[GrandmamaParticipant]

Just took a look at their stats. Westbrook has averaged 18.9 shots per game this season, while the best scorer in the league, Durant, has averaged 17.7 shots per game.

Anything to take away from this? To me, this is absolutely ridiculous. There is absolutely no reason anyone teamed up with Durant should take more shots than him. Either it shows us Westbrook’s low bball IQ and refusal to allow the best scorer in the league to do his thing, or it shows us Scott Brooks’ offense is @ss backwards.

Either way, I don’t see them winning a championship as long as Westbrook is taking more shot than Durant. It’s that simple.

[SeattleSuperChronicsParticipant]

Thunder fans better hope they don’t get an early exit at the hand of westbrook’s self play. That could make for a very interesting off season. I can already hear people saying they should of kept harden.

Who’s better with Durant harden or Westbrook?

[lockdownD]

Westbrook is a scoring PG, he passes the ball enough, though forces a couple bad shots… D. Rose does too.
Yes, Westbrook might look Durant off once a game or so but the actual ‘shot attempts per game’ problem relies in Durant wanting to be this all around type of player with high fg%, then that’s on him… trying to learn from Lebron.

[lalailaParticipant]

yeah I agree Durant wants to be efficient machine like LeBron..but he will never be..

let’s be yourself put up 31-32ppg better try to become stronger better defender it would work better for his all-around game than trying to pass much.. and his chances to be the best would increase

[lalailaParticipant]

very bad time to critique Westbrook..

he puts up some monster numbers and OKC just took the 1st place in the West..

It works.

[Tight ButtholeParticipant]

While I agree that Westbrook shouldnt be taking as many shots as Durant, I gotta disagree on your assesment of him. If youre taking a closer look at the stats he’s only averaging 5 less ppg than Durant, still gets to the line a lot, is 7th in the league in assists at 7.5, 9th in the league in steals at 1.75, and one of the most difficult guards to defend in the league. The tandem of Durant/Westbrook is a very talented duo to put out on the court at one time. And as long as they theyre winning games, whats the problem? Theyve gone farther in the playoffs each year theyve been together.

[fcb206Participant]

I think its more a testament to Durant’s freakish efficiency than it is Westbrook’s poor shot selection. And its not like Westbrook is taking significantly more shots, just barely more than one.

[fastdanParticipant]

It’s hard to critique Westbrook and Brooks’ offense when OKC is top 3 in virtually every offensive statistic you can find. Not to mention they’ve won 60 games and the #1 seed in the West and have improved their winning % every year since Westbrook has started/Brooks has been the head coach. Yeah, he makes bonehead plays and takes bad shots, but he makes even more great plays and those bad shots? They often go in. And Brooks is stubborn with his rotations and doesn’t seem like a great play caller. But they win a ton, he’s has done an excellent job developing his players, and they were able to become a playoff and a contending team much earlier then anyone expected.

[NickWayne87Participant]

I’m with you….there’s too many times i’ll see a game where durant has 30 pts on like 17 shots and in that same game westbrook has 26 on 28 shots…..yeah they’re winning but if this happened less (which admittedly it does happen less this year) they’d win more. I don’t care what no one says westbrook should almost never finish a game taking more shots than kevin as long as they’re on the same team. Only if he gets hot and Durant’s off that night.

[NickWayne87Participant]

westbrook is an excellent player and would be the first option on offense on nearly every team in the NBA……..but definitely not the HEAT and OKC

[jhbm24Participant]

Westbrook HAS to shoot that much because he’s the only other player who creates their own offense and is capable of getting in the lane at an automatic and relentless pace.. Look at Durant play, you know why he’s so efficient? Because his shots are often when he’s off the ball. Whenever he handles the rock to create he tries to be a playmaker more than a scorer and Westbrook gets more shots because he gets a LOT of offensive rebounds, If you watch them play you’ll know about Westbrook missing two shots in a row but he gets his own rebound and get put back points. And Harden is NOT better than Westbrook just for the fact that Harden doesn’t have anywhere close to the defensive ability that Westbrook has.

Lawyered.

[GREENE1148Participant]

I love all the knocks on this Thunder team, considering they are the number 1 ranked offence, i think whatever they are doing is working, and they should probably stick with that, no matter how much heat they cop from keyboard warriors to skip bayless…

[DubNationParticipant]

As a PG, Westbrook needs to create more offense for his teammates. He is a young offensive minded hot-head PG who needs to be a better leader. For them to win a championship, Russell needs to be less selfish and more efficient. When teams start doubling him and he is not making his shots, he needs to know how to get others involved and not just KD. I think Serge Ibaka needs to get the ball down low and in the mid-range more often in order to make their offense more unpredictable.

2 years ago in the 2010-2011 season, Kevin Martin was second to KD in FTM made per game and hit them at almost 90%. Martin needs to be used as more than mainly a 3 point shooter, he needs to attack the rack when he is in the game.

Also, I really like Reggie Jackson and the athleticism/versatility he brings as a back up PG. I think that the Thunder’s offense would be more explosive and hard to stop with Jackson at the PG, and Westbrook manning the SG position.

[GREENE1148Participant]

Reggie Jackson is great, I love the dude to death, but his assists per 36 are 4.4 to Russell’s 7.6 per 36… even accounting for usage, Westbrooks assist rate is 38.2% and Jacksons is 19.1%… I think Reggie will see 22-25 minutes per game next year, but he is no more a point guard then Russ.

[druneave3Participant]

I wonder how Durant’s play and the Thunder would have been had that made the Rondo-Westbrook trade?

[machu46Participant]

It would have been an awful fit IMO. OKC has so few scorers/guys that can get their own shot; taking one of them away and replacing him with someone that just looks to pass would not have been good at all.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

The situation in OKC is backwards. KD is the best player on the team, but Russ has the alpha dog mentality.

[treytalkssports.comParticipant]

I think KD likes to work off of other aggressive players, rather than creating his own shot all the time like Kobe or Melo. Westbrook takes the pressure off of KD by constantly attacking defenses. No doubt he has some boneheaded plays each game, but he is doing what is best for his team and for Durant. I’d like to see Durant shoot a little more and Westbrook take less 15 foot jumpshots with 18 seconds remaining on the 24 second clock.

[machu46Participant]

It’s pretty simple. Westbrook is the point guard. He has the ball in his hands more. He has a higher usage rate. Therefore, him attempting one extra shot per game than Durant is to be expected. It’s really not a big deal at all. They’re two elite players. As long as the two of them are taking a lot of shots and their teammates aren’t taking nearly as many, they’re in good shape.

[A Lil EnglishParticipant]

When you’re talking about the shots per game via box scores and yearly stats you have to consider Durant goes to the FT line 9.3 times a game & Westbrook gets there 7.3 times.

These things take away the FG attempts away from Durant so the 17.7 FGA vs 18.9 FGA doesn’t really have that much weight.

I’m not much of a fan of his midrange game or his shoot first mentality but the fact is they are still best in the West (AGAIN, despite losing Harden), and Westbrook has the backing of his coach & his teammate and friend Durant, which is largely to do with how deadly they are in transition which Westbrook is a huge part of.

[r377Participant]

The Thunder have been winning alot, quite a few games by double digits and yet they still won’t play J Lamb. He has played in just 5 games where he has had 6 or more minutes.

In fact he has played a total of 26 minutes in their last 27 games….

[GREENE1148Participant]

The Golden State Warriors haze their rookies to teach them a lesson, OKC just doesn’t give them game time instead… Look at Reggie Jackson’s role/improvement though, it’s obviously working…

[A Lil EnglishParticipant]

He will probably get some minutes vs Milwaukee tonight. It seems Durant will be sitting out….

[Author]

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