[Ringer] 30 Facts that Will Make or Break the Harden-Westbrook Rockets

Eh...

For the Thunder, their top 5 non-George/Westbrook (by number of shots) shooters shot 36% on 1211 3s.
For the Rockets, their top 5 non-Harden/CP3 shooters (by number of shots) shot 36% on 1827 3s.

The volume is pretty significant. We were basically equivalent shooting teams outside of our stars in terms percentages, but we shot way more.

Still, I agree with you and the Ringer that the idea that suddenly Westbrook will play with shooters is silly.

 

There are things the Rockets and Westbrook can do to mitigate the negatives. One thing is for sure, Westbrook doesn’t need to be shooting 2’s outside the paint. If he shoots 33-34% on 3’s the Rockets can win.

Last year he was an atrocious shooter off the knee injury. If he shoots that poorly again, we aren’t winning anything.

 

guard must be a legitimate threat to shoot or it kills team spacing

 

I don’t recall James Harden being on the Thunder for the past 3 seasons... Paul George was on the Thunder last season and coincidentally it was MVP level season for George.

The Rockets are a better 3 point shooting regardless of keying in one metric... OKC only had two 3 point shooters above 35% regardless of how the 3 point shot was taken.

You can use statistic to prove whatever point you want... 67% of people know that.

 

Harden’s willingness to adapt is just as important as Westbrook’s.

Harden’s “Your turn, my turn” won’t be the same with Westbrook.

 

So when Westbrook takes those dumb pull up shots in game where they almost never go in are what he calls cotton shots. Never knew there was a name for it lol.

 

The pull up 3 has to go. In 2016 it was 34%. 17 it was 28% and 18 it was 26%. That is just putrid and it drags everything down. Not only are they horrible percentages but it also means he's taking a quick terrible shot that leads to a long rebound instead of letting another player shoot. It's just awful.

Beyond that he has to get back to being the shooter he was in past years off the catch and shoot. This year was just barf inducing but years past only led to gas in your throat. 17 was 34% on catch and shoot and 16 was 35%. Those are not good numbers for catch and shoot 3s but you could live with that.

In general he just needs to stop pulling up. 28% of his shots were pull ups last year (2 or 3) and he shot a woeful 31% overall. It's a terrible shot for him.

 

Here's the thing - is there any shot Russ can hit at a high percentage other than at the rim? Because those attempts will be the first to go down as his athleticism wanes. Hopefully that won't happen for a while, but Chris Paul is a guy who is smart enough to figure out how to compensate for that. Russ is not.

 

We are actually a slightly above average 3 pt shooting team but because the team is attempting league high numbers, many homers think we are such a great overall 3pt shooting team, every superstar is coming to benefit from our 3 pt shooting and vice versa.

 

I think Russell W Brook is as stubborn as Melo, maybe a tad less but they ain't changing much, MDA has to work around it.

I maybe wrong but there is a great possibility it ain't changing much.

 

No.

 

If he takes the same shots at same volumes he has historically this pairing can't work. He HAS to be willing to make changes.

 

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And I'm expecting changes will be made because Russ is still within his Prime years whereas Melo was way out of it when he came here.

If I'm wrong then I'm wrong and next season (and the next few years actually) will be a nightmare. I'm hoping for some high level of success after a few growing pains.

If MDA is going to stagger Harden and Westbrook like he did with Paul then having 3 3&D type players plus a PnR center with Russ will be ideal.

Capela
Tucker
House
Gordon
Westbrook

That's not a bad 2nd unit when Harden rests. You can then bring in Chandler for a few minutes. I think everyone's hope should be that we get Covington so we can give Tucker a few minutes of breathing room and play something like

Chandler
Covington
House
Gordon
Westbrook

for 10-12 minutes a night. You have more than capable defenders surrounding Westbrook on the defensive end and you have shooters surrounding the 3 point line waiting for Westbrook to operate and kick it out to the open guy.

 

The onus will be on Harden to make him change. Because Harden wanted him.

 

Comparing Gordon to Dennis Schroeder is pretty eye opening.... the efficiency on that type of volume is telling.

Westbrook will be playing with better shooters and better playmakers than OKC.

 

Yeah, the "Well we need Russ to stop doing this, this and this and start doing this, this and this" and "Don't shoot there, shoot here." ... LOL Good luck.

One thing for Daryl to put 23 year old James Harden into his basketball nerd machine, another to put 34 year old Carmelo and 30 year old Westbrook.

In a way, Russ will fit right in! Take a lot of threes, miss a lot of threes! Shoot away!
Oh, now we care about bricks?

Spoiler

 

In the week that he's been a Rocket, I've seen about 15 different versions of "if he can just change and do ______" or "he can be successful if he does _______"

The dude isn't changing his game at age 30. Didn't change with Durant, George, Oladipo, whoever. It ain't happening.

 

Westbrook still thinks he's an MVP player. You think his ego's going to let him accept a bench role??

 

I couldn’t even get through the whole article. Just depressing......