Is it just me or does westbrook screw things up

[trainwreckog]

the problem is not westbrook. not at all.

the problem is durant. he is a 25% shooter off of screens and out of isolation, and a 50% shooter in spot up situations and in transition.

what does this mean? durant is actually quite far from being an ELITE pull-up and turnaround jumpshooter. all the great players in years past - kobe, dirk, mj - guys that dominated - these guys all were ELITE pull-up and turnaround jumpshooters, which allowed them to take over games when it mattered - in the clutch spots against really good teams, often the only thing they are giving up is a mid-range pull-up jumpshot.

durant's surprising inability in these areas makes it so he CANNOT dominate and take over a game on call, the way dirk, kobe, and of course mj did. watch the games closely, and you will see that durant is simply not a good pull-up jumpshooter. and of course he does not post either, so that hurts his ability to dominate too. and his inability to hit pull-up jumpers or post makes him drive TOO OFTEN, which the defense anticipates and causes turnovers as we see from him a lot.

i mean, how many 40+ pt games does durant have this year? does he have any? instead of hanging out with lebron this offseason, which makes him more of an off-the-dribble guy, durant should spend the summer with paul pierce, so he can become an elite pull-up jumpshooter, and learn to attack more effectively out of the pre-dribble stationary position.

so essentially, durant is not dominant enough for westbrook to tone it down. durant needs to get better so he can be the man EVERY night. right now, many nights westbrook is as good or close enough because durant cannot command the ball due to these holes in his game.

[NaturalThunder]

I do find the dynamic of how Westbrook is perceived by OKC and non-OKC fans a little odd. Usually, when a player is perceived as dumb, bad, worthless, etc. by so many outsiders, a lot of the team's actual fans agree, i.e. Kendrick Perkins. Yet, there's so many non-OKC fans that are convinced Westbrook is the dumbest player of all-time, is an awful PG, and is an even more awful fit alongside Durant. But the number of actual Thunder fans that feel this way? It's gotten smaller by a considerable amount after each season over the last 3 years.

That's not to say we don't get frustrated with him. I still hate his transition 20-footers with a numbers disadvantage (which means almost 0% chance at an OReb) as much as anyone. But if you can't see how much he's improved every year, and how much more effective he's been playing his style over the last month or so, then there's no helping you. You're just a hater that's going to forever be blinded by that hate, no matter how much Westbrook improves.

[Shem]

So Shem what does if feel like to have so much hate and jealousy towards Westbrook, that it effects you enough to take time out of your day to find evidence for a point no one in OKC really cares about?

If you say so. Yep, I'm jealous. Though I do find it funny how you waited 8 days to reply from my last post so I would forget out about it and you think you got the last word.

But, hey I think Westbrook deserves the defensive player of the year award. I mean, he's preventing Durant from getting 30 points-per-game. I don't think anybody else could do a better job of making sure that doesn't happen.

Meanwhile Westbrook has taken 1,511 shots this season, while Durant has taken 1,417 of them. But Westbrook has made 663 of them, while Durant has made 721. So Durant has made 58 more shots than Westbrook, but Westbrook has taken 94 more than Durant. That's not right, especially since Durant is shooting .509 while Westbrook is shooting .439 from the field. Durant should be the one taking more shots. What's wrong with this picture? That's like Pippen taking more shots than Jordan.

But yeah, if you think that's the way it should be, then by all means continue to think that. I'll concede everything I said if OKC wins the title on Westbrook's shoulders.