Russell Westbrick Discussion: Clipper Gonna Clip

Is Westbrook even a good on ball defender?: honestly haven't seen it.

Limited data here supports he;s just not good on defense across the board

 

There's a difference between not playing good man defence and not being able to play good man defence. Westbrook can play good on ball defence - for whatever reason last season he didn't really do much point of attack defending.

Edit: I should say also last season he didn’t do much of any defending haha!

 

I thought about this and it's hard to pull it off. If they start, that's already around 12 minutes playing together in Q1 and Q3. Only by sketching a very specific rotation scheme could work, like:

0-4min: Both
4-8: LeBron
8-16: Russ
16-20: LeBron
20-24: Both

Repeat 2nd half.

I don't like it though. That big run without LeBron could hurt us, but if he's playing 30min he needs to sit somewhere.

 

Yeah I tried to play it out in my head too. I’m not a wizard with rotations but that’s the general gist I came to as well.

We’re going to have a lot of time without Lebron if he is only playing 28-32 mins. But we have to make his minutes count with intensity.

 

This may be my favorite Russ post. It illustrates what ticked me off about him. I was in favor of him coming and was actually excited to see this kind of intensity here. The problem was we rarely got that intensity and I felt like a fool for wanting him here...lol. We got the Russ negatives without the offsetting positives. If Ham can some how get that kind of intensity back out of him it would make the season much more palpable. I had still rather unload him if we can but none of these trades look possible or cost assets we can't afford to give away. I'm going to trust Ham to do what he says and hold players accountable until he shows otherwise. On offense it is going to be hard to run Ham's four out one in style of play with two ball stoppers (Lebron, Russ) on the court at the same time. If Lebron will buy into the offense it will make his life much easier. Russ would almost have to be a bench player which as many have noted his body language didn't seem good about. This is a great offense, gives you good looks almost every time down and a lot of offensive rebounding opportunities with defenders scrambling but it does take full buy in.

 

Here's the risk: if you bring him back and you know it just isn't working for whatever reason, is there a contingency plan?

Do you send him home? Is there a backdoor deal with Houston?

You have to have a contingency plan during the season. Hope Rob does...

 

I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to benching him for entire games to embarrass him in his hometown when it’s obvious due to his attitude …. before sending him home. Just for spite. Neither help the trade deadline though.

 

A more realistic scenario would be 32 for LeBron, which is a little less than the 33.4 he averaged (career low) in 2020-21 (49 games).

Lakers would be ecstatic with that number, considering he averaged 37.2 last season.

0-6: Both (LBJ 6, RW 6)
6-10: RW
10-12: LeBron (LBJ 8, RW 10)
0-6: LeBron
6-10: RW (LBJ 14, RW 14)
10-12: Both (16-16 and x2 is 32 minutes a game)

Repeat, assuming RW is someone that has earned finishing a game with. Adjust accordingly if he isn't....

That would be Russ running the offense 16 minutes a game and LBJ running it the other 32 minutes (2/3 of the time)....

Of course the best case is still no RW on this team whatsof**king ever, be Ham'd with what is being said now...

 

I think we may consider to sit him. He is the one who loses the most.
I think our goal is to be the buyers, not sellers. So to reach a point where a team approach us because they want him (and is huge expiring) and not that we are the ones calling first. I like that plan

That's actually better. It's less time with Russ alone and LeBron always comes to finish the quarter and stop any bleeding.
In the 4th it would need a twist, because LeBron would only go in in the final 2 minutes, which would not happen.

I also don't see Russ playing only 32mpg. LeBron will probably have his minutes managed and likely AD as well. So Russ should play more, unfortunately. Unless we are actually capable of having at least 3/4 other reliable guys who can play big minutes or a squad depth of 11/12 to extend rotations, which is unlikely with our lack of financial flexibility

 

i don't think 2 minute stints are very common?

lebron can play the first 8, then play the last 8

russ can play the first and last 4 and the middle 8. this gives russ some run against second units, which is probably a good thing.

AD can play with either, so his pattern can depend on which lineups work best with him as the season goes on?

but yeah, i revert to my opinion that russ just being a sixth man is the right thing. he comes in when lebron sits, goes back out when lebron comes back, and if he's going good, he gets to finish the half. but he'll never go for it.

 

whatsof***ing ever

^^^

 

I personally don’t want Lebron running plays for a full 32 mins. It means less energy for defence from him ,and it makes us too predictable. When he gets tired he just pounds the ball for the shot clock and takes a step back three or drives into the teeth of the defence with 5 seconds left. If he misses he then complains to the ref instead of getting back in transition.

I’m fine with him taking 5-8 mins off and not having to bring the ball up ever. This also doesn’t mean he isn’t involved in the play for those 5-8 mins, it just means we run new interesting plays for our personnel.

Like pika and abeer said those 4th quarter minutes for Lebron would be a bit odd. I imagine they’ll also play him slightly less in the first half and more to close the game. And if we blow someone out then he may not even come back in the fourth.

 

i loved hearing ham specifically call out dribbling 18 times and jacking. he clearly watched lebron last year.

 

I was thinking the same thing haha!

 

The problem is his SELFISHNESS and his unwillingness to change for the betterment of the team.
Yeah, if he’s playing, we will be awful, again.

 

Yeah, you really think LeGM is going to drastically change his game?
I’ll believe it when I see it.

 

True. Hell, if you listen carefully, he said a lot of things targeting big flaws of our game last year. That's what gave me confidence and hype, it seems the FO saw the same (hence signing Ham) and that they discussed it and know what needs to be changed (hence, the different hints from Ham's speech). If they will be able to do it it's a different thing, but the first step seems to be done.

Other thing I loved and forgot to mention was Ham saying that you need to move the ball in offense and move the players around, as that puts your superstar in a position to go 1on1 or 2on1 and make a difference. That's what they do with Giannis and it's an underrated philosophy.
Usually when you have superstars you kinda rely on them to bring the ball up and make an iso and score. They are so good that sometimes it works. But if you actually move the ball and unsettle the defensive positioning of the opponent, you'll get a ton of looks where your superstars find themselves in a position where they have more space and then their quality does the rest.
I hate AD iso from the 45' 3pt line or the elbow with his back to the basket. But I love it when we attack the basket and get him the ball with him FACING the basket, it's most of the time an automatic bucket because he's so long, skilled and talented that almost no one in the league can stop it.
Same with LeBron and the mentioned over dribbling and jack up 3s he likes. Yuck

We have a lot of bad habits. It will be hard for these superstars to forget them in a season. But hope they feel embarrassed with last year.

We talk about health but LeBron-AD (and Russ) were 11-10 when together. That's not good.