2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

Best PG in the league IMO: as good on offense as anybody else and he's a damn good POA defender. He's able to switch 1-3 with ease. He's not Jrue Holiday level but top notch offense and defense is a hell of a combo

 

yeah, i was wrong about his ceiling, and, more importantly, so were the clippers. i mean, he alone is currently more valuable than PG (honestly probably more than kawhi, too, given his health concerns). add a zillion picks forever on top of it...sheesh.

 

Gotta have goals…

 

I think all the teams get input from their players. I don't think that's bad in and of itself as long as someone can be the voice of reason.

Problem, IMO, is that these teams from top to bottom get caught up in a name and convince themselves they can make something work. I think guys in the locker room did want Russ and then the front office talked themselves into it, similar to here. In this case, I think that whole organization leaped out wanting a chance to somehow stick it to us by making Russ work when it failed here.

 

As I said in the Pat Bev thread, he has probably already did that with his shooting most of the year while he was playing with us.

 

Flop city is definitely going to regret that trade. SGA is already one of the top players in this league. All that for preseason way off P.

 

Russ is a good 10 minute a half bench player - I'd say he's actually a really good basketball player if his role is set like this and his team and him have an agreement on this.
He pushes the pace well and he's still got a physical advantage over most guards. Yes, he's got the same strengths and weaknesses as Wall but he seems like he has way more athleticism left compared to Wall. This is not to say he is anywhere near what he was: his inability to finish has made him into bench player and that is all due to declining athletic ability

Things start falling off the rails if he's used in crunch time or extended minutes when teams can adjust to him and gameplan: Clippers are the right team for this approach but who knows with Russ and what was "promised". Interesting situation as things could go really well for him if he plays his cards right for another NBA deal but it can also really implode if he has games like OKC where he just randomly turns the ball over in multiple possessions in the playoffs

 

Westbrook hasn’t ever been a champion and can’t seem to adapt or stop boneheaded plays

Clippers:

 

Meh...Westbrook had been to the playoffs 6 seasons in a row before he came here. With all the poor shooting, high turnovers, bone head plays etc.That doesn't jive with the he's washed, a terrible player, can't win with him on your team narrative.

The dude avg 18.5 pts 7 ast and 7 rebs last season. 16 pts 7.5 ast and 6 rebs this one coming off the bench. Yet now he's done? No better than John Wall? Lol..That s*** is crazy. Didn't work out here, true indeed, however for one reason or another, pretty much besides the bubble team, nothing has worked out here, for over a decade.
I usually wish guys the best when they leave here, not in this case though. While I still think that a bunch of the Russ hating, was over the top, I hope it all rings true across the hall. F the snake and the Clippers.

Damn, I'm ready for a game! It feels like we've been out for over a month! We'll see the Clippers on April 5th, we have a lot of work (hopefully winning) to do before then.

23 games left folks, I'm hoping for an 18-5 or better finish. That might just get us out of the Clippers bracket in the playoffs. I still rather avoid those dudes if healthy, early in the post season.

 

Some input is fine. The problem is, the GM is usually not strong enough to be that voice of reason, when the input coming in from the team's star players is very loud.

This is pretty clearly what happened here, when you look at Frank's recent pre-Russ comments about what they're looking for in a point guard, vs PG13 very loudly pushing for Russ and the team giving in. Same thing with the Lakers, where we now know that Rob had the Hield trade as a done deal, and probably a DeRozan deal too, until LeBron and AD forced Russ onto the team. Players, even star players, are often not good talent or team fit evaluators.

 

In retrospect...Monk was actually better than Hield that season, Derozan was a sign and trade scenario, and I have yet to see anyone post some contract numbers, that would have made sense with us being hard capped. It would have been all for naught anyway, with Lebron and AD playing in 28 and 21 games together.

Rob turned lemons into lemonade IMO..(or maybe it was a Rob/Lebron/Rich Paul collaboration?) Either way this is the best collection of young talent, surrounding Lebron since he's been here. If our duo can finish the season together, and be healthy in the playoffs, we have better than a punchers chance to do some damage. A few breaks have to fall our way, but damn it, we are overdue in that regard IMO.

 

18-5 or better?

 

Hell yeah

 

Believe it! You seen that roster lately and realize who’s sorry a**es got shipped out to make it happen?









…. and our own Nanook of the North is “shoveling coal into the engine” on that train! All aboard!!

 

westbrook's advanced stats last year were basically the same as wall's this year. westbrook's were better this year, but still terrible. pts/rbs/asts mean d*** if your team is always losing when you're on the floor.

 

Well as a lot of coaches say including Vogel..
Advanced stats and analytics aren't all they are made out to be. You don't get to the playoffs 6 seasons in a row if your team is always losing.

I mean numbers wise..Lebron has been great here, but we've mostly lost and sucked for his time here without a healthy AD.

 

Yeah but that’s always been the problem here with your devil’s advocacy warn as a badge for Russ’s defense. If not stats then the simple old eye test from experienced people in these forums and who write about the game …. and you just dismiss it ALL. Like the old truth if everyone else is telling you you have a problem but you don’t think you have a problem …. most likely you do have a problem.

 

Nope. I've played the game, been a fan of the game since the 70's. I don't always have to agree with anyone's opinion when talking hoops or vice versa. That's the beauty of Basketball, it can be viewed and played differently by different people.

My Lakers though..Lebron and AD not playing together much, is the main reason we don't win period. They only played 44 games with Russ..they were 22-22. If they had played more, they would have won more IMO. With all those negatives people continue to try to point out included. People didn't like him..that's fine, he's not here anymore.

At the end of the day, if you like the roster we have now, it wouldn't have been possible to put together without Westbrook. He is still a lot better player than John Wall.