Without Kevin Durant for a large portion of the 2014-15 season, the offensive stress on Russell Westbrook was massive.
That season, Westbrook won the scoring title with 28.1 points per game, but he also took the most field goal attempts in the NBA (1,471) … in just 67 games.
Will the Thunder’s offense take a similarly lopsided shape without Durant and Serge Ibaka? On a podcast published by The Vertical on Friday, Billy Donovan said this time around is going to be “totally different” for Westbrook.
“I think if you go back two years ago when Serge was out and Kevin missed those (55) games, and they’re on the cusp of making the playoffs, I think at that point in time when you set up a system and a style of play and everything is geared toward Kevin Durant and Serge and they’re such big priorities for you offensively, and now they’re not there, you’re not going to be able to just plug somebody in Kevin’s role or Serge’s role and they’re going to be able to just fill in that late in a season.