The Russell Westbrook Thread (2015-16 Pt. 1)

[SideshowBob]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2QiqUI42ks[/youtube]

GOATbrook gonna GOAT

[Based Mike]

With a healthy Durant, his numbers will be down. And that's good, because as awesome as his streak was last year, that type of play will prematurely age a guy.

[Ballerhogger]

Staying healthy and getting KD going early will help Westbrook overall game and his defense in particular. Could go for the MVP wth healthy KD?

[Marcus]

Where does Russell rank in the top 10 in the league right now?

[mischievous]

Will Westbrook be better than Cp3 this year? I say yes.

[LarsV8]

Where does Russell rank in the top 10 in the league right now?

Lebron
Durant
Harden
Paul
Curry
Davis
Griffin
Westbrook

8th for me.

[HornetJail]

Durant
LeBron
Curry
Westbrook

#4

[bondom34]

5 for me.

Bron
Durant
AD/Curry
Curry/AD
Westbrook

[PaulieWal]

5 for me.

Bron
Durant
AD/Curry
Curry/AD
Westbrook

No Paul in your top 5?

[bondom34]

5 for me.

Bron
Durant
AD/Curry
Curry/AD
Westbrook

No Paul in your top 5?

Nope, I'd take Russ over him no question and I certainly wouldn't bump one of the others.

[PaulieWal]

5 for me.

Bron
Durant
AD/Curry
Curry/AD
Westbrook

No Paul in your top 5?

Nope, I'd take Russ over him no question and I certainly wouldn't bump one of the others.

Why is that? Is that because of his playoff injury last year?

[Quotatious]

I have Westbrook 7th. I mean, I had him 6th last season (very close after Davis whom I had at 5), but Durant is normally better than Westbrook when he's healthy, and I expect KD to come back as roughly the same player he was before that injury.

If Cousins makes a big leap, then he might overtake Russ, but at any rate, Westbrook is absolutely a top 10 player, and it's certainly not outlandish to rank him in the top 5.

[bondom34]

No Paul in your top 5?

Nope, I'd take Russ over him no question and I certainly wouldn't bump one of the others.

Why is that? Is that because of his playoff injury last year?

Head to head Russ has beaten him, and I'm starting to turn on the CP3 never winning idea. I think Russ does as much offensively at the least, and probably more overall given scoring and creating, and expect with any semblance of a healthy roster his D will be back to normal.

[LarsV8]

Will never understand how you think Westbrook does as much as Paul offensively.

Other than take more shots, what does Westbook do better than Paul?

[Quotatious]

Head to head Russ has beaten him, and I'm starting to turn on the CP3 never winning idea. I think Russ does as much offensively at the least, and probably more overall given scoring and creating, and expect with any semblance of a healthy roster his D will be back to normal.

How about Harden?

[TroubleS0me]

He needs to play smarter & cut down on the threes just a lil

[bondom34]

Head to head Russ has beaten him, and I'm starting to turn on the CP3 never winning idea. I think Russ does as much offensively at the least, and probably more overall given scoring and creating, and expect with any semblance of a healthy roster his D will be back to normal.

How about Harden?

Harden to me is actually closer, and a stylistic preference. Both are monsters on offense, both can have questions on defense. We've seen some of the best of each aspect from both guys and personally I can understand taking either. Harden was a monster last year and 2nd in my RS POY vote (Russ was 5th). Overall resume and personal preference, I'll admit that one.

[bondom34]

Will never understand how you think Westbrook does as much as Paul offensively.

Other than take more shots, what does Westbook do better than Paul?

You keep saying this, but his plus/minus numbers and scoring are much better offensively.

TS is not everything.

Better O RPM, O BPM, similar assist totals, better overall scorer. There's something to be said for load carried, and I'd add in the fact that Russ has taken him head to head multiple times which is a factor in how I'd rank the 2. My last memory of them going against each other was CP choking away the playoffs in 2014.

Frankly I don't understand how you'd put him 8th but I'm not going to bother complaining because it doesn't matter in the end. But putting him below Griffin makes no real sense to me. I can see a ceiling of 4 and a floor of 7 for where he's ranked.

Also, completely OT but I'm a closet Texans fan this year, love O'Brien and miss him at PSU .

[bondom34]

Also, while I'm here and thinking of it, a few articles from the summer:


https://www.numberfire.com/nba/news/5978/are-we-still-underestimating-russell-westbrook#

To see what KD's return could do for Westbrook, take a look at this table, which shows how Westbrook's play changed while running with various teammates, according to Basketball-Reference.

Code: Select all

          Minutes   FG%   eFG%   PTS/100 Poss   AST/100 Poss
S. Ibaka   1411:32   +.040   +.029   +6.1   -1.7
S. Adams   1228:23   -.002   -.012   +3.2   -3.8
A. Roberson   998:01   +.026   +.012   +8.1   -1.1
D. Waiters   980:33   +.007   +.001   +4.0   -2.3
A. Morrow   778:40   +.014   +.019   +6.7   -0.1
E. Kanter   749:59   -.019   -.028   +1.3   -2.7
K. Durant   713:44   +.042   +.037   +10.6   +1.9
R. Jackson   397:36   +.017   +.001   +6.2   -6.5
K. Singler   345:27   -0.18   -.038   -6.1   -2.6
N. Collison   339:43   +.015   .000   +7.0   +0.3
Average   2302:00   +.014   +.006   +4.7   -1.9

Take a look at how the Westbrook/Durant combo affected Westbrook's play on the floor in 2014-15. It easily exceeded each of the averages and was the only one to add double digits in points on a per-100-possession basis.

So while many basketball brains think Durant will benefit more from a new and improved Westbrook, the numbers say Westbrook should benefit more from a fresh and healthy Durant.

Russ is still really good at passing. If anyone asks, here:

http://nyloncalculus.com/2015/07/27/some-fancy-passing-stats/

Was also a good piece on usage vs. efficiency and he was at the top of the curve for guys on high usage as far as that goes as well.

[Purch]

Bron
Durant
Curry
AD
Harden
Westbrook