That two-way game thing is a complex equation, and we can't just look at offense and defense as two separate things. Obviously CP3 even now is a much better defender than Westbrook. Hopefully our defensive scheme will compensate somewhat. And something tells me that the team who has to chase Harden and/or Russ all game long might wear down after a while, making them less effective on offense and defense. That's one of the reasons the Warriors seem to pull out wins in the 4th, because everyone is exhausted from fighting around screens (including the illegal ones) all night.
Agreed, but one caveat is the style in which the warriors play too. Harden and WB love the iso game. The men who have to stand in front of them will be gassed for sure. I'm just not sure the help defenders and players not involved might get gassed. I'll let MDA fledge something out, maybe he has some tricks up his sleeve, but I'm still really really concerned that our defense got worse, and the number one issue facing this team heading into the off season was defense.
Why does one poster's thoughts deserve its own thread? In any case for all the westbrook fans. He couldn't do a whole lot with Paul George and that should be alarming.
I’m just hoping to get more than 50 games out of WB during the regular season. Harden had to carry the Rockets for large chunks of the regular season in BOTH years of the CP3 era.
I'm as big of a Westbrook hater as anyone but today I listened to the Locked On podcast with David Locke. He was speaking to Trevor Booker. Locke made some interesting points and dug up some interesting stats. He claimed that in the top half of the clock Westbrook is actually highly efficient. It's only in the second half of the clock that he resorts to his wild, inefficient shots. Conversely, Harden is as deadly as anyone in the league in the second half of the shot clock but doesn't tend to make much happen in the first half of the shot clock. Locke wondered if that could be the plan. He thought that perhaps if it's Westbrook fast breaking and passing off to Harden if he's unable to make something happen that it could potentially be deadly. He also mentioned that Westbrook might be unstoppable because he's going to be surrounded by guys like Harden, Gordon and Tucker who are deadly shooters who defenders cannot sag off of. I have no love for Brodie but Locke's take did help convince me that there is a possible universe in which this experiment could work. I hope there is. Oh my god do I hope there is. I won't be able to handle a disappointing season AND seeing Westbrook in a Rockets jersey every night.
That's a fascinating idea, and it passes the eye test: Russ always seems to make stupid shots with the clock under 6 or 7 seconds, while Harden just dribbles until that point, then makes a move. I have always been the guy hoping Westbrook would get the ball late in a clutch situation, because 3 out of 4 times he'd gift the Rox a win with an airball or turnover. Even then, I've always admired the effort he puts into it. I honestly don't know if I've ever seen an NBA player go that hard for as many minutes as Russ does. It'll be interesting to see if the Thunder's effort level tapers off a bit without WB keeping them honest.
The warriors seem to get questionable calls every 4th quarter in the post season which helps them. Teams have to beat the refs and warriors to win.
Rebounding is this teams biggest weakness not defense. We’re actually not a bad defensive team last year after everyone got healthy. Even in the playoffs we got plenty of stops, but we couldn’t finish off the defensive possession with a rebound and it largely but us in the ass.
WB should improve team then. Not buying that he only steals boards from teammates. Trading teams best rebounder to aquire a slightly better rebounder is marginal improvement, at best. Need to add rebounders without losing our current best rebounders.
We need a wing that can rebound. Ariza was pretty good on the boards. We’re missing that. House is also good at rebounding but it’s yet to be seen if he can be a true rotation impact player or was last year in the regular season a fluke, because he was awful in the playoffs.
Harden not gonna play forever lmao .... those picks are top 4 protected which means we gonna have to tank hard
I didn't realize Harden has played for the entirety of Morey's career. If there is one thing Morey is proven at, it's putting together a team that won't have a losing season. This was true before Harden came and I suspect it will continue to be true as long as Morey is not actively trying to tank.
Our draft picks gonna Be towards the end of the round. We had no success for almost past decade in drafting towards the bottom. I think it was a good package for both sides. Okc gonna have a hella young nice squad in next 2-5 years like 15 1st round picks lmao.
When Harden has the ball in his hands, Westbrook will be our wing. He will fill in the Ariza roll (of course not as well on defense), but will stand in the corner for the open three's.
Russell Westbrook is a healthy player, way more so than Chris Paul Russell Westbrook is way faster on the fastbreak, has a quicker first step for layups, dunks Russell is a taller player that can pass a alley oop passes to Clint Capela, uses his quick first step for layups, or drive and pass out to open shooters for 3, to Harden.Tucker, Gordon, House, Bennett, Green, McLemore, Clemons, Russell Westbrook plays faster during the playoffs and get 30 or more points, taking a huge scoring load off of James Harden in the playoffs Playoffs is very tiring being constantly double or triple team James Harden, Russell is a threat to score many points, to take pressure off of James Harden.
