[Lotto StudParticipant]

Question of the day: Would Russell Westbrook really be able to defer to his options with the help he needs to become a winner?

Before anyone rips me apart, I keep hearing everyone saying he doesn’t have help. I just need to know what more does he need.

 

[RUDEBOY-Participant]

 Maybe the addition of 1 maybe 2 pure shooters at the 4 & 2 positions to open the floor will make things easier. Russ doesn’t need to make too many changes to his game.He might lose his effectiveness.

[RUDEBOY-Participant]

Kanter is available lol

[GBeeParticipant]

He has plenty of help at least in the starting lineup.  With the contracts in the SL, it’d be tough to round out the bench unless they get lucky on rookie contracts and vets who deem them a worthy team to ring chase with.  They’re currently not a ring-chasing caliber team. Can he defer more? Sure.  Will he? No. When he tries to he overcompensates bc his understanding of the game is poor. He only knows how to play one way.  Take the ball out of his hands more and he’s clueless.  Put him in a more structured offense he’s clueless too.  Any Westbrook-centric offense will always be run the same way.

[holefillers1Participant]

 Build the Thunder like the Jazz. Or maybe the ’01 Sixers.  More defense less Carmelo.

[properbreaksParticipant]

My idea has always been have someone else bring the ball up at least some of the time. Because he feels like he has to have his hand on every play which causes the ball not to move as a team. I would have had Paul George bring the ball up 10 to 20 percent of the time and allowed to decide if he wants to make a play for someone else, shoot or just pass it around. I

t’s really what they did when they had Harden. At the end of the game they would take the ball out of Russ’s hands and Harden would play the point because they knew Russ was talented, but they knew he would make the wrong decisions down the stretch if it was he was running the point.

[sweaterflexParticipant]

The problem with Westbrook not bringing up the ball is that he is literally one of the worst off-ball players in the NBA. All of the motion tracking stats show that he and John Wall move the least off the ball, and he doesn’t stretch the floor. In terms of pure value, Westbrook is a top 10 player, but he needs very specific fits all around him. 

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 Believe it or not, there was a time (early in his career) when Westbrook was actually a decent off ball player. He was never a knock down shooter but at least he was decent at moving and cutting without the ball and could make plays off of Durant and harden with his activity. In the past few years though, he has gotten so used to having the ball in his hands all the time to the point where that part of his game has pretty much completely vanished.

[mowestenParticipant]

Well, I’d say he needs James Harden and Kevin Durant, but he didn’t do much with them either.

 Maybe the problem isn’t what he has, but what he’s doing with what he’s got.

[Dog_ShammdogParticipant]

I’ve always thought that Westbrook should play off the ball but am not sure if he’ll ever let that happen, but if he were to, I believe that he’d be a great fit next to Lonzo Ball in LA. Lonzo’s the least ball dominate starting point guard in the league and is one of the best outlet passers in the league. He’d have to get much more consistent from deep but has already showed signs of improvement. Obviously the chances of this happening any time soon are slim to none, but a man can dream right?

 

 

[Dog_ShammdogParticipant]

I’ve always thought that Westbrook should play off the ball but am not sure if he’ll ever let that happen, but if he were to, I believe that he’d be a great fit next to Lonzo Ball in LA. Lonzo’s the least ball dominate starting point guard in the league and is one of the best outlet passers in the league. He’d have to get much more consistent from deep but has already showed signs of improvement. Obviously the chances of this happening any time soon are slim to none, but a man can dream right?

 

 

[Andv1 WaitingParticipant]

 1) Would he defer to help if he had it? Yes he would he tried that with K.D,P.G and Melo.

More so with K.D however when he tried that with P.G and Melo they were losing as it took away from his strengthes. Look at the start of the season the supposed big 3 were all averaging 17-20 shot attempts each and Russell was willing to defer to try get everyone involved, however it didn’t result in wins and Russell went full I will drag you there if I have to mode. 

However the issue is this when we lost Roberson our defense dropped off a cliff…It took Brewer coming in and stopping the bleeding on that end.

2) What further help does he need to be a winner? Well the hard variable is what would this team look like with  a healthy roberson on it?

But the easiest answer is this: Players that fit a system built around Westbrook. So in that sense Adams,P.G and Jermi G+ Felton are the only pieces that legitmately do that right now. What we would need to do is have a Kanter or Jahlil okafor that Russ can roll with off the bench to points up in hurry/carry our bench offense. a Stretch 4/Catch and shoot 4 that can play ok defense(Kyle Kuzma type player) and give you 10-14 ppg and a off ball catch and shoot SG that can cover Russells lapses on defense maybe an Avery Bradley or Khris middleton type player(Klay is obviously not coming here).

But to be fair its not what he can do its do the pieces fit the system built around Westbrook then you will see him most likely be a legit winner.As of the last two seasons presti has had to wing it alot with K.D bailing and then trying to do anything to keep Russell here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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