Comments on: Russell Westbrook under the microscope

By: spikedaddy72

spikedaddy72 — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:26:33 +0000

YES, MR WESTBROOK IS OUR POINT GUARD OF THE FUTURE, HOW CAN ANYONE DENY THE CHEMISTRY WITH HIM AND KD?????

By: Crow

Crow — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:51:17 +0000

Your cautions early in your remarks are appropriate Bryan.
I wasn’t necessarily saying these lineups would become the top ones but I do think they should be in the mix for trying more vs the more standards ones (hopefully a relative short smart mix- can’t try everything or if you do then you aren’t showing much judgment). 2 young shooter/scorers may or may not be enough offense but 3 as you say can often be too much, for the defense. This may be why they eventually need a vet scorer who can play defense too. It is a lot about good coaching now. And GM player blending skills.

Flip Harden to the second squad I think they might win about as often.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:03:00 +0000

I’d love to see a scrimage between Westbrook/Harden/Durant/Green/Kirstic and Livingston/Weaver/Sefolosha/White/Collison just to see what happens. Me thinks the second squad might surprise.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:31:30 +0000

Also, that Kirstic/Collison combo caused a lot of problems for teams last year while Durant and Green were both out. I believe the team started Kirstic, Collison, Sefolosha, Weaver and Westbrook, with Wilkins and a few others contributing off the bench.

I’d have to look it up to be sure, but I think this was when the guys went on a win streak. Green came back first (and played some at the 3 spot) and the wins kept comming. But, when Durant returned, things went south. Clearly, Durant is our best player and deserves to be on teh court, but having so many scrapy, motivated defenders on the court at once must be really tough for teams to handle. I’d also say that having three, mistake-prone young players on the court all at once (i.e. RW, Green and KD) is probably part of the problem – a problem that will fade next year as they all gain more experience.

It also seems to me that the Collison/Sefolosha/Weaver trio should be substituted in together fairly often to replace Green/Durant/Harden. One set gives the team elevated offense while the other provides nasty defense – a full rotation like that also brings in energy while you work around your rotations at the 1 and 5, where depth is an issue.

Just a thought

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:10:38 +0000

@Crow

I’m always a bit suspicous of looking at combos like that, mainly because when those rotation players are on the court, they are likely facing the other team’s rotation players as well. Add to that, the fact that those groups are all pretty defense oriented and and that they are likely not playing the other team’s best player (with Durant on the bench), and it is pretty easy to see how the data could tell a false story.

That said, the team does not have the dramatic let-downs that some other teams have when their main guy – like Kobe or Lebron – sits down to rest. I don’t know if this means that Durant is not quite there yet, or if Sefolosha and Weaver just make it up on the other end of the court. Either way, I like that the team’s bench is solid on D, AND that Kirstic was in two of those three triplets.

By: Crow

Crow — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:04:16 +0000

the 3 best triplets, not counting guys gone or probably gone

By: Crow

Crow — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:01:18 +0000

The first lineup is big, the second small but with a 7 footer anchor, the third small without a 7 foot anchor.

By: Crow

Crow — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:56:43 +0000

And then look at the same lineups with Harden for one of Sefolosha or Weaver.

By: Crow

Crow — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:53:31 +0000

These are the 3 best triplets that played a decent amount of minutes:

N. Krstic N. Collison T. Sefolosha
N. Krstic T. Sefolosha K. Weaver
N. Collison T. Sefolosha K. Weaver

A tight group of 4 guys, all role players.

How would you complete the lineups and would you try to use these more or just chalk it off to small samples?

I might do the following
N. Krstic N. Collison T. Sefolosha and Westbrook Green
N. Krstic T. Sefolosha K. Weaver and Westbrook Durant
N. Collison T. Sefolosha K. Weaver and Westbrook White

By: Crow

Crow — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:21:22 +0000

@Keith
We agree next season is big for Brooks.
He’ll have to show command and results, not just give encouraging words and show blue collar humility and work ethic.

Is it you need an above average coach usually or always to be above average? I haven’t studied a long list but I’d say at least usually.