Russell Westbrick Discussion: Clipper Gonna Clip

He was our best player in the first half


Three best consecutive games as a Laker. Props to him for that.

 

Another excellent game, I hope he shows a good attitude about not being out there in crunch time. At first I was a little confused but quickly realized that we needed Beverley out there on McCollum

 

Great first half.

Had 6 TO's total, though. Also, missed a 3 at a key time. I think had a season low in minutes tonight, too?

 

Ham pulled him after that missed 3? Also CJ isn't a good match for him on defense. He's seems better as a point of attack defender against bigger guys and not off ball/shifty types

That being said I'm happy for Russ: crowd seems to have gotten behind him and he was cheering. I hate his game but he's doing what the team is asking him and that's an admirable thing to do for a former MVP to do.

 

I’ve followed Russ his whole career. The guy is a highly sensitive, overly emotional enigma. When he has chemistry or feels supported by his teammates and staff, his game seems to loosen up and he plays with a reckless energy that leads to things like a triple double in a quarter/half.

When the opposite happens, he freezes up. This season he has been giving effort on the defensive end while bringing a lot of energy off the bench. When he is aggressively attacking the basket and play making he is a force of nature.

Ham gets a lot of props for building a bridge to Russ so far.

 

This is telling. If Russ stays a Laker, I was wondering what the plan was if he got his play back on track. If Ham would be tempted to reinsert him into the starting 5. But this sounds like he's committed to Russ the 6th man, which is good news considering this is the best role for this version of Russ on this team for as long as he's here. Whether that's for 15 more games or 75 more games.

 

Yep. Pulled him with 2:54 left in the fourth and didn't see him the rest of the game.

 

Only way Russ should start is if Lebron isn’t available. Staggering their minutes is key.

 

Interesting personality.

LOL.

 

Like I said, he is an overly sensitive, high levels of paranoia dude. He holds a grudge against the media for never having his back and painting him as a certain kind of guy and he keeps them at arms length. Even last week they were bringing stuff up about him not getting into huddles and not sitting near Lebron on the bench etc.

Don’t you think it’s interesting that every teammate or coach of his talks about how good of a team mate he is? As long as they ride with him I don’t care what the media says.

 

LOL yeah the attitude is there with those kinds of answers that he wasn’t happy about getting pulled and not back in in overtime, when he played pretty well all game. Am sure in his head “damn well” all game and damn sure better than LeBron’s act in the 4th and overtime. The female reporter brought up his positive plus minus last few games and he made sure that was agreed with from his point of view publicly. Another nice game and was terrific distributing the ball.

 

I was definitely a little annoyed at his attitude in those post-game clips, but to be fair I didn’t sense any negativity directed towards his team, coaching staff, role, etc. It did seem directed towards specific reporters, and that’s not a big deal to me.

I will say though, he’s showing a lot of promise to me as a sixth man… so much so that I never thought I’d say this just a few weeks ago, but I do think it’s in our best interest to make him happy and ensure he buys in to the team.

So on that note, if any part of his attitude after the game was about his situation on this team, I’d have to imagine that it stung to be benched for his former arch-nemesis Pat Bev even though Russ had been playing great and Beverley was not.

I can wrap my head around that decision because we needed to put up a fight against McCollum, but still that’s gotta hurt for Russ and I’m still not sure it was the best call. Putting myself in Westbrook’s shoes, that would have been pretty insulting to me.

So if I was Darvin, I’d consider throwing a DNP-CD towards Beverley soon, the way he did Nunn tonight. Show Russ that he’ll be rewarded if he’s productive in the role he feels he’s sacrificing for. Meanwhile, Pat Bev presents this image as being the selfless veteran who is willing to sacrifice for the team, well make him prove it and hopefully light a fire under him.

 

Russ has always been a bit surly with the media so it doesn’t surprise me.

 

However, I like that he’s embracing his role. Helps us a team and might even help his overall trade value.

also liked the crowd cheering for him. We’re tough on our guys but will rally behind you if you leave it all on the court. I think Russ definitely needed to hear that to encourage him to keep embracing his new role

 

little weird that he cares so much about the press coverage. it's antithetical to his (obviously false) claims that he doesn't care what people say and has proven himself to himself, which is all that matters. i mean, clearly not, right?

anyway, if +/- is the stat he wants to pump up, i'm HERE FOR IT.

 

so many stupid questions these guys ask

why play into their hands and let them twist your words if you don't have to.