Russell Westbrick Discussion: Clipper Gonna Clip

lol dude is threatening a geriatric man on the internet.

Just ignore the clown and don't feed into it

 

Another instance of Magic being the usual idiot, even though I agree with the sentiment.

 

I don’t frequent other lakers sites and Twitter, so I’m shocked to the level of hate Westbrook gets here. He wasn’t good last season, but posters here would trade him for anything just to get him away from the team and it makes no sense to me.

 

He’s (Magic) not even talking about what we needed most from him. Play at least passable defense in place of team killing in the crunch F level consistently, especially off ball. And while he’s going pedal to the metal like “Mag” wants …. stop with the careless/reckless turnovers (the one area he did somewhat improve latter part of season) …. and shoot the ball overall whatever kinds of shots at least passably, not D-F brick level.

 

Because since we don’t have championship roster depth any longer and blow out teams even if LeBron and AD healthy …. his attitude and unwillingness to change to better level of defense …. and with all the close games that lack of championship depth means …. just no way he helps this team win if / when we do get back to playoffs. When the good teams will exploit him to no end. Just like Lakers did in 2020. No self awareness or accountability from this guy at all. With what his level of play was.

 

Absolutely. Would sit him out and give all his minutes to Monk + AR + Nunn (if the prosthetic leg is ready, I hear Stark is otherwise preoccupied).

Now, this would tank his value and thus probably is not smart, but it is miles from your "he's gonna get better" unfounded sentiment.

 

i don't see why you're shocked. he played very poorly and had a terrible attitude. any team employing that player (who's taking up more than 1/3 of the salary cap) would want them gone at almost any cost, right?

 

If it was simply that he lost his ability to play well, it would be one thing. His lack of responsibility and accountability is the part I can't stand, given the catastrophic season and current climate in the world. His presence derailed the team in all facets of the game. His game is predicated on him getting his and everyone else dealing with it. His defensive lapses were the tell tale signs last year, especially in the Clippers game where Reggie Jackson hit the game winner.

The Lakers are in major trouble already with Lebron getting up in years and AD not staying healthy. The margin of error to have any shot at winning another title with the AD/Lebron crew is less than small. And Westbrook is a big part of that small chance if he is still around.

 

He makes $44-47 mil and is a complete negative on both sides of the ball. Other then 1-2 Stan’s on each site, Russ is disliked on Lakers twitter, Lakersground, realgm, YouTube etc. it’s not that surprising when you consider what we gave up and his level of play. Also, the man routinely hits the top of the backboard on his mid-range J.

 

Westbrick clearly is not wired to handle the bright lights and scrutiny that comes from being in LA or playing for the Lakers.

watching him get rattled by a senior citizen makes how Kobe handled everything all that more impressive

 

This x1000.

Just because we hired Darvin Ham, made the most out of draft night, and that Pelinka seems to finally get what we actually need for this roster doesn't mean things are necessarily on the up and up. The foundation of the roster is still problematic and the tools we have at are disposal to fix it are limited.

 

:RW Barfbag:

 

^^^ Hater

 

I understand people disliking Westbrook, what I don’t understand is what seems to be real hate for him.

Last years season was a total cluster of problems, of which Westbrook was one of the major ones. But so was AD, Lebron and Nunn’s injuries, the coaching staff not doing a good enough job with the roster they were given, the poor roster construction for our staff to work with, Lebron mailing it in and going for the scoring title, our front office penny pinching with Caruso etc etc.

I’m not sure how rational getting rid of someone at any cost is. We try to give AD the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his injuries the last two seasons. But that same benefit of the doubt isn’t afforded Russ for having a bad season. Why is it written in stone that Russ can’t play like he did the year before, but AD can go back to 65+ games a year?

 

You seem to ignore his real lack of self awareness of what he did on the floor this season and bad attitude about it, choosing to take no accountability and blaming others?

 

Hey hey, Skip played at Northwest Classen and averaged 1 point a game. Of course, that just means he was a defensive player. Also he's in great shape he said he could go back to Northwest Classen and still average 1 point. So he can take care of himself.

 

I can't believe I'm saying this, as much of a criticizer of Russ I was last year but, we don't know how much Vogel took him of the game in terms of finding a niche. Clearly Vogel did not possess the respect needed to get him to play D and he was essentially fired for it, or at least we can attribute the failure with Westbrook to be the large reason Vogel was let go. Westbrook knows if he can't make it work in a huge contract year with a coach he supports the hiring of, if he can't get it together with both Vogel and Ham in 2 years, then it is over for him. He'll be in MLE land at best after this. In this age of 3&D, .298 from 3 and no D at 6'3" will not cut it. I think we have no reason to suspect he won't go all in this season. He has the physical ability to play D, at least on 1s and 2s, it's all about the decision. I'd still take a good trade but none including these questionable players on long-term deals out there (you can keep your boy Hayward, MJ)

 

well, first, i said "almost". i've been staunch on not giving up picks just to dump russ.

but taking on salary? no doubt. almost any salary, so long as the guys can play.

russ can play like he did in washington. and we can be a 9th place team instead of a 12th place team whilst wasting the talents of two better players. playing to russ's strengths requires things nobody should do at this point in his career.

i'm much more comfortable betting on AD playing 65-70 games at all nba level than i am in rejiggering the team to a 34-year old russ's strengths.

it's not a huge contract year. the guy's made like a quarter billion dollars in his life. his salary is vanity just like his preferred playing style.

he couldn't be bothered to buy in on either end last year, and it was pretty gross, imo. i lost a ton of respect for him; i was a russ fan prior to last year. just really disappointing to see what drives the guy.

 

However he gets traded, he can't see another minute of playing time as a Laker. If that means paying him to sit home, so be it. He is that bad. And yes we don't like bad basketball players with terrible attitudes getting paid superstar money.

There is nothing to defend. He is awful, the worst. He can't shoot, he's a turnover machine, he can't and won't defend and he's as dumb as a box of rocks. Awful, disgustingly awful, my least favorite Laker ever. Worst Laker trade in history easily.

 

Russ made himself unlikeable to fans. Fans had no part in that, and I refuse to make excuses for him. #dobetter