Ill advised shots?

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ruppertflywheel

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It is amazing that if you listen to Westbrook bashers their common gripe is: "He's always taking bad shots" He was 6-10 last night. Hoff wasn't getting any shots. Devoe couldn't put the ball in the Alantic ocean. Nolan isn't a shooter. For DJ on the perimeter it is the old adage. " a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile" Williams hasn't made one since early in the non-conference.
Carter is like DJ and I don't think Tubby wants Cotton to be taking 3 pt shots unless the Gophers are up by 20. Westbrook had one bad shot on a 3 because the ball got tipped,or as he glanced and said to the ref that he got fouled. As many calls the officals missed last night I have to think Westy was right. I'll take a Westbrook ill advised/off the wall shot any time because he'll make close to 50% of them andthe fact of the matter is Westbrook is the only guy on the team that can create a shot against all defenses.
 


Excellent point Ruppert.

Westbrook took 18.5% of our shots last night, he made 60% of 'em, he's our most dangerous scorer, and yet he gets nit-picked game after game for every bad thing that he does. I just don't get it. I'd argue he should be taking a he*l of a lot more shots, not less.

Folks, he's our best option on the offensive end. In case you haven't noticed, we're not exactly an offensive juggernaut in the half court. We are what we are. I'll take Lawrence's shortcomings for all the good things he does for the Gophers. He can hit from outside and has the ability to finish at the rim consistently despite his lack of size, something our bigs and our other guards can't say. Has anybody noticed those difficult tear-drop floaters over much taller guys he makes in traffic? Figure it out.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Excellent point Ruppert.

Westbrook took 18.5% of our shots last night, he made 60% of 'em, he's our most dangerous scorer, and yet he gets nit-picked game after game for every bad thing that he does. I just don't get it. I'd argue he should be taking a he*l of a lot more shots, not less.

Folks, he's our best option on the offensive end. In case you haven't noticed, we're not exactly an offensive juggernaut. We are what we are. I'll take Lawrence's shortcomings for all the good things he does for the Gophers. He can hit from outside and has the ability to finish at the rim consistently despite his lack of size, something our bigs and our other guards can't say. Has anybody noticed those difficult tear-drop floaters over much taller guys he makes in traffic? Figure it out.
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I'd echo what SS says. Last person to blame is Westbrook. Guys that create and score are also going to turn it over more. The problem this team has is typically late in the clock on offense. That's when you see the bad shots and turnovers. The quicker this team gets a shot off the better off they are. Nothing seems to develop in this offense as the clock runs down. Some teams like Wisconsin seem to thrive on shots late into the shot clock - but this is not one of them. Personally, I can't understand why we can't generate more movement and open shots on offense. Until we do, I like to see us running and pressing- regardless of whose court we are playing on.
 

The only chance we had to win was Westbrook getting (which he did) and staying (which he didn't but Izzo focused the whole defence on him at the end) crazy hot. We didn't get any easy offensive looks and no one else can score.

We will really miss him next year unless someone comes out of nowhere (Joseph? Mbakwe?)
 


You are partially correct. Westbrook has the confidence of a scorer and we have few of those on this team. That does not exuse him for taking poor shots and making poor decisions. Taking the ball to the basket 1 on 3, dribbling behind his back with 3 defenders around and totally ignoring open team mates are examples of when he doesn't help the team. I would also encourage you to watch Lawrence on the defensive end of the floor running in circles trying to find his man. Give Lawrence credit where credit is due, but he is not a super star.
 

Give Lawrence credit where credit is due, but he is not a super star.
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Lawrence Westbrook is the closet thing we have to a superstar. He is way more consistent that Hoffarber who has proven he is offensively useless against any team that guards him (Purdue and MSU). That's not to say I don't appreciate Hoffarber. I do. Hoffarber can take over a game if the opposition lets him but when they don't the only guy that has shown any consistent ability to step up is Westbrook.

Westbrook tries to CREATE which no one else on our team seems to want to do against good defenses. Until someone else steps up Westbrook is our absolute best offensive option (in the half court offense)to score from the perimeter (assuming Hoffarber is being guarded).

totally ignoring open team mates
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As for that, there really weren't very many open team mates last night or I am confident Westy would have passed the ball to them.

I think Westbrook gets way too much greif on this board for as important as he is to Gopher success. JMO
 

Except for about 5 fast break opportunitites....

When you don't attempt a shot in the first 25 seconds of the shot clock for an entire game I don't think you can call any shot a bad shot.
 

Westy and Johnson will be sorely missted next season

bga1 said:
I'd echo what SS says. Last person to blame is Westbrook. Guys that create and score are also going to turn it over more. The problem this team has is typically late in the clock on offense. That's when you see the bad shots and turnovers. The quicker this team gets a shot off the better off they are. Nothing seems to develop in this offense as the clock runs down. Some teams like Wisconsin seem to thrive on shots late into the shot clock - but this is not one of them. Personally, I can't understand why we can't generate more movement and open shots on offense. Until we do, I like to see us running and pressing- regardless of whose court we are playing on.
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Westy for his willingness to take and make shots and Johnson for nearly everything else - blocks, steals, rebounds, and I thik the announcer said he was averaging 12 points a game. Pressure defense wont be as effective without Johnson, imo.
 



josh087 said:
Except for about 5 fast break opportunitites....

When you don't attempt a shot in the first 25 seconds of the shot clock for an entire game I don't think you can call any shot a bad shot.
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That's exactly right. The only bad shots/forced shots I saw were late in the clock after a series of passes to guys hanging around on the perimeter.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
It is amazing that if you listen to Westbrook bashers their common gripe is: "He's always taking bad shots" He was 6-10 last night. Hoff wasn't getting any shots. Devoe couldn't put the ball in the Alantic ocean. Nolan isn't a shooter. For DJ on the perimeter it is the old adage. " a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile" Williams hasn't made one since early in the non-conference.
Carter is like DJ and I don't think Tubby wants Cotton to be taking 3 pt shots unless the Gophers are up by 20. Westbrook had one bad shot on a 3 because the ball got tipped,or as he glanced and said to the ref that he got fouled. As many calls the officals missed last night I have to think Westy was right. I'll take a Westbrook ill advised/off the wall shot any time because he'll make close to 50% of them andthe fact of the matter is Westbrook is the only guy on the team that can create a shot against all defenses.
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He takes bad shots or makes poor decisions during a Gopher's run, stopping a Gopher's run, or an important part of the game. Just because he was 6-10 doesn't mean he didn't take bad shots or make a terrible decision. FYI he doesn't make nearly 50% of his off the wall shots. Not even close.
 

Westbrook does make some frustrating decisions, but the positives of his game far outweigh the few negatives. It's just sad that this board usually tends towards harping on the negatives while ignoring the much more numerous positives.
 

I find it hilarious that fans rag on Westbrook for taking too many shots when he's basically the only guy that can create his own shot on the team consistently. Someone has to do something to stop the "throw the ball around the perimeter until the shot clock is at 0" offense.

He's shooting over 50 freakin percent from the field. Unheard of for a guard, especially at his size.
 



And I find it hilarious that some on the board only evaluate Westbrook on his confidence and shooting percentage. As mentioned above, check out his defense next game, then evaluate his overall contribution to the team. I am in full agreement that Westbrook does amazingly well for his size and has excellent scoring ability, but there is more to the game.
 

"he is not a super star."

Who said he was superstar? I'm pointing out that I think he gets way too much grief for what ills the Gophers. I shudder to think what our half-court offense would look like without him. At least with Lawrence we have a chance to put the ball in the bucket at the end of the shot clock, which we use most of more often than not.
 

He should be taking more shots, but...good shots. I know he is a scorer, but he doesn't have to try to finish every time off the dribble. Instead of taking some of those wild shots he can kick it out to hoffaber for three. I also blame the big men. They need to call for the ball and make our inside/outside half court offense work. I will say I was much more impressed with out half court offense against MSU as Ralph Sampson was calling for the ball and setting up teammates.
 

If you don't want Westbrook to take some bad shots, or have that turnover ppl are referring to, then you aren't going to get those makes at the buzzer or those threes in someones face. What's going to happen if we don't have an aggressive confident shooter...a forced Nolen drive that comes to nothing as the shot clock runs out? That's been our only other option, and I'll take Westbrook.
 

I only read the OP but I think Westbrook's shot selection is greatly improved over last year. People who are criticizing him this year aren't watching all the games. His game has become much more of a team game.
 

He doesn't make nearly 50% of his off the wall shots

Flash23 said:
He takes bad shots or makes poor decisions during a Gopher's run, stopping a Gopher's run, or an important part of the game. Just because he was 6-10 doesn't mean he didn't take bad shots or make a terrible decision. FYI he doesn't make nearly 50% of his off the wall shots. Not even close.
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It is obvious Flash23 that you are the only one that would argue with arithmatic.:clap:
 

CDH27 said:
And I find it hilarious that some on the board only evaluate Westbrook on his confidence and shooting percentage. As mentioned above, check out his defense next game, then evaluate his overall contribution to the team. I am in full agreement that Westbrook does amazingly well for his size and has excellent scoring ability, but there is more to the game.
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Watch his on ball defense next game. He may not stay in front of his man 100% of the time and may not look good compared to Nolen, but damn that dude busts his balls to not let his man around him.

I don't get where people are getting that he doesn't play defense.

He's never going to be a complete player who is a good distributer and ballhandler, not everyone is. But he's exactly what this team needs. Someone who can create offense when the half court set isn't getting anywhere. Which is a lot with this team.
 

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