I don't think you're following this thread very well. Let's back up. The claim made was that Westbrook is responsible for Harden's shooting percentages being up. In a simple way, on-off numbers were used by saying here's what Harden shoots when Westbrook is on the bench in street clothes and here's what he shoots when Westbrook is active. You supported that. I said let's see all of Harden's numbers/percentages and the team's when Westbrook is on/off the court. You didn't support that. TLDR You: Look at those Harden %s without Russ. Me: Can we look at all the Harden %s without Russ? You: Hell no. Terrible idea. You ignored Kyrie.
The Iverson comparison is great. I've said that before. Westbrook is a bigger and stronger version of Iverson. Both of them are great one-man wrecking ball. Neither guy's playing style meshes well with other star players.
It's true. I think the main reason Harden shoots better is because he gets more rest during the game... and he doesn't feel he needs to force up shots with Westbrook out there.
This sounded way too crazy to be true, so I looked it up. Harden is ranked 159th in wide open(6+ feet of space) FGA, but he is ranked 2nd in open (4-6 feet of space) FGA, averaging 7.9 per game, and 6.7 of them are 3s. The only explanation I can think of here is that he's actually getting enough space on his stepbacks that those are qualifying as open shots. Anyone watching can tell you he's not actually getting 7 open 3s per game, at least not by the traditional definition of being "open".
So I think that's a great explanation as to what may be happening there, but what about previous years? I thought one way to know if these open shots and step backs are being counted the same would be to see how many he had previous years and yeah, he's always super high in the 4-6 range so it is probably his step back that is being counted as an open shot.
Rockets offensive rating in games Westbrook plays Over 120 when he’s off the floor(would lead the league and be the best offense ever) 109ish when he’s on the floor.(slightly under league average) Probably a 4 game statistical outlier on Harden’s numbers. But we have nearly half a season of results that show Westbrook craters our offense. Also I’m not sure Westbrook’s pace has been as beneficial as some here want to make you believe...
I don't think anyone here is saying Westbrook is not a good player. We are however saying to think that he really makes Harden better is absolutely absurd. Harden makes himself better. I totally understand people not trusting CP3's health come playoffs. I understand that we probably could not keep CP3 because he and Harden had issues after the first season. Just don't say that the Ninja turtle on the court makes Harden better. Maybe just happier.
Brodie played well with KD and PG and is playing well so far with Harden. No coincidence Paul George was an MVP candidate playing next to Brodie. KD won an MVP playing with that one man wrecking ball and Harden so far the MVP currently playing with Brodie too.
more he just doesn’t play as dumb. Harden has no trust in other players and they can absolutely be trusted. They proved that when WB/Harden was out. At the very least they are against a defense as bad as Atlanta’s. I wonder how coachable James is tbh.
I really wonder how Harden would transition if he was traded to a team with a head coach with a completely different system such as Pop or Kerr. I think he would have problems adapting as his offensive game is limited to face up iso scoring and playmaking while dominating the ball. I don't think Harden is adaptable at this stage of his career. He definitely was when he first joined the Rockets. He was far more willing to move off ball and score in multiple different ways.
Would Harden be willing to adapt to a playstyle where the coach tells him he has to move without the ball and he can't dribble in one spot for 15 seconds? He's so used to this play style now that I wonder if he would clash with a coach like Pop?
I’ve been thinking the same thing. At this point I don’t think James would be willing to change. Mike is the perfect coach for James.
I think that he would because he genuinely wants to win. He's running MDA's system. Have no reason to believe that he wouldn't run Pop's. Now that we've see the true Kawhi that Pop harnessed to win a ring I see no reason why he couldn't do it with James.
How can you say Westbrook’s style doesn’t mesh with other stars when several of them have had MVP caliber years with him? The Westbrook hatred here is ridiculous
