You slam Westbrook for his IQ when Durant isn't exactly the poster boy for brilliant decision-making. They're both arguably as good at their respective position but the fact of the matter is that their skills don't match, end of story.
Durant is a 50/40/90 type of guy and u got this other dude on the team who can't seem to get him the ball as often as he should. I'd say that is low basketball IQ. Put durant with a real pg instead of a volume shooting chucker who is 42-43% fg guy for his career and see him win a ring
Efficiency does not equal Bball IQ. Deandre Jordan is very efficient, yet his game is as raw as it comes. You want a pass first pg to feed Durant the whole game? Recipe for playoffs loss. You want to integrate Durant's skills to a well oiled and balanced offensive system which the Thunder lacks. Hopefully Donovan will do something about it this season.
On another topic, I'm loving this Miami Heat team. Lots of athleticism, Justise Winslow is someone to keep an eye on.
I think Westbrook and Durant could be just fine together. Hell, as long as they are on the same team, they need each other. Neither one can carry the team alone, and they shouldn't be asked to. I mean it's one thing to say you would trade out Russell Westbrook for Steph Curry if you could, but that is not going to happen. Biggest thing is they both need to be healthy together for a long stretch of time. If Durant wants to be a perimeter player, let him...as long as he get his rebounds and his assists he's used to in the process. He's efficient enough to be that. Let Westbrook penetrate and score from in close, or distribute if it's not there. He rebounds like a fucking madman for his size, so if he takes some of Durant's rebounds, no biggie. I have a theory that if OKC stays with the personnel they have now, and somehow they can get Westbrook to average 10 points less then he's used to and up his assist total by 3-4, they can be nearly unstoppable if healthy.
To me Westbrook looks much improved. His shot selection and decision making is better as he is doing less mid range jacking and using his speed to get to the rim much more then he did in the past. The best part is that so far he seems to be finishing a lot better on layups he once had a penchant for being 50/50 on. I agree with Reed that Durant shoots too much. Noble says let Durant be a perimeter player if he wants but that just makes him easier to guard and makes him one dimensional. The best players are always guys who can shoot AND attack the basket which not only keeps the opposition guessing but opens up passing and assit opportunities. By being mainly a jump shooter Durant is limiting himself and his team. Durant hasn't shown me any improvement since we last saw him, yet he gets a pass as he was coming off injury and didn't get the chance to really work on his game this summer. I believe next season will be a better one for him providing he can stay healthy.
This. I haven't seen the natural evolution that elite players go through after their first 7 seasons. He's still a great shooter and he can still drive to the hoop effectively but there's no post up game, his passing remains average at best and his rebounding numbers are the same. There's ALWAYS some aspects of your game that you need to tweak or just plain improve if you want to take it to the next level.
"Efficiency" is Some HIGHBROW, PSUEDO Intellectual, "Money Ball" Bullshit... Yes, there's a PLACE for Efficiency in ALL Sports, but it's NOT the Be All to End All, Determining Factor in HOW we Should Rank Players...Hell, in Last Year's Finals, LeBron James Most Definitely WAS NOT "Efficient", yet he Put Up Arguably THE Best Performance in NBA Finals History... Toooooooooo Many HOLES in the "Efficiency" Argument, to Cling to the Way Some Do.... REED:hammert:
You and REED have Discussed this in the Past and it's STILL Valid... Pick N Pop's are Unguardable, GENERALLY Speaking....A Durant/Westbrook Pick N Pop Would Be MURDEROUS to Opposing Teams...Tooooooo Often, Westbrook has the Ball and Durant's Just Standing There OR Vice Versa...To Eliminate That, Play the 2 of them in UNISON... It's Actually SHOCKING to REED that in All the Years they've Been Together NOBODY has Tried Using a Durant/Westbrook Pick N Pop... REED:scratcher:
REED's Biggest Problem w/Durant is WHERE he Shoots From...It's Almost Always from the Top of the Key or a Couple Feet to the Left/Right of It... How About More WING Jumpers, More BASELINE Jumpers???...How about a Baseline FADEAWAY???... That Clipper Series 2 Seasons Ago was TELLING...The Clippers (SMARTLY) Put Chris Paul on Durant & DESPITE a Fucking 12 Inch Height ADVANTAGE, Durant Insisted on Hurling Jumper After Jumper Over the SMALLER Man...& He WASN'T Making Many of them Either... Bron was Guilty of the SAME Shit & Still Falls Victim to it, from Time to Time...But @ the Same Time, Bron has NOTICEABLY Taken the Rock to the Rack More AND Begins Many of his Offensive Moves FROM the Low Block, Over the Last 2-3 Years... Even Dirk Nowitzki Was MORE than a 7ft PERIMETER Player...Durant is Toooooooooo TALL and TALENTED to LIMIT his Offense like That... REED:hammert:
This Clippers @ Warriors 4th Quarter is THE Shit!!!...Playoff INTENSITY, Less than 2 Weeks Into the Regular Season... REED~
REED Has No Clue is STATS Support This, but the Current Incarnation of the Golden State Warriors is THE Best PURE SHOOTING Teams REED's Ever Seen... Moreso than the Early 00's Sacramento Kings, the Championship Winning Dallas Mavericks Squad OR the Most Recent San Antonio Spurs Title Team, REED Gets the Feeling EVERY Shot the Warriors Launch is Going IN the Basket... It's Almost Breathtaking, @ Times... REED
the warriors will need to win this year. they will have to pony up for barnes and ezili becuase those guys have more to offer on other teams, if not. particularly barnes who is a legitimate all star talent. no way GS will keep him for less than the maximum
If the Lakers somehow make the playoffs and Kobe can remain SOMEWHAT injury free, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he comes back.
Huge IF. Even hughe-er when you realize that they play in the WC. He's already kinda saying goodbye. His body is just spent.
