Russell Westbrick Discussion: Clipper Gonna Clip

i'm with pioneer. you can tell russ's people are trying to do some damage control on his rep. but as i posted above, his own behavior is undermining these efforts. play defense. shut up. you can trash everyone later, but your play has been pretty awful, regardless of your role. the team has had to contort itself to make you playable, and then they decided it wasn't worth it. like your last three teams decided it wasn't worth it.

some of us said this from the beginning. your 5 better be able to shoot if russ is your pg. we got deandre.

 

dam! Russell should accept the benching. Player better or sit down!

 

no, see, it's his role that's the problem...

if we just configured the entire team to maximize his skillset, we could...have an even worse record but a happy russ. and what's the most important thing, really?

anyway, complaining and doing what you're asked begrudgingly isn't "sacrificing" and i hope someone in the media goes here soon.

 

Good attempt Russ.

Don't buy any of it.

Hope to see you on another team. Sooner rather than later.

 

Everyone is in spin control from the front office to the coaches and now some of the players.

Chances of everyone still being here at the end of the season go down with every media bomb IMO.

Just hoping we don't dig a bigger hole trying to get rid of Russ and change the coaching staff.

 

they weren't winning with AD in the lineup either. what makes you think him returning will suddenly get this team to consistently win games?

 

I give Russ credit for cutting back on the 3's and TO's: I don't think it's fair to say he's not trying.
The problem is he is a limited basketball player who is easy for a defense to counter and is a weak link on defense: he would be fine as a Rondo type of late career backup but he still feels like he's a star so it going to cause friction.

 

Also I don't really care about their poor pedigree but having Johnson, Reaves, and rejuvenated THT have shown they can be solid GS like roleplayers. They also were not available or the Lakers didn't know what they had.

AD/Lebron/Reaves/Johnson/THT/Monk/Howard with limited minutes to Melo/Ariza/Bradley and now we're talking

 

we set him up for failure, and then get to blast him when it all works right

RIP Batman. I'm sorry your homecoming wasn't what you were hoping for.

Lebron wanted to prove his triple doubles meant more than yours to his team's results, so you were just part of his evil plot to discredit players of this generation.

The deck was stacked against you
They didn't let you play your game
They took away your go to move (mid range bank shot) and asked you to play out of position
They asked you to do things you've never been asked to do in your career (Set picks, block out, play defense) SMH, the nerve.
They destroyed your confidence in your shot everywhere from layups to 3 pt range and didn't even apologize
They didn't recognize you for the all time great you are and treat you with the reverence you deserve
They didn't make your peanut butter jelly sandwiches before the game and slice them in half diagonally just the way you like

Kurt Rambis is the devil, and you deserved better.
I think I'm doing this right.

C'mon Russ, turn this around quick. We go nowhere without you at full throttle. Figure it out! You're an all time great. Show us you can adapt your game, you mentality, your role. Make Kobe proud. Do a Kobe in the Olympics and do what we need from you with a fierce determination that shames all of your teammates. Be selfless beyond selfless. Take responsibility and blame when it doesn't go right. LEAD. LEAD!

If not, GTFO.

 

Seriously though.

 

I guess I’m in the minority, but there is nothing here that is too outlandish. I buy it.

We’re in a bad spot. We have a lot of problems. Front office dysfunction, coaching inadequacies, roster construction problems, Russ being Russ.

But that doesn’t mean everything always has to be the juiciest worst case sky is falling scenario.

Vogel’s comments were not some sacrificial attack on Westbrook’s entire Laker tenure. When he said he played the players he thought were going to win the game, he meant in that moment. This has always been Vogel’s MO. He’ll allow the players he think are hot to close the game, he’ll pull guys if they have crucial defensive mistakes. It’s nothing personal, and not an indication of how rotations will look next game.

Russ playing bad defense isn’t his way of pouting. He just isn’t good at it. He has low defensive basketball IQ. I do believe that HE believes he’s trying to do whatever’s asked of him. He just has blinders on because he’s not very good anymore.

Russ skipping interviews is not a sign of an imminent locker room explosion. It’s obvious a player of his caliber would be upset in the moment, and it’s obvious that the media would milk anything he said to craft the most sensationalist headlines. It makes sense to have him skip the interview that day when emotions are high. Lebron had just done the same thing a few games prior. Whether that’s coming from management to tell him to skip it, or Russ deciding to do it himself, it makes sense.

I guess my main point is that for all of Westbrook’s flaws, I do NOT think he is a malcontent. I get the sense that he’s a good dude who will try to do right by his teammates … he’s just not good at basketball, and a terrible on-court fit.

 

Plus I think most is

 

agreed with whole post but this: the kind of mistakes he makes are about inattention or unwillingness. if he wasn't making 44 million dollars and a household name, he'd have been nailed to the bench for it until he figured it out. he's been extended a ton of grace and isn't grateful for it. instead, he's pouting and complaining that he's not getting to put up his big numbers.