All I can remember is how bad Livingston was before on the Thunder and how big an upgrade Maynor was. Jackson is on trial until the trade deadline and Presti will get another backup PG if he doesn't measure up for this season.
Last time I checked, nearly everyone in their rotation is either older for the better (KD, WB, Harden, Ibaka) or 30 pounds lighter and fully recovered from an injury (Perkins). OKC might need to get another backup PG to make a championship run. Inexperience was the reason they lost to the Mavs. Regarding your Ibaka for Ryan Anderson trade: Ibaka has started the season slow as usual and Ryan Anderson is playing better than he ever has. Buying low and selling high is better than the opposite. Let's check back at the end of the season. Also, the Thunder don't need another perimeter scorer.
and the thunder lost. didnt see the game, just glanced at the boxscore... looks like only westbrook and durant showed up.
thats okc's problem. durant/westbrook are guaranteed to give their team 20 a night, no question about it. harden gives about 15-16 points to their squad as well. After that, they really don't have much in terms of offense. In their starting lineup, perk, ibaka, and sefalosha are all guys that are not good scorers at all, which hurts them.
He played well last year. This season, he's backing up jennings and jennings is healthy. I like the thought of him running the pg with durant resting and harden out there with wb.
WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski Russell Westbrook has signed a five-year, $78 million-plus max extension with Oklahoma City, league sources tell Y! Sports. Story soon on Y! http://twitter.com/#!/WojYahooNBA/status/160058530559295488
He deserves it. No brainer. Should be interesting to see if they can keep Harden and Ibaka. ...Doesn't change the fact that Westbrook dominated. Durant didn't play great in the 4th. A coupla charges and a lotta 3s by Durant. That's why I believe Westbrook is the most important Thunder player. Sure, Durant is better but personally, I think Westbrook can impact the game more.
Good for him. I think there is a decent chance OKC can re-sign both Harden and Ibaka in the summer if they choose to. Nah, KD is the man on the Thunder. You will probably point to some of their games last year (like in Boston) when KD was out and WB carried the team to victories. WB (for his position) is also a better rebounder and defender. Even with all of that, KD is more important to OKC. He's the leader and the guy they all look to.
Yep, let's bump this again. I want to keep this thread up to show how foolish people can be. What's their record again? Still take lowry over westbrook? Whatever.
Yep, and those posters not watching and saying trade him for steph curry, he locked curry down. He is by far the best,most intimidating defensive guard in the league. I don't know what the stats say, but his tenacity and sheer intimidation defensively is incredible. Oh yeah, he will still get you 22 a game.
The synergy stats this year suggest he is a very strong 1-on-1 defender (though its a small sample), but not as much guarding the pick-and-roll or contesting spot-up shooters on the perimeter. The +/- figures suggest that his overall impact is close to a net 0 on defense. What I would infer from that is he defends really well in ISO situations and he's so physically imposing that probably not many PGs will challenge him. But maybe his attention to team defensive principles wanes or he's conserving energy for the offensive side in some cases. Hollinger, before the season, also echoed your criticism of Lowry for Westbrook -- he tends to leave the transition D exposed by going after offensive rebounds. That said, I don't watch him play nearly as much as you so I'd defer to your opinion.
Yup he sure did. He had 7 steals. He has to cut down on the turnovers but he definitely should not be traded in OKC. Since Westbrook has gotten there they have improved as a team each year.
In regards to westbrook off the ball, its not saving energy, its him taking his matchups personal. He is a good team defender, but he needs to sacrifice for the rotation. In the pnr, he fights through those also. Gary payton was similar and teams would pull paytons man out of the play, thus taking payton out of the play. He's a dpoy/1st all nba defender. When I made the comments about lowry, I was just posting what I see. Take a good rebounding pg like rondo. He get off rebounds, but they're ft extended or long rebounds. When lowry get off rebs, he's way down on the baseline. Unless you're driving to the rim or setting a pck on the baseline, coaches don't like the pg that low. The ft line is like barrier that you don't cross. If someone shoots, you can hang at the ft line before getting back.when you go well below that, you're putting the balance in jeopordy.
Funny thing is the OP OldfanofTmac's posts are reasonable about Westbrook. Putting "Westbrick" in the title almost seemed tongue-in-cheek to invite "haters". 1st post of thread Then later
