This is what I meant when I said that Russ needs to be more aggressive. Instead of shooting a lot, most of his shots need to be at the rim. Why? Because he can get to the rim easy.
Dude, Harden is averaging 38.7 ppg and creates an additional 20.3 ppg with assists. Harden ='s 59 ppg with 5.1 turnovers WBrick ='s 41.5 ppg with 4.5 turnovers Yeah, Harden turnovers aren't nearly as bad considering he's creating 17.5 more ppg with only half a turnover more per game. Harden leads the league in points created.
difference is that Harden generates elite offense even with the turnovers...he’s incredibly efficient and produces historic offensive ratings while getting doubled/trapped all the time and facing far more defensive attention/much tougher defenders in general so his turnovers are whatever and are easily excused Harden isn’t the only guy with a high usage, but who else in the NBA produces like 50% of their team’s points via their scoring and assists? Also, Harden’s turnover rate is currently the lowest it’s been since he’s been in Houston. Russ generates mediocre at best offense...he is always out of control...u can’t excuse his turnovers and bad decisions nearly as easily
That's true but... What other way were we going to spend it? No one else was trading for Chris Paul. OKC has to hope someone gets desperate to unload that contract and that's what CP3 is right now, a bad contract. It's not that he's a bad player, the problem is matching contracts with him to get him on your team is very difficult. The option was Westbrook or Chris Paul, we accomplished all we could with Chris Paul, couldn't even get past a Warriors team without Durant. It wasn't going anywhere else with CP3. There really was nothing else other than to run it back with a few minor additions. If Westbrook doesn't want out of OKC, OKC doesn't trade him, it's not like they were shopping him around, Paul George left and Westbrook decided he wasn't going to stick around for another rebuilding effort and demanded a trade here. If he demanded a trade to Miami he'd be there. My reasoning on why I'd rather have Westbrook than CP3 at this point is really quite simple. He's going to play better, not ever be a good 3 point shooter, but his finishing will get to his average, which is around 58% in the paint, very good for a driving guard...I know people will say "That's not good!" For a guard it is since their shots in the paint are harder than big shots in the paint, Harden comparatively shoots around 54% in the paint. This is compared to lets say...Wade, who is one of the best finishing guards of all time, around 60% most seasons in his prime...so yeah, Westbrook is really good at finishing. What's going on now is an anomaly, maybe it's the fingers, maybe it's the refs mysteriously holding their whistles on his drive so he knows he's getting hammered every time and affects his approach to the rim...but it can't hold up. Even Wade at his elder age finished well around the rim. and with Westbrook on this team there is 0% chance. Zero. Zilch. No chance this team goes 0-27 in the playoffs again or anything similar. He drives far too often for that to ever happen and just that outlook is going to help the team in clutch situations. This team falls too much in love with the three at times and while Russ shoots them, he doesn't attempt many.
I'm not even arguing that Harden's turnovers can be excused, but this effort isn't even made for Russ. I don't think turnovers can be excused period, especially some of the ones Harden have are just stupid, but it's whatever because he does so much else... @hakeem94 keeps posting the game log for a reason, because at that point in the game Russ's value outside of shooting was clear as day. A cross court pass turned into a 3 point shot for Tucker. A steal by Westbrook turned into a fast break assist to Harden. House misses a three, Westbrook hustles for the rebound and it turns into an open 3 that Tucker hits. Russ gets another rebound, turns into fast break open three for Harden. a 4 point game turned into 10 point game just like that, in one minute of play. I think you can't take away his turnovers without him going at the speed he does. We play with a faster pace now, more turnovers, he gets these turnovers often trying to go too fast on the fastbreak basically running and not caring to see who runs with him...and of course he gets turnovers passing it to Clint, that's something CP3 had to learn too. But during this stretch, funnily enough, people were still going on and on about Westbrook missing shots in the GDT, as if he didn't just contribute to the 10 point lead that the Rockets held on to to win the game.
But we already had that. There were plenty of drives to the paint, plenty of made layups during the 0-27 stretch.
GREAT POINTS BUDDY - that stretch won us the game.... raptors werent able to outscore us for the rest of the game even if we were to score zero points afterward what is more impressive he even scored all of our points afterwards SEALING THAT WIN AND all these points and a lot of rebounds come in the last 3 minutes... HE SIMPLY DOMINATED CLUTCH AMF add that impressive layup at 54 s mark, by willing his way to the rim..i mean that was AWESOME.. i like harden and harden is my best player of all times but harden cant do that
I agree 98% of people would rather have Westbrook. I disagree that the 2% would be trolls. I think they'd be the people who are actually watching Westbrook objectively and realize he is getting paid 40 million dollars a year to jack up 20 shots a game with the efficiency of a guy we called Corey Sewer because he was so bad on offense. In a theoretical world where you could trade Westbrook straight up for Corey Brewer on a minimum (or literally anyone else on a minimum) I'd do it in a second. I wouldn't think twice. He's going to be an anchor around our necks for the next four years if something isn't done. You're right. However, I don't value that if he's this abysmal on offense. The net numbers of when he's on the floor vs when he's off the floor tell us everything we need to know. I don't care about those rebounds he got last night. No, I don't think ANYBODY could have gotten them but if we had Capela, Tucker and a long athletic 3 like Trevor Ariza I'm not worried about the boards. Russ's rebounding just doesn't offset his overwhelming deficiencies. At the least, it hasn't thus far. And yes, I know, Corey Brewer vs. Westbrook isn't a real comparison. Westbrook has had a career in which Brewer could only dream of. But the fact that his offensive output is comparable to Corey Brewer (in the year we began calling him Corey Sewer) is SCARY. We're paying this guy 40 million a year for the next four years. Again, if something isn't done this guy will be our albatross in the coming years.
the rockets already had that. lets not act like the 0-27 were all great defensive contested 3s. they weren't
turnovers can absolutely be excused when your play on the court is overwhelmingly positive...any player that runs the offense having to create for himself and others at the rate that Harden has to will turn the ball over, that’s just a fact of life...his turnover rate is still the lowest of his career in Houston the effort isn’t made for Russ because he turns it over, and combines that with atrocious shooting efficiency and generation of mediocre offense Russ helped in that instance, but he also hurt the team as well with his abundant bricks and 8 turnovers...the dude went 7-27...thank God he still managed to make an impact for a minute or 2 Would the Rockets have only been up by 4 if Russ wasn’t out here shooting worse than rookie year Rubio? How can they not go on about it? The dude followed up 7-30 with 7-27. We will get demolished in the playoffs if our 2nd guy is bricking at this level.
I love you but disagree so hard. If we had somebody playing at league average level instead of Russ in that game we'd have been so far ahead we wouldn't have needed that stretch to win the game. I do not care about last minute heroics if the only reason those heroics are needed is because of play so terrible we're in danger of losing in the last minute. Is a fire fighter a hero for putting out a fire if he's also the arsonist that started the fire in the first place?
lets not act as if scoring layup helps heating up process of a shooter..sometimes you need to first get a feel and shooting touch and heat up by scoring an easy basket and seeing the ball go through the net, then you go to 3pt line
it won't really matter when that same element is the very weakness teams will be chomping at the bit to expose
Not at this level. Russ's go to move, other than his pull up 2 pointer, is his drive to the rim. That's his thing. Also that he's a one man fast break those are a lot more easy points that Russ will bring over a full season that we did not have that can make it easier for guys to just get in rhytym instead of just jacking up 3s. I do think there is a mentality that star players bring to a team and it is not a coincidence that just changing CP3 out with Russ made us a faster paced and more aggressive team.
I'd 300% rather have Brewer on the vet min over Westbrook. Hell, I'd rather have Brewer (or any scrub) on 4 years 70 mill deal over WB on his deal. When you view WB as a net negative to the team, and he's making 170 mill over the next 4 years, and he's viewed as a "star" and therefor he MUST start and close games, he must get 30+ mins per night, you see a HUGE problem. Add to the fact, I think we traded a net positive player in CP3, I think we would be a MUCH better team with CP3 over the duration of his entire contract vs WB, it hurts so bad that we traded control over our picks until 2026 for a bum.
It's not a theoretical world though. It's Russ or CP3, that was the Rockets option. There weren't any other options. Either CP3 prevents the Rockets from making moves or Russ does...and we know, based on Woj's reporting, that other teams are interested in Russ. No one else is interested in CP3. I really don't believe in one stat ever telling the full story, that much is clear with my posting history. Ariza may have got those rebounds but Ariza isn't starting the fast break in those moments that resulted in 5 clutch points and he isn't throwing one hand cross court passes to an open shooter and he isn't playmaking, you know that.
