Russell Westbrick Discussion: Clipper Gonna Clip

Yeah been there done that.

But of course we will have a new and better coach, right? Who will have all these better schemes to get LeBron out of ISO ball so much and be able to motivate Westbrick to play defense and work on his mental side of the game.

 

yeah, it's about cutting losses. midseason i was strongly in favor of working out an extension that let him keep some cash, but that was contingent on him being a team player and accepting a smaller role. it's abundantly clear that is not going to happen, so now it's about trying to get his buyout number down for me. i mean, if we can find a trade that frees up our MLE and delivers a useful (even if grossly overpaid) player, i'm listening, but i'm not sure that's in the cards.

let's see if rob and russ's agent can find a team to pledge some of their MLE to him, knock the total guaranteed amount of his buyout, and send him on his way. stretch the remainder for two years and just be glad he's gone. plug THT into his spot and i think we actually improve, despite what advanced stats say about THT this year.

 

Do NOT stretch. Either he gets traded outright or you figure whether you need him to play out his final year.

This team has no draft picks of any significance for the next 5 drafts. Do not make it worse by Denging it when Deng's money is finally about to drop.

If AD was healthy and LeBron was a little younger, sure, but you already bet big and lost this year, you don't chase the money further with a fractured foundation.

Do your homework on the next coach. Do your homework on your next acquisitions. Stop listening to players who only care about their money and themselves not the organization. Players leave and don't care what rumble they leave. Lakers need to start protecting the future. This is the Lakers, they will always find a way to get talent.

 

I agree with most of your points, but I think this one has been misunderstood.

Just because we could only trade the 2027 pick does NOT mean we have no first rounders until then.

In actuality, we are only missing a first round pick in this upcoming draft (2022), and then either 2024 OR 2025.

We have our 2023 pick, but NO can chose to swap it with their own pick that year.

NO will get to choose if they want our 2024 pick, or 2025 pick. Whichever one they choose, we maintain the other pick with no restrictions.

We have 2026 and onwards to ourselves with no restrictions or swaps.

The only reason we were only able to offer the 2027 pick is due to the Stepien rule.

 

Luol Deng 2.0 for this turkey and goddam stupid LeBron and AD decision would be unf******bearable. Please gawd NO.

 

Wouldn't it mean that we would just keep his 47 Mil on for next year? I think thats worth it, him not being on the team is better, even if we have to take on his salary.


Technically, couldn't he sign with another team and get paid 2 contracts?


I'm done watching Westbrook play, the way he plays I wouldn't even want to see him on the opposing team. Its complete donkey.

 

I hate Westbrook more with each game. He is a goddamn moron. Literally, a stupid person.

 

Best game he's had in a really long time

 

Couldn't care less about his stats or whatever. Want him off the team. I can't stand seeing him play.

 

Ummm, Houston isn't that good (they suck) and offers no defense whatsoever.

If we played Houston every night, he'd be an MVP candidate.

 

Everybody had pretty stats still losing to the horrible rockets. No defense, guys have no intensity on D with the exception of a few

 

Only stat line that matters is a giant L. To the second worst team in the league.

Stats don't mean s*** anymore. How many times do I have to say this? Stats don't f***ing matter anymore.

 

Someone is not wired for the bright lights of LA.

The Lakers community is proud of their family name, and when someone Soils that family name, we call them out for it.

i’m sorry you don’t like that or think that somehow you have earned better than that while you have been here. You clearly have not.

Russ’ legacy as a Laker will be as an under forming former star who didn’t have the skills to make up for his declining athleticism, clearly had not developed his game as he aged, was unwilling to have a role change for the betterment of the team, and was clearly not an impact player during his time here and will be completely forgotten that he was ever even a Laker.

 

RWJr.: “Dad, can you play better so the kids will be nicer to me at school?”

Mrs. RW: “Yes dear, I’m tired of getting death threats too. You have been playing like crap lately and Los Angeles fans are much smarter than fans from other cities we’ve played in before.”

RWBro: “Don’t let fans talk s*** about my na….I mean “our name”. It stands for something!

must be interesting conversations at home these days. and that one interview he sounded ready to be done with the drama of being a professional basketball player, but in someways I think his ego is too big to walk away right now under these circumstances. but oh how I can wish!

 

i think he's clearly invested in his actual life, which is totally great. he's made like, 200 million dollars playing basketball and is trying to figure out what that means in the grand scheme of things.

i just wish he brought some of that perspective to the court. like, he's grounded and understands that if he loses games, it's ok. it's just a dumb game. but couldn't that transfer into: i get paid a lot of money and have accomplished a lot of things in my career, so i can accept different roles in this late stage and do my best to contribute and honor my contract.

i feel like the organization hasn't wronged him in any way. and i feel like the resentment among fans (or maybe this is just me) is because he's been really pouty and inflexible as much as he's just underperformed.

if his stats looked great and we still looked like this because he wouldn't accept an appropriate role, i wouldn't be any happier.