There's a prevailing thought around the league that Oklahoma City Thunder star point guard Russell Westbrook is a hard player to coach due to his aggressive style of play and demeanor. As a result, it appears Thunder head coach Billy Donovan has had to scale back his offensive sets, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
On the latest episode of the Hoop Collective on ESPN Radio, Windhorst explained what he's hearing from league scouts.
So here’s the thing about Westbrook. You talk to scouts, they will tell you that essentially Westbrook has no interest in anything that Billy Donovan has to say offensively from the bench. I’m not saying what they draw up in timeouts and stuff isn’t the case, but they will say that Donovan doesn’t even bother making play calls and when Westbrook gets into that mode where he’s just going to do what he’s going to do, there’s really nothing that can be done.
And you could make the argument that you’d have to be stronger with him, or whatever, I mean this is now what his fourth season coaching them? I think you come to just an understanding that when Russell gets into those moods there’s nothing you can really do and Billy has clearly instilled tremendous defensive principles into their team. But they do rank 19th offensively and this is ultimately going to be an issue for them.
Entering Monday, the Thunder are averaging 110.9 points per game, 13th in the NBA. When you have an explosive player like Russell Westbrook as your point guard, you want to avoid playing slow and playing in a half court offense because it defeats the purpose of having a fast player like Westbrook is. Allowing the opposing defense to get set is playing into the team's hands. You want Westbrook to be able to push the pace off makes and misses and dictate the flow of the game.
That being said, Westbrook can be out of control at times. The MVP does need to learn how to slow down and let the game come to him.
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