12/9 - 8PM CST | G25: Oklahoma City Thunder at Memphis Grizzlies

[spearsy23]

And yet he has the best plus minus on the team. How the **** are we so terrible that he can shoot 2/30 and still be the most positive influence?

This right here! I really believe the team will be at its best when everyone is playing around mvp Westbrook. That is if he hasn't completely lost his scoring ability

Umm.... He's always got the ball and making poor, sloppy decisions. The team's reflecting him

Not really, the team is reflecting Melo. A team reflecting Russ would be out in the open court at every opportunity.

[bondom34]

And yet he has the best plus minus on the team. How the **** are we so terrible that he can shoot 2/30 and still be the most positive influence?

This right here! I really believe the team will be at its best when everyone is playing around mvp Westbrook. That is if he hasn't completely lost his scoring ability

Umm.... He's always got the ball and making poor, sloppy decisions. The team's reflecting him

Just start watching this year? They're playing slow half court games, that's the opposite of Russ.

[M2J]

This right here! I really believe the team will be at its best when everyone is playing around mvp Westbrook. That is if he hasn't completely lost his scoring ability

Umm.... He's always got the ball and making poor, sloppy decisions. The team's reflecting him

Just start watching this year? They're playing slow half court games, that's the opposite of Russ.

Who is slowing him down?

If he's slowing down, it's because when he doesn't he turns it over 10 times.

They should play faster. Melo loves transition 3s. He only started playing in a slow system as of late with Phil

[bondom34]

Umm.... He's always got the ball and making poor, sloppy decisions. The team's reflecting him

Just start watching this year? They're playing slow half court games, that's the opposite of Russ.

Who is slowing him down?

If he's slowing down, it's because when he doesn't he turns it over 10 times.

They should play faster. Melo loves transition 3s. He only started playing in a slow system as of late with Phil

Melo

Pace with Russ and no Melo is a 99

Add Melo and it's 94.

It sure as heck is Melo, OKC never played slow until this year

[M2J]

If he wants to run, he should run. Whatever stops him from being crap, somehow I don't think that's the true reason. Plus you see Melo play in high paced lineups with Felton.

Without Melo or PG on the floor, you just see more of Westbrook running up the court and taking more contested pullup jumpers with no ball movement or 1 on 5 layups that don't go in.

Maybe this offense worked for him last season without expectations. No so much this season. Russ is playing out of control much of the game. Wen defenses adjust to him, it just gets ugly.

[bondom34]

If he wants to run, he should run. Whatever stops him from being crap, somehow I don't think that's the true reason. Plus you see Melo play in high paced lineups with Felton.

Without Melo or PG on the floor, you just see more of Westbrook running up the court and taking more contested pullup jumpers with no ball movement or 1 on 5 layups that don't go in.

Maybe this offense worked for him last season without expectations. No so much this season. Russ is playing out of control much of the game. Wen defenses adjust to him, it just gets ugly.

Melo doesnt play fast with Felton either. Melo is slow and plays slow. He's been the largest reason teh offense is bogged down this season

[bondom34]

If he wants to run, he should run. Whatever stops him from being crap, somehow I don't think that's the true reason. Plus you see Melo play in high paced lineups with Felton.

Without Melo or PG on the floor, you just see more of Westbrook running up the court and taking more contested pullup jumpers with no ball movement or 1 on 5 layups that don't go in.

Maybe this offense worked for him last season without expectations. No so much this season. Russ is playing out of control much of the game. Wen defenses adjust to him, it just gets ugly.

Melo doesnt play fast with Felton either. Melo is slow and plays slow. He's been the largest reason teh offense is bogged down this season

NBA.com's pace:

Russ no Melo: 103
Russ with Melo: 99
Melo no Russ: 96

So yea, it's kinda from that

[M2J]

If he wants to run, he should run. Whatever stops him from being crap, somehow I don't think that's the true reason. Plus you see Melo play in high paced lineups with Felton.

Without Melo or PG on the floor, you just see more of Westbrook running up the court and taking more contested pullup jumpers with no ball movement or 1 on 5 layups that don't go in.

Maybe this offense worked for him last season without expectations. No so much this season. Russ is playing out of control much of the game. Wen defenses adjust to him, it just gets ugly.

Melo doesnt play fast with Felton either. Melo is slow and plays slow. He's been the largest reason teh offense is bogged down this season

Westbrook's team, he has the ball in his hands. The kindergarten offense of running up the court and tossing the ball at the feet of scrubs while screaming shoot is over. But if he's not driving and getting efficient shots for himself, or others...that's on him.

You can be as big a homer as you want, this topic's not about Melo/Russ to me, and I don't care about the pace. The most glaring issue with this team's offense is Russell being inefficient with his quick offense. His turnovers, and shots that have the same effect as turnovers, along with his inabilities to be effective off the ball. Therefore he's not effective at the moment consistently enough with it or without it much of the games and it affects everyone. The lineups when his pace is higher result often times in some terrible basketball. Games without Melo have resulted in some awful offense from Russ.

[bondom34]

If he wants to run, he should run. Whatever stops him from being crap, somehow I don't think that's the true reason. Plus you see Melo play in high paced lineups with Felton.

Without Melo or PG on the floor, you just see more of Westbrook running up the court and taking more contested pullup jumpers with no ball movement or 1 on 5 layups that don't go in.

Maybe this offense worked for him last season without expectations. No so much this season. Russ is playing out of control much of the game. Wen defenses adjust to him, it just gets ugly.

Melo doesnt play fast with Felton either. Melo is slow and plays slow. He's been the largest reason teh offense is bogged down this season

Westbrook's team, he has the ball in his hands. The kindergarten offense of running up the court and tossing the ball at the feet of scrubs while screaming shoot is over. But if he's not driving and getting efficient shots for himself, or others...that's on him.

You can be as big a homer as you want, this topic's not about Melo/Russ to me, and I don't care about the pace. The most glaring issue with this team's offense is Russell being inefficient with his quick offense. His turnovers, and shots that have the same effect as turnovers, along with his inabilities to be effective off the ball. Therefore he's not effective at the moment consistently enough with it or without it much of the games and it affects everyone. The lineups when his pace is higher result often times in some terrible basketball. Games without Melo have resulted in some awful offense from Russ.

The most glaring issue is obvious to anyone who's seen the team more than this season It's always been a fast paced team that does poorly in half court and well in transiion.

Melo is not a player who runs in transition. Mel o slows down the offense, neutering it largely to the point we've seen. Melo fans coming by to tell OKC fans why Melo isn't slowing it down won't change that, nor do they change what the numbers bear out.

Russ running when Melo is too slow isn't what anyone would or should do.

[M2J]

Melo doesnt play fast with Felton either. Melo is slow and plays slow. He's been the largest reason teh offense is bogged down this season

Westbrook's team, he has the ball in his hands. The kindergarten offense of running up the court and tossing the ball at the feet of scrubs while screaming shoot is over. But if he's not driving and getting efficient shots for himself, or others...that's on him.

You can be as big a homer as you want, this topic's not about Melo/Russ to me, and I don't care about the pace. The most glaring issue with this team's offense is Russell being inefficient with his quick offense. His turnovers, and shots that have the same effect as turnovers, along with his inabilities to be effective off the ball. Therefore he's not effective at the moment consistently enough with it or without it much of the games and it affects everyone. The lineups when his pace is higher result often times in some terrible basketball. Games without Melo have resulted in some awful offense from Russ.

The most glaring issue is obvious to anyone who's seen the team more than this season It's always been a fast paced team that does poorly in half court and well in transiion.

Melo is not a player who runs in transition. Mel o slows down the offense, neutering it largely to the point we've seen. Melo fans coming by to tell OKC fans why Melo isn't slowing it down won't change that, nor do they change what the numbers bear out.

Russ running when Melo is too slow isn't what anyone would or should do.

Convenient excuse for someone that's playing poorly regardless of the lineup. If Russ' pace reflected better efficiency and cohesion, that would be relevant to the issue at hand. Melo is there to get Russ more space to do what he does, he's not taking advantage, because Melo occupies defenders with or without the ball.

OKC has never been a pretty offense to watch, Russell just had KD to defer to. Year 2 of Russ ball where anything goes, ain't working. He needs to adapt and run the team or learn to play off the ball while the team runs offensive sets. There's been more attempts of those this year attempting to implement 2 other players. I'd say that's a better way of doing things than letting Russ be Russ

[bondom34]

Westbrook's team, he has the ball in his hands. The kindergarten offense of running up the court and tossing the ball at the feet of scrubs while screaming shoot is over. But if he's not driving and getting efficient shots for himself, or others...that's on him.

You can be as big a homer as you want, this topic's not about Melo/Russ to me, and I don't care about the pace. The most glaring issue with this team's offense is Russell being inefficient with his quick offense. His turnovers, and shots that have the same effect as turnovers, along with his inabilities to be effective off the ball. Therefore he's not effective at the moment consistently enough with it or without it much of the games and it affects everyone. The lineups when his pace is higher result often times in some terrible basketball. Games without Melo have resulted in some awful offense from Russ.

The most glaring issue is obvious to anyone who's seen the team more than this season It's always been a fast paced team that does poorly in half court and well in transiion.

Melo is not a player who runs in transition. Mel o slows down the offense, neutering it largely to the point we've seen. Melo fans coming by to tell OKC fans why Melo isn't slowing it down won't change that, nor do they change what the numbers bear out.

Russ running when Melo is too slow isn't what anyone would or should do.

Convenient excuse for someone that's playing poorly regardless of the lineup

I dn't think I said he was playing well. But the reason the offense is bogged down is different. Convenient to deflect.

[M2J]

The most glaring issue is obvious to anyone who's seen the team more than this season It's always been a fast paced team that does poorly in half court and well in transiion.

Melo is not a player who runs in transition. Mel o slows down the offense, neutering it largely to the point we've seen. Melo fans coming by to tell OKC fans why Melo isn't slowing it down won't change that, nor do they change what the numbers bear out.

Russ running when Melo is too slow isn't what anyone would or should do.

Convenient excuse for someone that's playing poorly regardless of the lineup

I dn't think I said he was playing well. But the reason the offense is bogged down is different. Convenient to deflect.

Regardless of him playing well (which wasn't my point), the lineups he's playing faster with aren't playing well. Bogged down or fluid, he has to play well if he's going to be one of the highest usage players in the league for the offense as a whole.

George, Melo are getting attention and holding their defenders and sometimes more, even off the ball. Russell with that high usage should be taking advantage. I don't forgive, but have a better understanding of how George and Melo could be struggling shooting the ball. They're shooting more 3s, and less in their spots, and with the ball less than at any point of their careers...while their floor leader is feeding them the ball at their ankles or a slow bail out pass, instead of hitting them in their shooting pockets. Russ shouldn't be less efficient than last year.

[spearsy23]

However bad Russ has been, and it's been pretty bad, he's still been more effective offensively than Melo or George. Melo is at a point where there's no use catering a playing style to suit him, he's a poor scorer and an even worse passer. Melo's utility needs to be as a spot up shooter and he needs to be utilized off the ball in getting other people looks, not setting screens only with the hope of getting himself a jumpshot.

If Russ is done as an MVP caliber guy then none of it matters in the end, but we need to go back to the way we played with Durant where we have options 1A/1B, and everybody else gets their looks secondary to that. Step one is to not call Melo's number, step 2 is to get out of the halfcourt, and step 3 is to design more than 1 offensive set play to get George looks because he isnt Kevin Durant.

Russ wise, he just needs to put his head down and realize last year was a hot streak from 3. Get to the free throw line and hope the mid range shot follows.

[slick_watts]

our pace is still below league average with westbrook in the game and melo out. melo sucks but playing slow is westbrook's fault too. it's ultimately his responsibility.

[bondom34]

Convenient excuse for someone that's playing poorly regardless of the lineup

I dn't think I said he was playing well. But the reason the offense is bogged down is different. Convenient to deflect.

Regardless of him playing well (which wasn't my point), the lineups he's playing faster with aren't playing well. Bogged down or fluid, he has to play well if he's going to be one of the highest usage players in the league for the offense as a whole.

George, Melo are getting attention and holding their defenders and sometimes more, even off the ball. Russell with that high usage should be taking advantage. I don't forgive, but have a better understanding of how George and Melo could be struggling shooting the ball. They're shooting more 3s, and less in their spots, and with the ball less than at any point of their careers...while their floor leader is feeding them the ball at their ankles or a slow bail out pass, instead of hitting them in their shooting pockets. Russ shouldn't be less efficient than last year.

What spearsy said.