most inappropriate spots. Sometimes he combines it with uncontested rebounds to triple his high. Hopefully Lucas cures him of this addiciton.
