Russell Westbrick Discussion: Clipper Gonna Clip

people love to talk about the shiny stats when they come, but refuse to acknowledge that our team’s biggest issue is on the defensive end. Russ deserves all of the criticism on this end for his continued ball watching and floating around the paint. Only playing good offense has won us games against the bad teams, but we are still getting destroyed by the good ones because of our poor D. It’s not all on Russ, but he is a part of the problem when he gives minimal effort.

 

He’s the key to a championship this year whether you love him or not.

if he doesn’t play well, we have no s***. If he plays great, we have a punchers chance.
Plus he’s lightening Lebron’s load and has increased his productivity.

it’s no mistake Lebron is playing like this.

 

Raw numbers like provide a very poor picture of basketball - Russ is 48th among qualified PG's in terms of True Shooting percentage which is bad (this takes into account 3pt's and ability to get to the line. For example Kobe could shoot poorly but getting to the line offsets that) and his turnover rate is very high so it negates his assist number.

In other words: Russ is a wildly inefficient player who gets his numbers because his usage rate is so high

 

Except his usage rate is the second smallest since his rookie season. We shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water here. Russ is shooting horrendously over the last 5-7 games, but we have seen a rise in his defensive effort.

If he continues to look after the ball, play make and defend like he has in this recent stretch but just gets out of his funk and goes back to shooting how he did for the first 35 odd games, he is the best third option I can see in the league aside from Kyrie. (However Kyrie won’t play 3/4 of a season)

I’m not certain it’ll happen because he seems in a very weird place, but I remain hopeful. A Russ finishing at 60%+ at the rim with average defensive effort and good playmaking is an excellent player.

 

It's going to be a long week for Russ

 

Game script for the second half tonight:

Lakers make a charge and start gaining momentum.

Russ does some combination of sloppy turnover, bricked shot, or getting scored on. Halts all momentum.

Rinse. Repeat.

 

Why do you shoot a 3 late in the game, when you haven't hit a 3 all year, plus you have 3 guys who can shoot much better than you with Lebron, Monk and Reaves

 

I tried to support the move but like I said in the game thread, the angry mob is right.

Russ sucks. At least with us.

trade him.

in the meantime bench him down the stretch. Johnson, Ellington, anyone else. As long as they don’t take horrible shots.

 

Whomever defends Russ or attempt to is seriously delusional, and I question your basketball IQ.

Luckily, I ignored all the Russ apologists and the majority of this site is smart enough to know this guy has to go or get benched when he's playing like tonight.

Just an awful performance.

 

I could MAYBE understand him taking a 3 at that point in game if it came within the rhythm of the offense.

This wasn’t even that. This three point attempt was AFTER nonchalantly dribbling out the clock and doing nothing with the possession.

This is probably the final straw for me. I got no energy left to defend him with. We will be better off benching him the way the Rockets have done with Wall.

Reaves and Monk are young, they can handle the extra workload and absorb Westbrook’s playing time.

 

Russ is single handedly keeping me from enjoying cookies doom. Unforgivable. Vogel to some degree for playing him.

 

I don't think he has played any worse in his career. He is getting a lot of heat lately and he is pressing. He has cut down the TOs and relinquished control of the ball but he takes too may bad shots. I think he needs to have a come to Jesus moment like Melo/Dwight did. Right now he's better off the team than with the team with his attitude and style of play.

 

I’m done defending Westbrook. I largely don’t agree with the sentiment of many of you. But his play this season has been average and his recent shooting slump has been terrible.

There is no more time left, it’s time to turn it around now or sit down.

 

Let's let him go back to 4 or 5 TOs a game, he's better offensively when he's not trying to do less. The 3s are a separate issue entirely.

 

russ fits into that saying "chewing gum and walk at same time"...his TO got cleaned up but gotten worse offensively

 

That was just a brutal f***ing game. Lebon was off but every time the Lakers would make a run: this happened (@Helljumper beat me to it)

-Russ bricks a tough layup no one was expecting to take. Kings hit a 3 off the transition
-Russ bricks a wide open 3 (don't really blame him on this one: it was a good shot and it was off a pass that left no Kings within 10 feet of him). Kings hit a layup
-Russ dribbles the clock down and takes a pull up 3 off a 1v1 action (no screen, no pass, WTF???) - Kings ice the game on the other end.


This is not trending in the right direction at all - it's gone from being quite clear he's no longer a star in this league let alone an MVP type of player to should he even be playing. Monk/Reaves is the backcourt that has by far shown the most potential this year

 

I honestly think if we had him as a DNP we would have a better chance of winning.

Trade him. Cut him. I honestly don't care.

 

He dumb