May 15, 201412 yr I'd argue, had they parted with Westbrook and kept Harden things may have turned out better for them. I understand that wasn't the plan for them at the time, but had this discussion with my favorite NBA cohort just yesterday.
May 15, 201412 yr Author I'd argue, had they parted with Westbrook and kept Harden things may have turned out better for them. I understand that wasn't the plan for them at the time, but had this discussion with my favorite NBA cohort just yesterday. I think from a team chemistry perspective keeping Harden would have been the better move. People think I hate Westbrook, I do not. I just hate the dynamic of the Thunder with Westbrook being forced in to PG duties often times and he is not that. Both of them are lethal, but their offensive can become putrid at times with no flow. They are legit great friends and I have felt Durant feels it is his obligation to get Westbrook involved, to a fault.
May 15, 201412 yr Clearly Durant. Westbrook is a stud, and he's boarderline crazy, but Durant is the MAN in OKC.
May 15, 201412 yr Phhhhtttt....to all of the OKC is better with Harden than Russ talk. With Harden instead of Russ Reggie Jackson would be the point guard and he makes worse decisions than Russ does. KD has NO alpha male in him. He's too passive for my taste. Love watching him play. Love his skill set. I even like him as a player compared to a few years back when I was Cats3X tag team partner when it came time to pile on KD. He is the second best player on the planet yet he has no control of his team. I've never seen that before. I also hate that he gets a pass for shrinking in big moments when Lebron would be killed for going for the game winning assist. People talk about Russ and his shot selection but how many times does he have to shoot because KD is just standing on the wing watching? Would MJ stand on the wing and watch Pippen dribble for 22 seconds and then shoot? Would Kobe?
May 15, 201412 yr Phhhhtttt....to all of the OKC is better with Harden than Russ talk. With Harden instead of Russ Reggie Jackson would be the point guard and he makes worse decisions than Russ does. KD has NO alpha male in him. He's too passive for my taste. Love watching him play. Love his skill set. I even like him as a player compared to a few years back when I was Cats3X tag team partner when it came time to pile on KD. He is the second best player on the planet yet he has no control of his team. I've never seen that before. I also hate that he gets a pass for shrinking in big moments when Lebron would be killed for going for the game winning assist. People talk about Russ and his shot selection but how many times does he have to shoot because KD is just standing on the wing watching? Would MJ stand on the wing and watch Pippen dribble for 22 seconds and then shoot? Would Kobe? The one time I felt like Durant was going to be the alpha dog officially was when he warped into this machine there for a few months with Westbrook out and continuing it when he got back for a little while. But, and this is the same thing that happened last time Westbrook +Durant played together in the 2012 playoffs, the Thunder seem to absolutely thrive on Westbrook's energy. Yes, Durant is going to score a lot because (IMO) he is the best scorer in the world, but Westbrook gets the guys going. As PP92 said, Durant is happy to stand 25 feet away from the basket at the end of the game and seems to shy away a bit while Westbrook is the one leading.
May 15, 201412 yr I think from a team chemistry perspective keeping Harden would have been the better move. People think I hate Westbrook, I do not. I just hate the dynamic of the Thunder with Westbrook being forced in to PG duties often times and he is not that. Both of them are lethal, but their offensive can become putrid at times with no flow. They are legit great friends and I have felt Durant feels it is his obligation to get Westbrook involved, to a fault. I'd argue their offense is putrid because they have a bad coach that doesn't run any offense...
May 15, 201412 yr Phhhhtttt....to all of the OKC is better with Harden than Russ talk. With Harden instead of Russ Reggie Jackson would be the point guard and he makes worse decisions than Russ does. KD has NO alpha male in him. He's too passive for my taste. Love watching him play. Love his skill set. I even like him as a player compared to a few years back when I was Cats3X tag team partner when it came time to pile on KD. He is the second best player on the planet yet he has no control of his team. I've never seen that before. I also hate that he gets a pass for shrinking in big moments when Lebron would be killed for going for the game winning assist. People talk about Russ and his shot selection but how many times does he have to shoot because KD is just standing on the wing watching? Would MJ stand on the wing and watch Pippen dribble for 22 seconds and then shoot? Would Kobe? They went dry trips 9 consecutive down the floor last game because KD never touched the ball. Not once. Westbrook took 8 shots. Sure a lot of their offensive woes are directly because of the fact that they don't run an offense. However, during the timeout it's obvious that it was discussed that KD hadn't touched it, and on cue, he scored the next 7. Say what you want about Westbrook, but he's never gonna be alpha male unless you consider shot attempts. When his athleticism wanes as he ages, KD will still be scoring 30 per. Right now Westbrook is a physical stud. It's just true. Has coast to coast speed only equalled by Wall and maybe Lawson, but he shoots em out of it as much as keeps em in it. And he for darn sure is gonna get his shots. As for the Harden comparison, Harden would be in a similar role to Westbrook. Jackson would be in the same role he's in now, IMO.
May 15, 201412 yr ....and his crying about calls has increased to nearly Lebron proportion, if there's such a thing.
May 15, 201412 yr I'd argue their offense is putrid because they have a bad coach that doesn't run any offense... It really is painful to watch at times. It's no wonder Westbrook gets out of control at times.
May 15, 201412 yr They went dry trips 9 consecutive down the floor last game because KD never touched the ball. Not once. Westbrook took 8 shots. Sure a lot of their offensive woes are directly because of the fact that they don't run an offense. However, during the timeout it's obvious that it was discussed that KD hadn't touched it, and on cue, he scored the next 7. Say what you want about Westbrook, but he's never gonna be alpha male unless you consider shot attempts. When his athleticism wanes as he ages, KD will still be scoring 30 per. Right now Westbrook is a physical stud. It's just true. Has coast to coast speed only equalled by Wall and maybe Lawson, but he shoots em out of it as much as keeps em in it. And he for darn sure is gonna get his shots. As for the Harden comparison, Harden would be in a similar role to Westbrook. Jackson would be in the same role he's in now, IMO. And if KD was the alpha dog he'd smack Russ on the back of the head when he goes in hero mode. Instead he submits to Russ. That's not alpha dog. Alpha dogs don't submit.
May 15, 201412 yr ....and his crying about calls has increased to nearly Lebron proportion, if there's such a thing. Speaking of which.....how does CP3 not get T'eed up every game???? He cries worse than anyone I have seen in a while.
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.