“People are just not going to guard Russell Westbrook in the Playoffs”

the ones that mattered bc they all played the most minutes and with wb a ton. so he did have shooters to work with instead of crappy as you would say

I mean GG has never seen a 3 he doesn't like. we all know that

 

Ok but they didn't really shoot that many 3s and it was their first year shooting a respectable percentage.

Also Paul George shot badly in the playoffs (I think he has a shoulder injury)

 

well nobody shoots as many 3s as the rockets. that's one of the biggest concerns with wb's fit in the first place. I was just pointing out that those that want to say wb didn't have shooters around him is false.

 

i don't see him cutting that much off the ball. would be great but it might be too different than how he's used to playing. i do see him getting more spot up 3's. teams will be more concerned with stopping the drive so they may not chase him off the line on the close out. he attempted over 4 per game last year, i think with the rockets we can expect an increase to about 6 or 7. that's good and bad. he's been a terrible shooter but if you slit the types of 3's, most of them were unassisted. the slight adjustment i think he can make is spotting up more when james has the ball. more of his 3's will be assisted, and that's a great thing. he shoots about league average on spot up 3's and on open 3's.

he's elite at assisting off the drive, so if he's not spotting up he will be going iso and looking to kick it out. what we don't want is him to stop half way for a mid range pull up. he will have to get into the paint to score. his FG% from 0-3 feet is similar to most good centers. so he should iso, get to the rim to score, or kick it out for the assist if he cant get to the rim, and then go spot up from 3.

another area i see him being effective is in the post against smaller guards. i think that's a non-iso way for him to get shots in the paint. and off the 1-2 PnR with james. that would stop defenses from being able to double or switch on james unless they want rus playing 4 on 3 rolling to the basket. these two options, like the off ball cutting, might be too different for him to adjust to doing consistently in his first season here.

 

eric gordon is just as good as westbrook. the small ball chiet just is not gonna fly in the playoffs. if MDA is coaching this team, the first round is where the train stops!

westbrook will run GG and Gordon off the team by all-star break. Hopefully westbrook will run off MDA who is just a weak "players coach" and overly glorified version of billy donovan.

 

You don't think he will cut to the basket at least 1 time a quarter? I guarantee he wont just be waiting with his hands out for a catch and shoot 3. Players sagging off him are going to eventually turn their head to look at James and that will be an easy 2 pts.

 

If that's the case, Russ will attack the rim like Windbag attacks an open refrigerator.

 

Windyhorse is right unless RustyBrick gets in iso sets with the paint cleared out. Then they're "just not gonna guard him" cuz they's cants sees him.

 

Might as well enjoy the Crazy while we are at it.

 

when have teams not guarded WB? They didn't even do that when Durant was there.

 

It's going to be different for him here even if OKC had some better shooting. He will have a ton more space to drive in the system and more shooters to kick to.

It won't be easy to force him to a jumper just by backing off, I think, unless guys can help, which they probably won't be able to

 

1 per quarter no. how many times did james do that when paul had the ball and they were trying to run more motion? once per game if not less? now that they have doubled down on iso i don't see it happening too often. it may, but it would be a surprise to me if it were routine.

 

yes the rockets system operates with more space but that doesn't mean a bad shooter all of a sudden flips.

guys get 3 pt looks all the time in this system despite everyone knowing league wide that the rockets are going to shoot 3s more than anything else. so forcing him to a jumper isn't exactly going to be difficult. the smart thing to do is to live with the results in the first place. sure has worked the last several years

 

Love how Westbrook got that mvp over harden
Love how the okc where picked favorites to WCF
Love how Westbrook "was" considered unstoppable.
Now "you don't have to guard him" all of a sudden?
Man **** espn. They can eat a bag of donkey dicks! Keep their coke filled dreams hopes in LA.

 

Why would Westbrook have to keep shooting jumpers so much? Seems like he's going to have more space to drive and more options to pass.

Nash didn't even average 20 ppg

 

why? bc typically teams take what the defenses give you. things won't open up unless wb makes teams pay and are forced to make an adjustment. right now, the adjustment has been to let wb shoot bc that's what hurts his teams and again it has worked for years

nash didn't play in era where teams put up as much as 40 3s a game and the importance of how that impacts the game today

 

Portland repeatedly left him wide open from deep during their first round series and he just couldn't punish them. We can still make it work, but it is a weakness our offense will have to work around.

 

• First and foremost, our system and coaching is just so much better than OKC's that it isn't even funny. We have significantly better spacing and an offense that has been historically good.
• Eric Gordon is just as good if not better than any shooter WB had (plus volume!) last season, Tucker is phenomenal from the corner, Rivers is a good shooter from both corner and wing, and Harden is no push over either from anywhere on the perimeter. Then there are Green and House. Basically, we have shooters that are just as good if not better and more of them.
• Capela is vastly superior as a lob threat than Adams which will greatly help out WB with his drive and pass nature. Adams is still probably the better player, but Capela fits WB much better IMO.

 

This wasn't a playoff only thing. It was a strategy implemented in the regular season as well at various points. You'd have to be a dumb coach NOT to try it. He's a worse shooter than Ricky Rubio and is more determined to shoot than Ricky Rubio. Daring him to shoot is smart strategy.

 

Funny you say that, his personal vendetta against Wubio is also hilarious. 2 Non shooters.