Russell Westbrick Discussion: Clipper Gonna Clip

As someone who understand the critiques but is relatively on Westbrook’s side, I think I need to learn to just stay away from this thread.

Not sure how others can hurry to this thread after a loss like this to try to place the blame on him, but it is what it is. It’s inevitable.

This thread will be very active after any loss or poor showing from Russ. After wins or a great game from Russ, the positivity is doled out very begrudgingly.

He’s the designated scape goat for the year.

 

jacked up too many 3's but he was 8-13 from the field otherwise. Can't just pin this one on Westbrook

 

I'm guessing this may be semi-tongue-in-cheek ... and I know I just expressed support for Westbrook ... but if the local regulations would allow Kyrie to play in LA (not sure about this point) and KD/Harden decide they'd rather get the full OKC gang bang together than have Kyrie sit at home, I would pull the trigger on that in a heartbeat (assuming Kyrie hasn't completely checked out on professional basketball entirely).

Maybe part of me being more pro-Russ is that I've accepted that realistically there won't be any trade opportunities for him that make sense ... but the Kyrie suggestion has actually piqued my interest. I don't know why but it seems at least somewhat plausible.

I'm not a fan of the 3's. In fact that was my concern once I saw some posts about how he's been shooting a higher percentage lately; it gives him false confidence and a misguided "green light".

But it's tough. I don't want him firing up too many threes, but I don't want him to get gun shy and refuse open looks when they're arising within the rhythm of the offense.

Outside of the threes though, I felt he had a solid game. His offensive play in the first half is what kept us within reach. If it weren't for him, we would have seen the blowout that erupted in the second half for 48 minutes instead of just 24.

 

Nets would laugh at our faceSimmons on the other hand:Westbrook Come Here2:

 

I feel the exact same way. Not sure how anyone blames Russ for today?

In the first half he was 8/14 with 2 TOs. He was 4/5 at the rim and 3/4 from mid range. He missed 4 threes and they were all open and assisted shots. Because of him we were still within 10. In the second half he didn't play many minutes and only took 5 shots. He also had 5 assists in the second half and tried to get other guys going.

We lost this game because we were cold from 3 as a team and Chicago was hot - they're starting unit shot 15/28 from three. Not much you can do with that

 

Thought I was about to see bigger differentials. Yikes! I guess a couple of percentage points makes a difference, but overall, it just doesn't seem like the numbers matched what I was thinking I was going to see.

 

I posted the three point percentages because I found the numbers interesting. I also maintain that they show he can be productive on offense if utilized correctly. He’s not a great 3 point shooter but if he can even shoot around 35% on open threes it will clearly help the team.

overall I thought Russ was the only reason the game stAyed relatively close in the first half. The rest of the team just didn’t seem ready to go tonight and it showed pretty quickly.

 

Yep. Got downhill pretty well in the first half.

Then as a person I followed on Twitter wrote: "shot selection went to hell in the second half..."

The three point percentage was it fools good? According to his history, more than likely.

 

Interesting enough, the numbers show he has hit them at a decent rate when wide open.

I think there’s enough to believe he can do that here especially when LeBron gets back.

 

Those aren't percentages that inspire confidence, my guy.

And when the playoff intensity fires up and teams are guarding him closer, I expect those percentages to go down.

Our hope is that AD and LBJ gravity will help that, bit I'm not confident in it.

 

I will never be confident when Russ shoots. Lol.

 

you think they'll guard him closer, though? that plays into our hands, imo.

 

I thought he had a good first half and then a lot like the rest of his career, he just kind of lost it trying to keep the team in the game.

I'll reserve judgement till we see Lebron back, I think having THT back is helping Russ stay more focused on concentrating on what he does best rather so I'm hoping with lebron this will also highlight his positives (attacking of transition/posting up) while taking away the questionable (decision making in 1/2 court, poor shot selection)

That being said not using him as a screener is killing me - teams simply do not respect his jumpshot and it's causing the spacing to go to hell particularly since the Lakers shooters are their worst defenders as well

 

i'm hoping when lebron gets back, we see more of both him and AD setting screens and diving towards the paint from the corners. both can be devastating this way.

 

Yeah, overall I thought he had a good game... or at least better than most the roster. He really kicked it to another gear in his second run in the first quarter through mid-way into Q2. He did a good job getting down hill and bumping AC and Zo off balance on his drives. He was the only one consistently getting to the rim while it was competitive (THT did a lot of work during garbage time).

 

Vogel needs to have the balls to tell him to stop shooting off the dribble.

we aren't going anywhere until he stops taking those dumb contested 3 pointers and long twos.

stick to driving to the rim and passing the ball and we might have a shot.

 

He will never stop taking dumb, low percentage shots- that’s just who he is. I could actually live with the bad shots if he gave effort on the defensive end- absolutely no excuses there.

 

I don't totally agree with you. I think Russ needs to stop taking dribble 3's.

At the moment Russell is taking 40% of his shots from less than 5 ft and he is finishing them at 53% (this % is improving after a bad start). So your point about him sticking to driving, that's what he is already doing - no one can drive every possession.

He is shooting 45% from those dumb midrange twos and 41% from corner 3's. He needs to be able to hit the mid range to open up the rest of his game so I want him to keep taking them.

Russell has two problems offensively currently; he is taking two many 3's from above the key and this is where I agree with you (he is making a good amount on his wide open ones but this isn't a good shot for him).

The more serious problem is his turnovers, he just hasn't settled and isn't making the right reads yet. This needs to improve.