richboy wrote:I don't see Westbrook like Rondo at all. Rondo is a pure PG. Past first. Has always been great and running offense. Westbrook IMO has to go as far as just about any player to really show he can be a PG. Almost nothing about Westbrook says PG except his height.
i agree with you. westbrook didn't do much last year to prove that he's a real point guard to run an offense. certainly not on the level of a guy like rondo.
richboy wrote:The thing I don't understand is why can't Westbrook be the SG. Why are the Thunder trying to force the PG tag. Westbrook is nearly as tall as OJ Mayo. His reach makes him longer than Mayo. Westbrook plays best when he is trying to score. He has very little PG instincts. Really if you ask me Westbrook looks like a guy that wants to score 25 ppg and not someone that wants to dish out 10 assist per game. He was second on the team in shots per minute a year ago. I would bet he nearly shot as many shots per minute as Durant the second half of the year.
here's my feeling about it, and i think it is similar to what the organization thinks. russell westbrook came into the year with very little point guard skill or instinct. he's still probably not a 'pure point' player, but he improved visibly as the year went on and really tried to run the offense more especially in march/april when he was putting up 6-7 assists a game and he was struggling with his shot.
i don't have a problem with presti sticking with his guy and giving him the opportunity to prove that he's an nba point guard. the thunder aren't in win now mode and can afford to see if their roster clicks as they build it. i don't think it would have been fair to westbrook to give him one year to prove he can run the show.
richboy wrote:The problem I see now is you have 1 ball and you have 4 guys that I see being players that want to score. No team has 4 guys averaging 20. Rarely you see teams even with 4 guys above 16. Someone is going to have to pull there game back. You don't have anyone that is thinking I need to pass first. Getting Rubio would have stated that no one would have to pull back on looking for there offense. Instead Durant, Green, Westbrook could actually be what they look like they are. Which are all scorers.
i share your concern about sharing the offense. it will be interesting to see how it shakes out. even though all these guys can score, they all do it in different ways. this is why i think it has a chance to work offensively. westbrook's a guy who wants to get to the basket, durant wants to stay on the perimeter more, jeff green is more of a mid range guy, and harden fills the role of the much needed 3pt shooting 2 guard who will probably get a lot of looks with this roster. i think westbrook showed enough toward the end of the year running the offense and (especially) wanting to get better at running the offense that it's worth it trotting out this combination one more time. rubio is intriguing but seems like way more of a project than harden, who can slip in and produce at his position right away. i don't think this team needs another young guy who needs years to get it.
richboy wrote:I'm not hating on Harden. I just get the feeling I had when the Hawks passed on Chris Paul. Not saying Rubio will be Chris Paul. I remember the day of that draft I said why not take Paul because he was going to allow players like Josh Smith to be better players. I'm wondering if the Thunder blew an opportunity to make Durant, Green, Westbrook better players.
i think if rubio was selected lots of people would have felt bad that westbrook wasn't really given a shot. the thunder were horrible most of last year but got a lot better toward the end of the year, and their offense especially started to get more efficient. the thunder have the pieces to re-organize the roster around durant if they have to, and get a point guard to play next to westbrook if that's the direction they want to go after this year. i don't think there will be any high expectations of this roster until 2010, they'll probably have another two lotto picks in that draft, so in this circumstance i don't mind presti sticking to his guns.
