OKC breakdown...do you think westbrooks shoots too much??

[araiee]

after watching the okc and dallas game the other day, something reinforced what i had thought for a long time, russell westbrook shoots the ball too much!
ok im not doubting his talent and i think he is a great athlete, but lets face it, and look at the stats, durant needs the ball more and james harden is probably their best play maker...off the bench...I know durant didnt have the best shooting game the other day, but he is still the premier scorer in the league and would rather him still take shots on a bad night over westbrook putting up to many shots....
Watching the dallas/okc western conference final last year also highented the short comings, westbrook makes bad decisions...
here is some interesting stats from this years, westbrook is taking more shots this year than any other and durants are downto around his rookie year...
westbrooks assist numbers are down around his rookie years, why????
durant is shooting nearly 51% and 36% from 3s, taking 18.6 shots a game (lowest from his rookie year) and ave career high 8.1 reb a game
westbrook is shooting a resepectable 46% and average 27% from 3s, 5.7 assists per game which is his lowest since his rookie year and career high 4 turnovers a game
james harden off the bench is shooting a decent 46% career high % and 36% from 3s at 9.8 shots a game and is still averging 16.1 a game
i know okc doesnt have a lot more scoring options, but i honestly think if they are going to win in the playoffs, westbrook needs to distribute more, and draw the defence and kick out to durant, there is no way durant and westbrook should be shooting the same amount of shots in a game...14-15 a game and than see his assist numbers jump up to around 8-9
what do you think????

 

[Shaun]

i agree 100%, in honesty i havent seen too many OKC games, but do like Durant and Westbrook based on highlights. but after watching the game on espn the other day, i was sitting there amazed, asking these questions 'why is westbrook taking the whole team on without passing?' 'where is the ball movement?' 'why does KD seem so...i dont know if this is the right word......lazy?'

maybe KD is looking 'lazy' to me due to lack of ball movement from westbrook, i dont know, either way there winning, yes, but there is alot of room for improvement.

 

[lukesicari]

I don't think Westbrook shoots too much. He is trying to make something happen and be aggressive. Sure KD is OKC's superstar player but at times he isn't moving off the ball a lot. Harden will be sixth man of the year, he is a knock down shooter off the bench.

But at the end of the day OKC is winning, so whatever the team is doing, it's working!!

 

[brentus777]

KD has looked "Lazy" since he came into the league... his style, might be his way of making the defender think 'this guys pretty relaxed' then boom he explodes, i agree westy needs to get those assists up and let KD do the majority of scoring...

 

[araiee]

I don't think Westbrook shoots too much. He is trying to make something happen and be aggressive. Sure KD is OKC's superstar player but at times he isn't moving off the ball a lot. Harden will be sixth man of the year, he is a knock down shooter off the bench.

But at the end of the day OKC is winning, so whatever the team is doing, it's working!!

yeah they are winning...but wont come playoff time if they dont change what they are doing, i cant see westbrook getting off the quality of shots to make them enough when he will be smoothered defensivley and wont give the ball up!!! if he didnt have durant on the team he could be more like derrick rose, a scoring point guard, the reason why durant isnt leading the legaue in scoring this year...career low amount of shots taken...he should be taking 20-25 shots a night...westbrook 14-16

 

[A1CardsandGaming]

Maybe it is a plan that OKC is using for the regular season so when the playoffs arrive, it becomes Durant time.

 

[Shaun]

^could be, but its not like the rest of the league is going to forget what Durant is capable of and snooze on him in the playoffs

 

[lilreddevil]

Don't forget Westbrook used to be a shooting guard in college, so it's not like he doesn't have the talent to shoot. I don't see anything wrong with him shooting too much either. His FG% are up to 45.9% which is exactly the same as Rose's is at the moment. What's wrong with that?

 

[lukesicari]

Great point by Bainy there about Westbrook being a SG in college. Westbrook is a scoring PG not a pass-first PG. You can't change the way players play, espically when the player is playing on the pro level. Westbrook and Durant seem to play well together on the court so that's a plus. And if Durant can score 30 and Russ can score 15-20 pre game, that is a massive part of the Thunder winning. If OKC want a pass first PG, they have the rookie Reggie Jackson who can be a playmaker off the bench with Harden.

 

[SpriteAllNight33]

I watch all the OKC games here In Tulsa ... yes he shoots too much, but gets open very easily, very often ... he'll get better with time ... he's young and going 200 miles per hour the entire game ... Durant should DEMAND the ball more ... but I really think all Is good In OKC land ... Don't hate or worry !

 

[loafic]

westbrook needs to shoot the ball but not more than or on par with durant... they are a far better team when he is distributing the ball and getting his teammates more looks and better looks

memo to russell westbrook: get durant and harden the ball as they are the 2 most natural scorers for the thunder, reward guys like collison and ibaka for their hard work on defense with some offensive looks which keeps team motivation/morale high - they will create opportunities for themselves due to their hard work and work ethic anyway - attack and get to the rim early and often to create opportunities for yourself and put immense pressure on the defense, keep working on that jumper and improving your 3pt ball adding more dimensions to your game and increasing your value to okc, definitely needs to get his assist total/average up... the more this happens the more likely okc becomes the most feared and unstoppable force in the game... they already have the best scorer in the biz, the best 6th man in the game, if russell can do the above, then he makes okc that much more consistently better and harder to beat and eventually this will = nba championship

 

[brentus777]

Mmm 6-18 today...

 

[loafic]

happens too much... even though he is suprisingly still shooting 46% somehow

 

[araiee]

westbrook needs to shoot the ball but not more than or on par with durant... they are a far better team when he is distributing the ball and getting his teammates more looks and better looks

memo to russell westbrook: get durant and harden the ball as they are the 2 most natural scorers for the thunder, reward guys like collison and ibaka for their hard work on defense with some offensive looks which keeps team motivation/morale high - they will create opportunities for themselves due to their hard work and work ethic anyway - attack and get to the rim early and often to create opportunities for yourself and put immense pressure on the defense, keep working on that jumper and improving your 3pt ball adding more dimensions to your game and increasing your value to okc, definitely needs to get his assist total/average up... the more this happens the more likely okc becomes the most feared and unstoppable force in the game... they already have the best scorer in the biz, the best 6th man in the game, if russell can do the above, then he makes okc that much more consistently better and harder to beat and eventually this will = nba championship

right on the money!! what i like to see, someone who knows about the game...

 

[loafic]

right on the money!! what i like to see, someone who knows about the game...

thx man

 

[araiee]

Don't forget Westbrook used to be a shooting guard in college, so it's not like he doesn't have the talent to shoot. I don't see anything wrong with him shooting too much either. His FG% are up to 45.9% which is exactly the same as Rose's is at the moment. What's wrong with that?

yeah he may have been...and i dont have a problem with him taking the right shots within the offense, but quick pull up mid range jumpers when the team are still getting down the floor arent good shots...and do you think the fact his assist numbers are well down and turnovers up arent an issue? and do you think that westbrooks offensive game is as good as durants?

 

[loafic]

Don't forget Westbrook used to be a shooting guard in college, so it's not like he doesn't have the talent to shoot. I don't see anything wrong with him shooting too much either. His FG% are up to 45.9% which is exactly the same as Rose's is at the moment. What's wrong with that?

bainy see my above post as to my thoughts... i dont agree with you due to russell needing to understand his role on this team... durant is the main man and that team will go mega far if westbrook understands that and stops trying to take that mantle away from him... being sg in college is a totally different kettle of fish - i bet he was the man on that team and didnt have a durant-like player playing alongside him hence needed to take more shots

 

[lilreddevil]

yeah he may have been...and i dont have a problem with him taking the right shots within the offense, but quick pull up mid range jumpers when the team are still getting down the floor arent good shots...and do you think the fact his assist numbers are well down and turnovers up arent an issue? and do you think that westbrooks offensive game is as good as durants?

Assist numbers being well down is a problem but this can also be due to the fact that Durant and sometimes Harden have also been contributing in the assists department. Durant is starting to be a more complete player now increasing his rebound totals as well. However, yes assists are down and turnovers are up but he's also taking less shots than last year. His pg/game is the same and his FG% is higher. What does that mean? Less shots. Now where are Durant's points and shots going? Simple. James Harden. Also you say James Harden is shooting 46%. Well so is Westbrook.

Also I don't see you pointing out that Durant is also averaging a career-high 4 turnovers a game. His turnovers are up 1 per game from last year.

bainy see my above post as to my thoughts... i dont agree with you due to russell needing to understand his role on this team... durant is the main man and that team will go mega far if westbrook understands that and stops trying to take that mantle away from him... being sg in college is a totally different kettle of fish - i bet he was the man on that team and didnt have a durant-like player playing alongside him hence needed to take more shots

Yeh I get what you mean by understanding his role on the team. I think if Scott Brooks and Sam Presti didn't think this was the case, they probably wouldn't have signed him to a max extension. Westbrook also wasn't the man on the team. He actually largely played off the bench behind Darren Collison and played on a team commanded by Kevin Love!

Anyway. Yes Westbrook sometimes takes stupid shots, I've seen those pull-up mid rangers you talk about Aram, and yes I've seen the ridiculous floaters too or the drives into 3 defenders only to pick up an offensive foul. But to take too many shots, that's restricting the guy's potential as being one of the best attacking PGs into something he's not. That's why we have Eric Maynor on the team.

 

[loafic]

nice chatting gents... i enjoy the spirited debates/opinions about the game

good fun

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Man hasn't this topic been done to death already!?

Obviously I watch a lot of OKC games and Russ perhaps shoots a little too much, but not to the level that people go on about it. Plus, without his constant attacking the basket how else is it going to open up the floor!? The defense really only has to worry about 2 guys out there (Russ and KD) in the starting lineup as the other 3 aren't offensive threats (though I will say Thabo's 3 point stroke this season is SICK!).

You make it sound like his numbers are really bad, when in fact..

Over 22 games, his shots are up only 1.1/game whilst increased his FG % from .442 to .454; his turnovers are up a whole 0.1 from last season, so basically the same, but yes, his drop in assists is rather large.

Now as for KD..

His shots are down a whole 0.8 from last season; not a whole lot to base an argument around IMO.

But on the other side of the coin I will agree his decision making at times isn't the best.

Great point by Bainy there about Westbrook being a SG in college. Westbrook is a scoring PG not a pass-first PG. You can't change the way players play, espically when the player is playing on the pro level. Westbrook and Durant seem to play well together on the court so that's a plus. And if Durant can score 30 and Russ can score 15-20 pre game, that is a massive part of the Thunder winning. If OKC want a pass first PG, they have the rookie Reggie Jackson who can be a playmaker off the bench with Harden.

Actually Reggie Jackson isn't a pass first PG either; you should see him play, he is always looking for his shot.

p.s. Shouldn't this thread be about Kobe, who has the highest FGA PG in the whole league by a wide margin (+4.3) when he has two very talented big men he could be passing it to; not to mention it's his highest FGA PG since the 05-06 season when he averaged 35 PPG.