The Russell Westbrook Thread (2014/15)

[PaulieWal]

He wins MVP and it changes.

That's not fair. OKC makes playoffs and you change it. He may or may not win MVP because of missed games and OKC's seeding.

PS. What's this bug about the forum not letting my quote more than 3 convos in my post?

[bondom34]

He wins MVP and it changes.

That's not fair. OKC makes playoffs and you change it. He may or may not win MVP because of missed games and OKC's seeding.

PS. What's this bug about the forum not letting my quote more than 3 convos in my post?

If they make it above the 8 seed? I think that would be GOAT-worthy.

Yeah the upgrades are still taking some getting used to, apparently a bunch of stuff was added noone knew about!

[KD35Brah]

Russ dominating again.

[PaulieWal]

Russ dominating again.

I am starting to think that the KD sprained ankle might be more serious than they have let on. That's 6 missed games I think now. Good thing OKC still has GOATbrook.

[PaulieWal]

He wins MVP and it changes.

That's not fair. OKC makes playoffs and you change it. He may or may not win MVP because of missed games and OKC's seeding.

PS. What's this bug about the forum not letting my quote more than 3 convos in my post?

If they make it above the 8 seed? I think that would be GOAT-worthy.

Yeah the upgrades are still taking some getting used to, apparently a bunch of stuff was added noone knew about!

I see it as more of a bug than an upgrade lol. I hope they change it back.

Yeah, as long as OKC makes the playoffs healthy you have to change the title back (well I rather have you change it now to be honest lol).

[KD35Brah]

Russ dominating again.

I am starting to think that the KD sprained ankle might be more serious than they have let on. That's 6 missed games I think now. Good thing OKC still has GOATbrook.

Yeah the "mild" ankle sprain they reported on the day KD rolled his ankle was false . Since then they have called it a regular ankle sprain which takes a couple weeks to get back from.

[bondom34]

I see it as more of a bug than an upgrade lol. I hope they change it back.

Yeah, as long as OKC makes the playoffs healthy you have to change the title back (well I rather have you change it now to be honest lol).

Can we keep it this way, pretty please? He's awesome right now, I don't want anything to change!

[richboy]

Because of the strength of the West The almost no difference between the 1 to 8 seeds potentially. I would have anyone that makes the playoffs in the West as eligible to be MVP. That goes for AD, Cousins, or Westbrook.

If OKC took the 8 seed I almost ignore it because they in essence spotted the league a dozen losses. It wouldn't be like they were the 8 seed because of underachievement. Westbrook and Durant probably have the most pressure of any superstars in the league. Without them they might be one of the 4 worst teams in the league. With those 2 they are maybe the best team in the world.

[dfins891]

Reposting this from the general board because it was a really good post in regards to Westbrook's usage. Credit to GREENE1148:


Westbrook is doing more per possession than any other player in the history of the game, of course his usage is off the charts. The thing is, he's maintaining excellent efficiency whilst doing so, so it's not as if he's hurting his team in any way.

How many healthy players on this Thunder team are currently scoring on greater efficiency than Westbrook? 1, Anthony Morrow (0.002 higher TS%), and his entire offensive game is based around catching the ball on the perimeter when a shot creator drives and kicks, and he either fires a catch and shoot 3, or attacks the closeout off the dribble... he isn't capable of creating his own offense consistently, 82.8% of his made baskets this season have been assisted.

How many healthy players on this Thunder team are currently capable of consistently creating their own shot? One, Reggie Jackson, and he's doing so at a well below league average clip (51.1% TS)...

Here's the 3 best seasons in per team possession scoring since 1977-78...

1. Russell Westbrook, 2014-15, 46.9 pts per 100 possessions
2. Michael Jordan, 1986-87, 46.4 pts per 100 possessions
3. Kobe Bryant, 2005-06, 45.6 pts per 100 possessions

Now how about their efficiency?
Westbrook = 56.8% True Shooting
Jordan = 56.2% True Shooting
Kobe Bean = 55.9% True Shooting

As for Westbrook creating shots for others, how many other players have posted an assist rate higher than 51.8%, Westbrooks current mark on the season? 4, Stockton (7), CP3 (2), Nash (2) and Rondo (1)... meaning it's the 13th best single season mark since records began in 1964-65.

Westbrook is posting the highest PER in on record (dating back to 1951-52) and the best Box-Score Plus Minus the game has scene (dating back to 1973-74).

So of course Westbrook's usage is unprecedented, nobody in the history of the game has created this much offense for their team whilst on the floor, and it shows in the on/off stats, the Thunder without Westbrook on the floor would rank 2nd last in team offense... and the Thunder with Westbrook would rank 3rd best in team offense in the NBA.

[dfins891]

Also wanted to repost this from another thread because its a possible explanation for how good he's been this year.

How much of a negative impact has Perkins starting had on Westbrook? Since the start of last season, when Adams is at center (964 min), or when Ibaka is playing small ball center (646 min), Westbrook's TS% is right at 58%. When Perkins is on the floor its 49% (982 minutes). When you look at the numbers its obvious Westbrook struggles to get to the rim with Perk on the floor.

These are the % of his total shots attempts taken at the rim in each of his seasons:

2009: 42%
2009: 39%
2010 (Pre Perk Trade): 39%

2010 (Post Perk Trade): 32%
2011: 29%
2012: 33%
2013: 33%

2014 (Adams starting): 39%

When Perkins is on the floor his defender is always standing close to the paint completely ignoring Perkins because even if Westbrook drives and drops it off to Perkins, if he's even lucky enough to catch it it still takes him incredibly long to gather and by the time he puts it up his defender is usually back in time and Perk blows the layup.

Perkins has such a negative impact on the OKC offense as a whole its really incredible that Brooks still plays him so many minutes. Look at his offensive RPM last year, -7.25, dead last in the entire NBA, 437th out of 437. And it wasn't even close either, next lowest player was -5.84 and only 3 players in the NBA were even worse than -5. The difference between Perkins and the 434th guy was the difference between the 434th guy and the 354th guy.

[NaturalThunder]

Didn't know the numbers of Westbrook's shots at the rim were so different with and without Perkins on the floor, but it doesn't surprise me. Like that poster said, anyone that's watched even a few OKC games from 2010-2014 knows how embarrassingly awful Perkins is as a catch and finish center. Even with Perkins' added defensive impact, it's why so many knowledgeable OKC fans were clamoring for a change. Adams gives OKC exactly what they need at that position, something Perkins was always incapable of giving them: an above average athletic center with good hands capable of catching and quickly finishing around the rim. I feel like if I had a dollar for every time (over the last four seasons) Perkins caught a Westbrook drive and dish/dump-off, and took 78 minutes to catch, gather, and go up with his shot only to have it blocked or, at the very least, contested enough to cause a miss, I'd be a very rich man.

Despite his PER numbers and whatnot, I still wouldn't say Westbrook is helping OKC reach the same level sans-KD as Durant did last season sans-Westbrook. I just feel like Durant's play was on another level in December and January of last season than Westbrook's has been during December of this season. With that said, I'm really, truly enjoying getting to see Westbrook run the show. The lows are lower, but the highs are equally as impressive as KD's highs, and I'm relishing in the moment because it should be (mostly) quieting the Westbrook naysayers.

[Bergmaniac]

Yeah, just having a centre out there who can simply catch a pass on the move to the basket after setting a pick and finish strong makes a huge difference for the Thunder offense, as most people who watch the team regularly expected. Perkins was completely unable to do that and it really hampered their offense. His hands are awful and he takes forever to gather the ball and go for a finish.

Last year even with Durant being otherworldly and Russ great apart from the first few weeks, the starting lineup was still pretty bad offensively thanks to Perkins and Thabo (whose shooting had completely deserted him and opponents left him completely open all the time), it was pretty much 3 against 5 on offense for the Thunder. In fact that lineup had a negative points differential, that's how bad they were offensively despite the two superstars.

[dfins891]

Yeah, just having a centre out there who can simply catch a pass on the move to the basket after setting a pick and finish strong makes a huge difference for the Thunder offense, as most people who watch the team regularly expected. Perkins was completely unable to do that and it really hampered their offense. His hands are awful and he takes forever to gather the ball and go for a finish.

Last year even with Durant being otherworldly and Russ great apart from the first few weeks, the starting lineup was still pretty bad offensively thanks to Perkins and Thabo (whose shooting had completely deserted him and opponents left him completely open all the time), it was pretty much 3 against 5 on offense for the Thunder. In fact that lineup had a negative points differential, that's how bad they were offensively despite the two superstars.

And this year their starting lineup (small sample size obviously just 9 games) has the best net rating in the league at +38.6, about 10 points per 100 better than the Warriors starters. Even without Durant the starting lineup has been excellent. In 17 games played together, lineups with Westbrook, Roberson and Adams are +27.6, 3rd best 3 man unit in the league just .1 and .2 behind two Warriors units. And Roberson is about equal to Thabo on offense, that improvement is purely from Adams to Perk.

Unfortunately Perkins is now killing Thunder bench units. Last year the Thunder's bench players were:

Collison: +12.2 (111.3 Ortg)
Reggie: +8 (108.6 Ortg)
Lamb: +8.1 (107.7 Ortg)
Perry: +6.7 (106.7 Ortg)

This year they are:

Nick: +0.3 (100.3 Ortg)
Reggie: -1.4 (102 Ortg)
Lamb: -2.7 (98.1 Ortg)
Perry: -4.4 (97.8 Ortg)

[ardee]

Yeah, just having a centre out there who can simply catch a pass on the move to the basket after setting a pick and finish strong makes a huge difference for the Thunder offense, as most people who watch the team regularly expected. Perkins was completely unable to do that and it really hampered their offense. His hands are awful and he takes forever to gather the ball and go for a finish.

Last year even with Durant being otherworldly and Russ great apart from the first few weeks, the starting lineup was still pretty bad offensively thanks to Perkins and Thabo (whose shooting had completely deserted him and opponents left him completely open all the time), it was pretty much 3 against 5 on offense for the Thunder. In fact that lineup had a negative points differential, that's how bad they were offensively despite the two superstars.

And this year their starting lineup (small sample size obviously just 9 games) has the best net rating in the league at +38.6, about 10 points per 100 better than the Warriors starters. Even without Durant the starting lineup has been excellent. In 17 games played together, lineups with Westbrook, Roberson and Adams are +27.6, 3rd best 3 man unit in the league just .1 and .2 behind two Warriors units. And Roberson is about equal to Thabo on offense, that improvement is purely from Adams to Perk.

Unfortunately Perkins is now killing Thunder bench units. Last year the Thunder's bench players were:

Collison: +12.2 (111.3 Ortg)
Reggie: +8 (108.6 Ortg)
Lamb: +8.1 (107.7 Ortg)
Perry: +6.7 (106.7 Ortg)

This year they are:

Nick: +0.3 (100.3 Ortg)
Reggie: -1.4 (102 Ortg)
Lamb: -2.7 (98.1 Ortg)
Perry: -4.4 (97.8 Ortg)

What I wanna know is how teams with access to so many advanced stats that track every step players take don't know stuff like this. HOW does the Thunder management not see that Perkins is such a useless block out there? Even if they don't actually look at this data don't they even watch the games?!

[KD35Brah]

Also wanted to repost this from another thread because its a possible explanation for how good he's been this year.

How much of a negative impact has Perkins starting had on Westbrook? Since the start of last season, when Adams is at center (964 min), or when Ibaka is playing small ball center (646 min), Westbrook's TS% is right at 58%. When Perkins is on the floor its 49% (982 minutes). When you look at the numbers its obvious Westbrook struggles to get to the rim with Perk on the floor.

These are the % of his total shots attempts taken at the rim in each of his seasons:

2009: 42%
2009: 39%
2010 (Pre Perk Trade): 39%

2010 (Post Perk Trade): 32%
2011: 29%
2012: 33%
2013: 33%

2014 (Adams starting): 39%

When Perkins is on the floor his defender is always standing close to the paint completely ignoring Perkins because even if Westbrook drives and drops it off to Perkins, if he's even lucky enough to catch it it still takes him incredibly long to gather and by the time he puts it up his defender is usually back in time and Perk blows the layup.

Perkins has such a negative impact on the OKC offense as a whole its really incredible that Brooks still plays him so many minutes. Look at his offensive RPM last year, -7.25, dead last in the entire NBA, 437th out of 437. And it wasn't even close either, next lowest player was -5.84 and only 3 players in the NBA were even worse than -5. The difference between Perkins and the 434th guy was the difference between the 434th guy and the 354th guy.

Never knew Perk had that much of an impact on Russ.

Hopefully Brooks cuts his minutes even more with the way Adams is playing. Adams should definitely be playing 30mpg right now or close to it.

[NO-KG-AI]

Perkins is one of the reasons that you could take 3 guys who were leading top 5 offenses nearly on their own (Garnett, Allen, Pierce), and were an excellent fit together, and still only manage to barely get into the top 10. He's really awful, and he gained a reputation that he didn't deserve because he was a starter on those Celtics teams.

[RSCD3_]

When the playoffs start, Perkins can be trusted upon to bring it

We don't know how someone as green as Adams will play

[KD35Brah]

Brooks needs to be shot...

Bringing in Lace Thomas and Ish Smith? Against the Mavs????

[bondom34]

Brooks needs to be shot...

Bringing in Lace Thomas and Ish Smith? Against the Mavs????

Yup, this is my only issue w/ the Lamb thing. I'm cool w/ benching him, but not for them.

[HeartBreakKid]

When the playoffs start, Perkins can be trusted upon to bring it

We don't know how someone as green as Adams will play

Looked damn good when he played against the Clippers.