I've been thinking about it the last few days while the media makes a big to do about WB triple doubles.... Is WB triple double streak impressive to you? It's not to me.... if you break it down.... Someone who is shooting 20 - 25 shots a game should easily gets 10 pts... not impressive A PG who is the primary ball handler for 40ish minutes a game should be 10 assists a game right? and a guard who goes out of his way to snag rebounds that most of the time would have fallen to a teammate anyway is kinda just stat padding at some point right? When you combine the amount of shots taken, the amount of time the ball is in WB hands and how hard WB goes after pretty easy rebounds.... he should be getting a triple double or it would be kind of pathetic right?
He's not playing 40 minutes per game, he and Harden are the only PGs in the NBA averaging double digit assists, and no player under 6'5" has averaged double digit rebounds in over 50 years. You're being a straight hater.
If it was easy more people would have been able to do it. The media attention is annoying, but it is impressive.
Nonsense. Nonsense. Every contract year players would be doing it. Guys on losing teams would be doing it. You're not being rational at all.
1. Is a player taking 20 - 25 shots a game and scoring 10 + pts impressive? No 2. Is a player hustling after every single rebound and calling off other players to get uncontested rebounds impressive? No 3. Is a primary ball handler playing 36 minutes a game getting 10 assists a game impressive? Yes, probably but the other two are NOT. No reason your guard needs to go after so many rebounds at all.... no other point guards try like that. The big boys need their stats too. Rebounds are important for the bigs.
Well, in the guy's defense Westbrook does take 24 shots per game excluding the 10 free throws he attempts. He does sometimes sag off his defender to run for a defensive rebound. That being said he is still likely the best rebounder at his position of all time. As for assists? He has the highest usage rate of all time so the ball is almost always in his hand. Then he also has the highest assist rate of all time, and his team's assists rate is in the bottom 12 in the league. It kind of means that Westbrook is literally doing everything for his team. Every player that has had a 49% assist rate has averaged at least 10 assists per game. Westbrook is currently at 59%. In the top 40 people of all time with the highest assist rates only 6 averaged less than 10apg. I honestly don't think him averaging a triple double is that jaw dropping impressive. What is more impressive is OKC's record because I for sure thought they were going to be a .500 team. They're playing good ball, and because of Westbrook for sure. Don't think we're going to see anyone average another trouble double either in a long time though, so it is impressive but not jaw dropping impressive. I think him being able to average a double-double is a given since he is absolutely the type of player who can do that even though he's not an extraordinary play maker. He just has the ball a lot. The 10 rebounds a game is nice though because it really is remarkable how good of a rebounder he is for his position. I still haven't figured it out completely. There are times where he sags off his guy, but there are times where he outright steals the ball from Kanter or Adams. The latter isn't his fault. Either Adams/Kanter are afraid of Russ or Russ is simply a superior rebounder than two 7 footers.
If you want it u can do it. That's the bottom line. I don't mind players going hard. It's no different than the Rockets breaking the 3 point boundary. It's a sound barrier. And once kids see someone can do it they start doing it. When Cage or Larry Smith go for 30 rebounds, it's like hey, this is possible. I see it as effort and focus, not taking away from the team, so long as he is efficient. They can always rotate the SG back on D.
I don't believe Westbrook is "trying" to do it. That's just the way he plays. He's a guy who is forced to be the #1 option and also the primary play maker. Realistically you'd want him to average 26ppg on elite TS% and 11 assists per game, but he does take any awful amount of "bad" shots. He's not a great 3 point shoot, but he still takes nearly 5.5 threes a game. Cut it down to 2 threes a game, and it improves his efficiency. Sometimes Russ tries to avoid contact in an attempt to make an out of control lay up. Draw the foul and go to the line more for more efficiency. He absolutely has the ability to be the best player in the league, and yes, better than Harden but sometimes he does extra stuff. I'm not sure he is truly is a 10 rebounds per game guy without hurting his team, but without a doubt he can get 7 rebounds a game easy. The difference between 7 rebounds and 10 rebounds isn't that much for a player that can go like he does. The media is slurping him like crazy, but anyone trying to supremely downplay this is either bitter or a hater. At the very least Russ is a 26ppg, 10apg, and 7rpg type of player. That's at the very least. The Thunder are 15-8. Whatever he is doing is working. There are only other two guys I believe could average a triple double in today's league. Draymond (on the Warriors only) and Lebron (on any team). Normally, I may agree, but it could possibly be better for Russ to get the ball and start the fastbreak immediately instead of Kanter, Adams, or someone else grabbing the ball and having to worry about passing the ball w/o turning it over. Securing a rebound is the most important thing, but if Russ can do that and also start the break fast then I don't see why it's a huge problem. It only turns into a problem when he tries to crash the boards way too early.
If Harden went after more rebounds he could def average a triple double.... he is already at 29/11/7.5 .... if he called off the bigs for some rebounds or went crazy after every rebound like WB he could easily get there. I mean, how many of WB rebounds are really very contested and how many would almost certainly go to another person on his team if he didn't try so hard to go after them? Not all rebounds are created equally... I feel like WB probably gets most of his from rebounds anyone on the team could get but the Thunder defer the stat to him
I think someone mentioned in another thread that teammates go out of their way sometimes to let him get the rebound. Must've been a bittersweet moment for him, to equal MJ's feat but lose the game.
I've never really cared much about triple double. JVG kind of referenced to it last night when Westbrook was one rebound shy of a tri-doub. He said something like, "People see that Westbrook wasn't playing particularly well tonight. But if he gets one more rebound, then they will say he's had a great game." The double-digit thing is just arbitrary. What if we lived in a 16-base number system or an 8-base system? A player getting 9 rebounds or 9 assists is generally considered a solid production. But scoring 10 points is nothing. Is having a 10-10-10 game more impressive than a 35-4-9 game? I am not a Westbrook hater like many here. I am just not impressed by this kind of stat. Remember when Francis was a 20-6-6- guy? People said how great that was. But who cares if a guard gets 6 rebounds a game? 6 assists per game for a PG is mediocre.
I'd rather westbrick aim for more assist than attempt 40fgs a game. If it weren't for his high rebound/assist % He'd be a glorified chucker. In the end it's all about the W & apparently OKC can't win any other way.
Harden already goes after more rebounds then he probably should, just saying...there's a reason why he's late in closing on his man a lot of times...let's not act like James is not trying to pad his stats when he can because he does. Did you forget when James yelled at someone (maybe it was Troy Daniels?) cause he took away a rebound from him when he was close to a triple double? That said, i don't know if i'm impressed by his stats...i'm not a fan of his game overall and when he will lose his athleticism it's going to be hard for him but still, average a triple double in a season is pretty impressive, even though probably meaningless for the team since we're basically talking about 2/3 rebounds that someone else of his teammates would probably grab...
yeah westbrook ****in sucks i think we should trade brewer for him. take him off okc's hands. brewer, ennis for westbrook, then westbrook for leborn and conely. i say yes, who says no?
I don't see that happening unfortunately, i would gladly take OKC for the first round instead of the Jazz or the Grizzlies (assuming they'll get healty and ready for the playoffs) but while i think we'll end up between the 4th and 5th spot, i think OKC will end up in the 7th, maybe 6th...
I noticed it last night. It's how Bev wound up snatching so many boards. The OKC players box out but don't chase the ball. Bev would hunt.I'm still impressed by the numbers though. It's also impressive how long he frowns.