by Matt
There has never been a stand-alone Robin movie. Of all the years we have been making Batman movies it's always been about the caped crusader himself. Even in Suicide Squad (only moderately terrible) there was a cameo from the bat, only to disclose within the first 3 minutes that Robin met his end to Harley Quinn. While there are definitely worse ways to go than an absolute 10 beating you with a baseball bat (mind out of the gutter, she isn't beating you that way) the fact is that he went even at all. No introduction, no room to shine or even establish himself. Imagine how much better that movie would be if at the end, Robin swoops in and they turn to him with a simple 'find them'. I'm already half-mast at the thought, feel free to hire me.
The old OKC thunder were like the Batman universe. Picture KD as Batman, Russ as our Robin and Harden was the young new talent that was recruited to the squad. It was KD’s team, there has really never been much dispute that Durant is the better basketball player. Last year when Russ was racking up triple doubles like Charlie Sheen on a Wednesday there was talk of how Westbrook may be a better player, which anyone with half a brain thought was ridiculous. Durant is and has always been the superior player. He has always been the Batman in this dynamic duo and trust me, there is always a Batman.
Harden left for greener past times and his own city, eventually thriving. It took a few years; people rarely point out that his first year in Houston wasn't exactly the epitome of success. They made the playoffs sure, as the 8th seed and got thrashed the Thunder. We don't talk about that now that Harden has ascended to become a hero in his own right, but he is still searching for his Batman. Howard seemed like a good choice to take that mantle, but their relationship soured to the point of sadness. Dwight was demanding the ball on post ups more out of frustration than anything, he seemed just done with James Harden and the whole media situation surrounding them. James Harden needs a running mate, sure this year will be fun and the numbers he puts up will be like a game of 2K but the Rockets aren’t making a serious dent in the west.
Durant left for greener past times and a new partner for his dynamic duo. It’s like the god damn Justice League over there, throwing all these super heroes together. The team has 4 of the top 15 players in the league in their starting line-up, they are going to win a lot of games and be very good. Do they really need a rim protector when you are starting Curry, Durant and Thompson every game? Probably, but they sure as hell can survive without one when 4 players in the opposition have to guard their men 25 feet from the hoop. The opposing point guard has to pick up Curry on defence from the airport. Durant joined another duo and left young Russ without his fellow caped crusader.
Our main issue here is how Russ has always had someone else to rely on and to whip him when he made coma-inducing poor decisions. Russ may be the holder of the worst 3-point shooter in the league, a title he has earned from D-Wade somehow turning himself into a 3-point threat, years after causing me agony shooting them in Miami. This is not worse in percentage, but worst in ‘of all the things you can do you go ahead and do that’ department. I watched the Lakers game a few hours ago and saw a frightening thing. There is nobody there to prevent Russ throwing up his late game ridiculous 3's with a few seconds left on the clock. Durant’s mere presence preventing Russ from taking a good number of those shots, you have to give the ball to the 7-foot stroke artist to make them in that situation. So far I've seen him take 3 this season already (one went in and as he shoots in the low 30's from 3, math says one will). There is nothing ok about those shots! You cannot just dribble and pull up from 30 feet while double teamed, you are not Steph curry!! Thunder fans should not be encouraged, making one just gives him optimism to shoot more.
When KD left and everyone was pumped to see Westbrook unleashed I couldn't help but think 'didn't we already have this?' A few seasons ago when KD went down with the Jones fracture in his foot we got like 30 games of Westbrook taking command, it wasn't exactly winning basketball. Sure he put up phenomenal numbers and I love nothing more than watching one player dominate every single offensive possession but it sure isn't winning sustainable basketball. In fact, I worry it's going to drain his teammates. Oladipo said everything in that Lakers post-game except ‘Russ got caught in Narnia and missed a rotation, I didn’t fuck it up, stop asking me’. It was cute to say ‘We need to communicate better on defence’, that’s a real nice safe answer, it’s not going to get you on ESPN for calling out your superstar just after an extension.
Westbrook is shooting 24 times a game, getting to the line around an additional 10. He is also hitting just over 10 assists a game and just under 10 rebounds a game, ridiculous numbers. My player in 2K can't put that up (but boy, can he steal) but this is where it gets interesting. He is currently sitting at FORTY PERCENT USAGE!! That I'm obscene!! Does anyone else even touch a basketball when he is on the floor. That's rhetorical, of course they do, someone has to inbound the ball to him. The assist number is also slightly misleading, there is really very little ball movement that generates assists and it's mostly a lot of dribbling followed by a fantastic cut, pass and finish. While that's really the point of what an assist is the lack of ball moment is not exactly encouraging, the Thunder are las tin the league in passes (because one person holds the ball FORTY PERCENT OF THE TIME HE IS ON THE FLOOR).
Westbrook right now, is a Robin, his Batman is gone and he needs a new one. The title can of course transfer. Kobe was the Robin to Shaq’s Batman while Shaq was the Robin to Wade’s Batman. The idea is that they had each other. The Thunder are going to be nothing except a middle of the road team without another star player, not necessarily a superstar but someone who can create that dynamic duo partnership. It isn’t Steven Adams (who is excellent) or Oladipo (less excellent) and their cap situation has sort of locked them into that for the foreseeable future. The Thunder are lucky for Russ’ loyalty at the moment, but when the winning stops and the mediocracy emerges it is going to turn. Miami has a nice situation down there with good 3 and D players along with Whiteside, not to mention the weather and the fact they play in the East. Cousins may be on the move to another team and shape up the landscape and if Ingram emerges the Lakers could flip D-Lo potentially. Even the Sixers could be very appealing, if Simmons turns into LeBron Junior and Embiid continues to progress, then adding Russ to the mix because a very appealing situation.
There has never been a stand-alone Robin movie. Of all the years we have been making Batman movies it's always been about the caped crusader himself. Even in Suicide Squad (only moderately terrible) there was a cameo from the bat, only to disclose within the first 3 minutes that Robin met his end to Harley Quinn. While there are definitely worse ways to go than an absolute 10 beating you with a baseball bat (mind out of the gutter, she isn't beating you that way) the fact is that he went even at all. No introduction, no room to shine or even establish himself. Imagine how much better that movie would be if at the end, Robin swoops in and they turn to him with a simple 'find them'. I'm already half-mast at the thought, feel free to hire me.
The old OKC thunder were like the Batman universe. Picture KD as Batman, Russ as our Robin and Harden was the young new talent that was recruited to the squad. It was KD’s team, there has really never been much dispute that Durant is the better basketball player. Last year when Russ was racking up triple doubles like Charlie Sheen on a Wednesday there was talk of how Westbrook may be a better player, which anyone with half a brain thought was ridiculous. Durant is and has always been the superior player. He has always been the Batman in this dynamic duo and trust me, there is always a Batman.
Harden left for greener past times and his own city, eventually thriving. It took a few years; people rarely point out that his first year in Houston wasn't exactly the epitome of success. They made the playoffs sure, as the 8th seed and got thrashed the Thunder. We don't talk about that now that Harden has ascended to become a hero in his own right, but he is still searching for his Batman. Howard seemed like a good choice to take that mantle, but their relationship soured to the point of sadness. Dwight was demanding the ball on post ups more out of frustration than anything, he seemed just done with James Harden and the whole media situation surrounding them. James Harden needs a running mate, sure this year will be fun and the numbers he puts up will be like a game of 2K but the Rockets aren’t making a serious dent in the west.
Durant left for greener past times and a new partner for his dynamic duo. It’s like the god damn Justice League over there, throwing all these super heroes together. The team has 4 of the top 15 players in the league in their starting line-up, they are going to win a lot of games and be very good. Do they really need a rim protector when you are starting Curry, Durant and Thompson every game? Probably, but they sure as hell can survive without one when 4 players in the opposition have to guard their men 25 feet from the hoop. The opposing point guard has to pick up Curry on defence from the airport. Durant joined another duo and left young Russ without his fellow caped crusader.
Our main issue here is how Russ has always had someone else to rely on and to whip him when he made coma-inducing poor decisions. Russ may be the holder of the worst 3-point shooter in the league, a title he has earned from D-Wade somehow turning himself into a 3-point threat, years after causing me agony shooting them in Miami. This is not worse in percentage, but worst in ‘of all the things you can do you go ahead and do that’ department. I watched the Lakers game a few hours ago and saw a frightening thing. There is nobody there to prevent Russ throwing up his late game ridiculous 3's with a few seconds left on the clock. Durant’s mere presence preventing Russ from taking a good number of those shots, you have to give the ball to the 7-foot stroke artist to make them in that situation. So far I've seen him take 3 this season already (one went in and as he shoots in the low 30's from 3, math says one will). There is nothing ok about those shots! You cannot just dribble and pull up from 30 feet while double teamed, you are not Steph curry!! Thunder fans should not be encouraged, making one just gives him optimism to shoot more.
When KD left and everyone was pumped to see Westbrook unleashed I couldn't help but think 'didn't we already have this?' A few seasons ago when KD went down with the Jones fracture in his foot we got like 30 games of Westbrook taking command, it wasn't exactly winning basketball. Sure he put up phenomenal numbers and I love nothing more than watching one player dominate every single offensive possession but it sure isn't winning sustainable basketball. In fact, I worry it's going to drain his teammates. Oladipo said everything in that Lakers post-game except ‘Russ got caught in Narnia and missed a rotation, I didn’t fuck it up, stop asking me’. It was cute to say ‘We need to communicate better on defence’, that’s a real nice safe answer, it’s not going to get you on ESPN for calling out your superstar just after an extension.
Westbrook is shooting 24 times a game, getting to the line around an additional 10. He is also hitting just over 10 assists a game and just under 10 rebounds a game, ridiculous numbers. My player in 2K can't put that up (but boy, can he steal) but this is where it gets interesting. He is currently sitting at FORTY PERCENT USAGE!! That I'm obscene!! Does anyone else even touch a basketball when he is on the floor. That's rhetorical, of course they do, someone has to inbound the ball to him. The assist number is also slightly misleading, there is really very little ball movement that generates assists and it's mostly a lot of dribbling followed by a fantastic cut, pass and finish. While that's really the point of what an assist is the lack of ball moment is not exactly encouraging, the Thunder are las tin the league in passes (because one person holds the ball FORTY PERCENT OF THE TIME HE IS ON THE FLOOR).
Westbrook right now, is a Robin, his Batman is gone and he needs a new one. The title can of course transfer. Kobe was the Robin to Shaq’s Batman while Shaq was the Robin to Wade’s Batman. The idea is that they had each other. The Thunder are going to be nothing except a middle of the road team without another star player, not necessarily a superstar but someone who can create that dynamic duo partnership. It isn’t Steven Adams (who is excellent) or Oladipo (less excellent) and their cap situation has sort of locked them into that for the foreseeable future. The Thunder are lucky for Russ’ loyalty at the moment, but when the winning stops and the mediocracy emerges it is going to turn. Miami has a nice situation down there with good 3 and D players along with Whiteside, not to mention the weather and the fact they play in the East. Cousins may be on the move to another team and shape up the landscape and if Ingram emerges the Lakers could flip D-Lo potentially. Even the Sixers could be very appealing, if Simmons turns into LeBron Junior and Embiid continues to progress, then adding Russ to the mix because a very appealing situation.
Russ needs a running mate; the question now
is who? If he doesn’t get one, then what happens? The Thunder will be the team
to keep an eye on over the foreseeable future.
Russell Westbrook and what it means to be Robin
![Russell Westbrook and what it means to be Robin]()
Reviewed by boysnamedmatt
on
04:35
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