RealGM

Something has got to be wrong mentally what is going on ?

No trolling please

That's the Billion dollar question.1 thing that I have noticed is it doesnt look like Russ is jumping as high on his jump shot and he always has had a flat shot.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

Mattv wrote:That's the Billion dollar question.1 thing that I have noticed is it doesnt look like Russ is jumping as high on his jump shot and he always has had a flat shot.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

Agree. Was going to say the exact thing. He's lost his bounce and now the shot is just off.

Sent from my Pixel using RealGM mobile app

Old Man Game wrote:

Mattv wrote:That's the Billion dollar question.1 thing that I have noticed is it doesnt look like Russ is jumping as high on his jump shot and he always has had a flat shot.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

Agree. Was going to say the exact thing. He's lost his bounce and now the shot is just off.

Sent from my Pixel using RealGM mobile app

You would figure that with all the coaches they have they would have tweaked his shot the last few years. It really want take much to fix it.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

Mattv wrote:That's the Billion dollar question.1 thing that I have noticed is it doesnt look like Russ is jumping as high on his jump shot and he always has had a flat shot.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

I heard they changed his form a little on the offseason to help him improve his catch and shoot threes

Lol they need to fire whoever it was.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

anthony00 wrote:

Mattv wrote:That's the Billion dollar question.1 thing that I have noticed is it doesnt look like Russ is jumping as high on his jump shot and he always has had a flat shot.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

I heard they changed his form a little on the offseason to help him improve his catch and shoot threes

Lol the need to fire whoever it was.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

Mattv wrote:

anthony00 wrote:

Mattv wrote:That's the Billion dollar question.1 thing that I have noticed is it doesnt look like Russ is jumping as high on his jump shot and he always has had a flat shot.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

I heard they changed his form a little on the offseason to help him improve his catch and shoot threes

Lol the need to fire whoever it was.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

asap

Westbrook’s shot is in purgatory.

I was sleeping the other night and I was visited by the ghost of Westbrook’s basketball and I thought it was going to swish through the ghost basketball net and instead it hit me in the face and I woke up.

But, seriously, Westbrook is going through a major change right now. He relied on a lot of bounce to make up for his flat-ish shot so now that the bounce is gone (decline), it’s throwing everything off.

His best chance at getting his shot better is to take his time and work on his form, which he was doing a little bit earlier in the season, but now he’s just rushing his shot. This is why I say he’s in purgatory. He can’t figure it out, or at least he hasn’t yet...


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

They need to start scheming for his struggles offensively. Teams are playing off of him and with everybody just standing around, we're not getting enough space to get him to his spots.

I’m more irritated about the 1-7 from three than the 3-20. Russ really believes he’s a good shooter.

ThunderBolt wrote:I’m more irritated about the 1-7 from three than the 3-20. Russ really believes he’s a good shooter.

It's like he's trying to make up for his shooting struggles with taking even more shots. It looks like he loses his head when the first few shots don't fall.

Pillendreher wrote:They need to start scheming for his struggles offensively. Teams are playing off of him and with everybody just standing around, we're not getting enough space to get him to his spots.

He's getting to his spots pretty consistently, he just isn't making any of the shots there or anywhere else.

spearsy23 wrote:

Pillendreher wrote:They need to start scheming for his struggles offensively. Teams are playing off of him and with everybody just standing around, we're not getting enough space to get him to his spots.

He's getting to his spots pretty consistently, he just isn't making any of the shots there or anywhere else.

But are those the shots we want him to take? This is his "heat" shot chart (which is displaying his shot distribution) for 15/16 which was the last time he played next to wing capable of doing what George is doing this season:



And this is the same chart since 12/1, which was then struggles really started



The shot selection is just off and he's taking more and more shots from a too big a distance. Since 12/1, just 35 % of his shots have been at the rim while almost every 2nd shot has been a long midranger or a 3. His average shot distance from 3 over that stretch has been higher than Paul George's. Per stats.nba.com, 55 of his 115 2-Pt-Jumpers have been 15+ ft out; he's 12/55 on them.

Even though he has been able to hit those jumpers historically, he simply isn't this season, so both him and the team have to adjust. He doesn't want to take them, but teams basically gift them to him. It can't go on like this.

the fact that his bad shooting from three has coincided with a continued decline at the ft line as well as some concerning looking lay-up and dunk attempts at the rim is bad news. i know the tv cameras were on him 'practicing' threes after that one game earlier in the year. but i get the feeling westbrook might not have put enough work into these components of his game during the last two summers. players don't just randomly drop 5%+ from three year over year and 10%+ from the line year over year for no reason. if it's a physical problem, he should have identified it and compensated for it over the summer. from an athletic decline standpoint, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me unless he's just been willfully oblivious. which given his character i think may be possible.

Mattv wrote:

Old Man Game wrote:

Mattv wrote:That's the Billion dollar question.1 thing that I have noticed is it doesnt look like Russ is jumping as high on his jump shot and he always has had a flat shot.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

Agree. Was going to say the exact thing. He's lost his bounce and now the shot is just off.

Sent from my Pixel using RealGM mobile app

You would figure that with all the coaches they have they would have tweaked his shot the last few years. It really want take much to fix it.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

That knee surgery was relatively late in the offseason and then that ankle injury just threw another curveball in there. They always say players don't actually have the time to work on structural stuff like fixing a jumper until the offseason. I think he may literally just not have had the time it would take to rebuild that jumper.

Old Man Game wrote:

Mattv wrote:

Old Man Game wrote:Agree. Was going to say the exact thing. He's lost his bounce and now the shot is just off.

Sent from my Pixel using RealGM mobile app

You would figure that with all the coaches they have they would have tweaked his shot the last few years. It really want take much to fix it.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

That knee surgery was relatively late in the season and then that ankle injury just threw another curveball in there. They always say players don't actually have the time to work on structural stuff like fixing a jumper until the offseason. I think he may literally just not have had the time it would take to rebuild that jumper.

I agree here. This is why he needs to be even more methodical in his approach to the game. He truly needs to learn how to be a point-guard. Picking his spots carefully, attacking the weakest defender, recognizing when a guy gets hot (he's done this with George to an extent), etc. Westbrook doesn't understand what it means to be a pure point because he's never been one. All of his action has been created off athleticism so now that his athleticism is leaving him, he's struggling to adjust and he is going to have to be more methodical in his approach to the game, period. The only question for me is how long is it going to take him to adjust?

And for the record, if we can get a Hield/Beal type at the 2, that helps Westbrook out a ton on the offensive end. I think his learning curve would be cut in half and he would start seeing the floor and the game a whole lot differently because of more spacing. And this is why I'm okay with moving Adams, because if we get an elite-level 2, Westbrook is going to be able to do a lot of the things that Westbrook likes to do and we won't see him struggle this mightily. Not saying he's not going to struggle, but he wouldn't struggle like this, in my opinion. At least, I hope not...

getrichordie wrote:

Old Man Game wrote:

Mattv wrote:You would figure that with all the coaches they have they would have tweaked his shot the last few years. It really want take much to fix it.

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

That knee surgery was relatively late in the season and then that ankle injury just threw another curveball in there. They always say players don't actually have the time to work on structural stuff like fixing a jumper until the offseason. I think he may literally just not have had the time it would take to rebuild that jumper.

I agree here. This is why he needs to be even more methodical in his approach to the game. He truly needs to learn how to be a point-guard. Picking his spots carefully, attacking the weakest defender, recognizing when a guy gets hot (he's done this with George to an extent), etc. Westbrook doesn't understand what it means to be a pure point because he's never been one. All of his action has been created off athleticism so now that his athleticism is leaving him, he's struggling to adjust and he is going to have to be more methodical in his approach to the game, period. The only question for me is how long is it going to take him to adjust?

And for the record, if we can get a Hield/Beal type at the 2, that helps Westbrook out a ton on the offensive end. I think his learning curve would be cut in half and he would start seeing the floor and the game a whole lot differently because of more spacing. And this is why I'm okay with moving Adams, because if we get an elite-level 2, Westbrook is going to be able to do a lot of the things that Westbrook likes to do and we won't see him struggle this mightily. Not saying he's not going to struggle, but he wouldn't struggle like this, in my opinion. At least, I hope not...

The man is leading the Nba in assists.Thats what a true point guard does right?

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

Mattv wrote:

getrichordie wrote:

Old Man Game wrote:
That knee surgery was relatively late in the season and then that ankle injury just threw another curveball in there. They always say players don't actually have the time to work on structural stuff like fixing a jumper until the offseason. I think he may literally just not have had the time it would take to rebuild that jumper.

I agree here. This is why he needs to be even more methodical in his approach to the game. He truly needs to learn how to be a point-guard. Picking his spots carefully, attacking the weakest defender, recognizing when a guy gets hot (he's done this with George to an extent), etc. Westbrook doesn't understand what it means to be a pure point because he's never been one. All of his action has been created off athleticism so now that his athleticism is leaving him, he's struggling to adjust and he is going to have to be more methodical in his approach to the game, period. The only question for me is how long is it going to take him to adjust?

And for the record, if we can get a Hield/Beal type at the 2, that helps Westbrook out a ton on the offensive end. I think his learning curve would be cut in half and he would start seeing the floor and the game a whole lot differently because of more spacing. And this is why I'm okay with moving Adams, because if we get an elite-level 2, Westbrook is going to be able to do a lot of the things that Westbrook likes to do and we won't see him struggle this mightily. Not saying he's not going to struggle, but he wouldn't struggle like this, in my opinion. At least, I hope not...

The man is leading the Nba in assists.Thats what a true point guard does right?

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

When I say "true" point-guard, what I mean is methodical point guards... these are your Chris Pauls, Rajon Rondos, Ricky Rubios...

Westbrook is not that. Westbrook is an albatross point-guard who isn't going to kill you methodically; he's going to kill you with athleticism...

How you are getting your assists doesn't matter so long as you are impacting the game and creating buckets for yourself or others. This is something that Westbrook has a hard time balancing. Even if he isn't shooting well, he's going to keep shooting instead of taking the more methodical approach of feeding his teammates and see who can catch fire... and well, that's the difference between a "true point" and an athletic 2-guard playing point.

EDIT: Here's a nice little post that might help explain what I mean (this is from over a year ago).

Finally, the big one: Westbrook. Let's reduce his ridiculous physical gifts to average levels and what does he have left? Not much shooting, probably can't run an offense all that well, will struggle to create the type of space he needs to play-make. He's just not very good. The problem here is that he isn't much of a SG or SF either; he's sorta position-less. So what is he exactly? At a certain point, we have to acknowledge that the traditional (and arbitrary) player designations are pointless. Was Oscar Robertson a point guard? Everyone seems to think that he is (e.g. ESPN had him as the #2 greatest PG). And if Oscar Robertson was a point guard, why can't Westbrook be considered one? He isn't "traditional" or "real/pure" in the sense of "boring" or "bland", but the reasons why he isn't are also why he's an amazing game-changer. Players like Westbrook and Curry are reshaping the conceptions of point-guard play, of positions in general. Traditions change; that which is considered to be "true" in this moment of time may not be so 30 years into the future.

getrichordie wrote:

Mattv wrote:

getrichordie wrote:
I agree here. This is why he needs to be even more methodical in his approach to the game. He truly needs to learn how to be a point-guard. Picking his spots carefully, attacking the weakest defender, recognizing when a guy gets hot (he's done this with George to an extent), etc. Westbrook doesn't understand what it means to be a pure point because he's never been one. All of his action has been created off athleticism so now that his athleticism is leaving him, he's struggling to adjust and he is going to have to be more methodical in his approach to the game, period. The only question for me is how long is it going to take him to adjust?

And for the record, if we can get a Hield/Beal type at the 2, that helps Westbrook out a ton on the offensive end. I think his learning curve would be cut in half and he would start seeing the floor and the game a whole lot differently because of more spacing. And this is why I'm okay with moving Adams, because if we get an elite-level 2, Westbrook is going to be able to do a lot of the things that Westbrook likes to do and we won't see him struggle this mightily. Not saying he's not going to struggle, but he wouldn't struggle like this, in my opinion. At least, I hope not...

The man is leading the Nba in assists.Thats what a true point guard does right?

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app

When I say "true" point-guard, what I mean is methodical point guards... these are your Chris Pauls, Rajon Rondos, Ricky Rubios...

Westbrook is not that. Westbrook is an albatross point-guard who isn't going to kill you methodically; he's going to kill you with athleticism...

How you are getting your assists doesn't matter so long as you are impacting the game and creating buckets for yourself or others. This is something that Westbrook has a hard time balancing. Even if he isn't shooting well, he's going to keep shooting instead of taking the more methodical approach of feeding his teammates and see who can catch fire... and well, that's the difference between a "true point" and an athletic 2-guard playing point.

EDIT: Here's a nice little post that might help explain what I mean (this is from over a year ago).

Finally, the big one: Westbrook. Let's reduce his ridiculous physical gifts to average levels and what does he have left? Not much shooting, probably can't run an offense all that well, will struggle to create the type of space he needs to play-make. He's just not very good. The problem here is that he isn't much of a SG or SF either; he's sorta position-less. So what is he exactly? At a certain point, we have to acknowledge that the traditional (and arbitrary) player designations are pointless. Was Oscar Robertson a point guard? Everyone seems to think that he is (e.g. ESPN had him as the #2 greatest PG). And if Oscar Robertson was a point guard, why can't Westbrook be considered one? He isn't "traditional" or "real/pure" in the sense of "boring" or "bland", but the reasons why he isn't are also why he's an amazing game-changer. Players like Westbrook and Curry are reshaping the conceptions of point-guard play, of positions in general. Traditions change; that which is considered to be "true" in this moment of time may not be so 30 years into the future.

We will have to disagree I guess. Dont get me wrong Westbrook has to play better. Everthing in this post could also be said about Schroder but except is isnt as athletic as Westbrook even with Westbrooks decline and doesnt even look to pass but time and time again to over look it and take up for him.Why?

Sent from my SM-G930T using RealGM mobile app