Quote:
Originally Posted by vinivici9586
a westbrookian type player was certainly much more effective in 2011-2012 than he would be now. the games changed that much. those teams were also unbelievably stacked.
2013-15 injuries derailed the thunder
in the 2016 western conference finals russ shot .395/.317/.786. in the semifinals he shot .376/.286/.921. a bit worse than his career playoff marks of .413/.293/.842 = 44 efg%
when the thunder were winning that series it was on the boards and defensively (fwiw these were areas they excelled in 2017 when russ didnt have enough help)
Yeah, I mean we've also seen him without his makeup off vs the best teams in the league in the biggest moments so to speak. Whereas some other guys we just haven't seen them in that situation so it is easier to have that idealized opinion of them.
I have a hard time believing a lot of the "2nd tier" stars would've given OKC more equity in any of those series.
I think Russ being a high usage guy that can't fit into the type of team that it takes to win nowadays is legitimate (esp if he is making supermax) but I do wonder if we go too far with team fit given OKC's results aren't particularly bad.
I mean a few things break right any of those years and he has a ring then the whole narrative is different.