As you know Mike Fratello agreed on terms with ukrainian national team and he'll be their head coach on European Championship in early September. He arrived to Ukraine for a second time yesterday and I had a conversation with him for smth like half an hour. He's very intellegent person. It's such a pleasure to speak with him. He noticed some interesting thoughts that I really want to share He explained the main problem with Westbrook. We are all looking at him as a point guard but he's not a PG, he wasn't playing point guard in UCLA uniform. He used some of his observations as an example. Coach said that Thunder may make some changes and move him to a shooting guard position next season. He would still be capable of scoring something around 30 points, he has strong shoulders and overall body, he's the most athletic guard in the league that could still go to the line, run in transition and be aggressive in penetrations as a two guard. His decision-making won't be such a concern as it is now but coach agreed with me that Russell should learn a lot about playing defense at SG position in the NBA because he used to play on-ball not oftenly off-ball defense. Fratello said that if Russell would learn all this stuff before he'll reach a 26 YO mark, he still would have 8-9 productive years in the league. Just try to imagine Durant on one wing and Westbrook on the another! Ouch! He also mentioned that the comparision between Dominique Wilkins and Carmelo Anthony is pretty fair but people always underestimate Dom's strength. He said that Melo looks powerful but Dom really had the strength in his body (despite the fact that he looked thin). His athletic ability and aggressiveness (he always tried to get a contact and then dunk the ball strongly) made him a better player. Ability or inability to win a title is always depend on surrounding players. That's the case with Wilkins in Hawks uniform and Melo in Knicks or early in Denver All the problems with young guards like Wall are about their lack of experience. He compared the NFL and NBA situations. NFL quoterbacks are coming to the league as a rookies and they are sitting on the bench for a couple of years, they are learning the game and then they are staring to run the show. NBA point guards that were selected in top-5 or top-6 in the draft doesn't want to get some experience from their veterans. They usually want to play as soon as possible and all coaches and managers are unable to say no. He told about his Cavs job and how sad was a story with Brad Daugherty and his Cavaliers because they lost five of their most capable players in just two seasons (Daugherty, Nance, Hot Rod, Mark Price and Gerald Wikins). I always compared Yao to Brad and this story really proved it because their respective careers are very very similar. We lost all our firepower in just a couple of seasons, too. Mike said that signed a contract with very solid team but this crazyness turned their "win now mode" to a rebuilding one. Just like Rick's job in H-Town When I was talking about declining players, such as Kobe, T-Mac and Garnett, that came to the NBA straight from the HS and had a lot of miles in their bodies (all of them has similar knee issues in the last part of their respective careers), he said that even if player of this talent is on a decline, you should surrond him with good players and he'll be able to have a couple more productive years. If you surround him with bad players it will look like he declines dramatically and you would say that he's done. Well, i translated all the interview and wrote it in my blog but it's on russian I'm afraid He also noticed some stuff about team building. I wasn't able to ask him about Moses, He was tired and exhausted when we were finishing our conversation.
it would only work if westbrook could develop a more reliable jumpshot. so as of now no, but its a possibility for the future.
The trio of Harden, Westbrook and Durant were playing better by the end of the Thunder-Mavs series. Obviously not perfect, but they were showing some more chemistry. I really agree with this, and not just for rookie PGs but rookies in general. Don't want to turn this into an Adelman debate, but I've never had a problem with Adelman not giving much playing time to some rookies and second year players. Better to make sure they watch and learn to play the right way than to give them PT they can't handle.
The problem with the WB/Wade comparison is Wade is about 35 lbs heavier. While WB might be the strongest lb for lb player I've ever seen in the NBA, I don't think he could play SG full-time at only 190 lbs. I've changed my mind and now think the Thunder should consider starting James Harden next to WB and they could take turns at the point position on offense like TP and Manu have done over the years. It would then be important for OKC to find another bench sparkplug.
I think this maybe the transition in the league A Combo back court . . .one where there is no 'pure' pg just a player that is more PG than SG and another that is more SG than PG and they both share some duties. Brooks and Lowry come to mind. I thought they were somewhat productive. Rocket River
Disagree with your first point. He's young and will put on more size as he gets older (especially if he trains to do so.) Completely agree with your second point. Let them interchange depending on match-ups and situations. OFF TOPIC ALERT: Suppose D Howard wants out of Orlando. A Howard for Westbrook/Perkins trade makes a lot of sense to me from both sides (havnt worked out salaries etc.) What you think? Let Harden run the point and slide him to the 2 guard when Maynor is in? Harden Thabo Durant Ibaka Howard
Wade actually wasn't that heavy before his redemption year (Olympics in Beijing) The difference is huge
Wade was 215 lbs pre-draft in 2003 and he's gained 5-10 lbs since then. There is no way in the world Westbrook will put 35 lbs on a 185-190 lb frame during his NBA career. After he retires? Maybe so. Howard will be traded to a place he wants to go. Haven't heard anything about OKC being on his list. NJ, DAL, ORL and LA (which has moved down) are his supposed choices.
I think Harden needs to be the starting 2 more than Westbrook does. It would make sense for Westbrook to move to the 2, but Harden is a better shooter all-around. Russell has more quickness and athleticism and I think that would benefit him more today as a point guard.
I'm a Kendrick Perkins fan. He's not back from the knee injury yet, and that might have cost OKC the title this year. Collison stepped his game up big-time, but not enough. OKC should not touch the Harden-Westbrook-Durant backcourt. What scares me is the thought of OKC with a dominant center-- they'd wreck the league. If Dwight wants the easiest path to ten straight titles, he'd sign with OKC. Not even the NBA's anti-small-market refs could defeat a Dwight Howard-anchored Thunder defense!
Putting him at 2 guard would be a disaster...You mean you want him shooting more in a half court set than in transition???......Uggh
From my limited viewing of Westbrook (in the playoffs, didn't see a ton of regular season), his problem, more than anything, seems to be Steve Francis like ball domination. Frankly, given this is a Rockets board, I'm surprised this comparison hasn't come up more. Steve was also very strong and capable of getting to the rim. Still, Westbrook has become a much better distributor than Steve ever was. I think that may be due to the fact that Durant is there, and the rest of the team is much better than Stevie's Rockets supporting cast was... nonetheless, if Russell improves his outside shot meaningfully, and moves just a step or two further away from dribble dribble dribble, call off the play to run an iso or pick and roll and towards run the offense, realize you'll get the ball back and look for your best offensive player if **** isn't working. I think Scotty's offense may be partly (very small) to blame, and some of the Durant's inability to get open from the glued on defenders in the playoffs was an issue... ...but still, I think it is more about Russell growing a bit, than any change of position or anything else. Russel was top 10 in assists for the season. Too many turnovers, though, but his assist to turnover ratio wasn't that much worse than DRose, and he dished out more per game. Again, he is playing with a Durant, though. He dropped almost 2 assist per game in the playoffs, despite more minutes (his assist per 48 minutes dropped nearly 3). I can't say for certain, but seems fairly obvious why - game slowed down, playing better defenses, Durant open less often, etc. This was their first real test. He's still only 22. This was a great experience for him. Again, work on his shot and decision making and he's a dominant PG. he'll never be a dominant SG, imo, and Harden is well suited for that slot, so seems like an odd idea. Cool that you got to talk with the Czar...
Westbrook and Rose are just total ball hogs that think they are better than they are. Moving him to SG won't solve that problem.
