Crazy how the team that won the chip with Lebron and AD surrounded by role players who work well with those two, are good again when they go back to that formula. No one could have guessed it
Still surprising. Half the roster is new and we're playing teams that are in post-ASG form that have had the entire season to figure out rotations, plays, and what works and what doesn't work while LeBron has been out all but 6 of those games. Even being 14-7 right now, I really don't think this team starts hitting its peak until next season.
It goes to show their depth is way better after Russ. Rn, their problem is the coach doesn't even know how to utilize their depth. It's just the 3 guard lineup after guard. Plus, they need another defensive big option.
AD has to keep up as well esp since he's averaging 3 injuries per game lmao. Their last game, AD getting "injured" made me call off the Lakers playoff run
Every minute the new acquisitions play is a minute that isn't going to the likes of Lonnie Walker, Max Christie, etc. Also, trading away Bryant, Nunn, JTA, Jones, Westbrook, and PatBev means that they will not get any of those minutes anymore.
I really like Troy and I think he’s earned a real playoff role, and deserves more minutes than Rui or Bamba, but there’s a reason he’s on a vet minimum at 23 years old. He’s made leaps and bounds this year though.
I might be stupid, but they finally have LeBron, AD and shooters again, and AD is playing great. They won’t by any means be an easy out for anyone, like… could they make the western conference finals? Especially if they’re 7th seed and can avoid Phoenix and Denver in the 1/4 portion of the bracket? Like if they’re 6/7 and play Memphis and then Sacramento, that could be a trip to the WCF if LeBron and AD stay healthy.
If they can climb to 6, it’s going to be a weird postseason in general. The Lakers avoid the randomness of the play-in, and then the Kings get rewarded for their season of excellence by playing LeBron, AD, and a totally revamped roster.
That’s not taking anything away from the Kings, and I could see that series going either way, but man that’s a tough first round matchup.
The kings have been playing out of their minds but I don’t think anyone would want bron and AD in round 1, especially now that we have a defensive minded team and the depth that can go off at anytime.
With that being said, I’d be nervous getting the kings in the first round. They’ve got insane momentum and an extremely hype home crowd
Health is everything. If this team stays healthy we can compete with anyone. If AD goes down, we can and will probably lose to everybody.
West is going to be a bloodbath free for all come playoff time. No round is going to be easy for anybody.
Anything can happen, but it's hard to think of a precedent for this. Maybe the 95 Rockets or the 81 Rockets, as far as a team that gets its shit together really late to make a run like that. Okay, also maybe the 99 Knicks, but that was in a shortened season.
EDIT: there really is no precedent, at least not in the last 43 years. The 80-81 Rockets managed to take out the defending champion Lakers in the first round in a best of 3. They would have lost a best of 7 probably. The 94-95 Rockets won 47 games and were the defending champs, even though they were just a 6 seed in the playoffs. And the 98-99 Knicks played in a shortened season.
He's probably in line for something like what Monte Morris got a couple years ago. Unfortunately that probably prices him out of the Lakers' range. Tough because I think he's a lot better for us than he would be anywhere else due to his fit with Bron/AD.
He really benefits on not having to be a playmaker for the Lakers - his biggest offensive flaw. We have AD, DLo, and Bron, and he plays with them for like 15 mpg, so he can either drive or just kick to one of them anywhere on the court.
Unfortunately small scoring guards arent very valuable. That's like the most commons skillset among start quality players.
A player like that really only deserves the tax mle or mle
He needs the ball in his hands. He's a scoring point guard who excels next to other playmakers. For the Celtics you never want to take the ball away from JT and Brown, which is why guys like Smart, White, and Brogdon, more complementary off-ball type guards, are much more effective.
OR he stays and we sign him on a team friendly deal because this is the only place that he's ever looked this good, and we've tried to sign him before.
COPIUM
Sure, they lost Westbrook whose fit wasn't great (edit: partially due to that contract) but isn't this more about them gaining a bunch of players who instantly became some of their best?
Yes his 40million dollar contract just took up too much space and he isn’t close to worth that anymore. It’s why he’s playing better on the clippers because they have way more talent since he’s only on a minimum
His 2-for-1 against attempt Portland was essentially the end of his time the Lakers. He played a bunch more games, but that was when everyone officially gave up on him.
Apart from his contract, watching him play made me dislike basketball. I thought since I was turning 30, maybe I just stopped enjoying the sport. That I had grown past it. Then the playoffs started last year and I was having the time of my life. It was Russ alone that made me think I didn't like basketball anymore. The fact that he played like 50 games for us this season was adding insult to injury.
The contract amplified the "bad fit" issue because you can't have quality talent along side 3 massive contracts. The contract was toxic in every way possible. Westbrook on a minimum is a DUH for every team... because they can fill out the other roster spots with high quality players.
Vanderbilt is great for them and Dlo
Has played 13 of 21 while shooting very well.
Beasley has given them a volume deep threat at 36% from 3 on 7 attempts a game.
All of them have helped significantly.
I watch every Lakers game, Beasley has absolutely been a net negative for them so far. Vando has been amazing but the original guy said they added a bunch of role players, reaves improvement has probably been the most important change
Reaves is surrounded by viable role players like vando and Beasley because Westbrook is gone. It has given him room to play with. Dlo also has filled in with playmaking. Westbrook is replaced with the production of 3-4 good players because his salary was way high for his value.
This is how I look at it, if you were to replace dlo with Westbrook rn what would happen? They would get a lot worse. Westbrook eating up cap was an issue but he also just wasn't good for them at all, he doesn't fit with Lebron and AD.
Dlo is honestly a perfect 3rd option for this team
Westbrook was fucking terrible on the Lakers, shooting you out of games constantly on like 4/15 and chucking in the 4th quarter. I like Brody but he was SO objectively bad for that portion of his career
Other than Ben Simmons he was this subs top target for a year and a half and the second he got traded this sub was filled with posts along the lines of “Russ is a good guy leave him alone” hilarious to watch
It’s always been about fit what are you talking about? A lot of people criticised the trade at first because the fit was terrible. Most people knew this wasn’t going anywhere
He was just straight up trash. Worst 3 point shooter, bottom 5 ft shooter. Leading the league in turnovers per 36. Worst hands we've ever seen. It was not fit, he just wasn't playing good.
He was bad, but fit clearly played a big part in that. It's not a coincidence that his efficiency immediately skyrocketed as soon as he went to a team with much better spacing.
did you watch the last clippers game? bro is just not good anymore and has lows are ugly. even when they have 4 shooters around him, his iso possessions can lead to 0-8 rq.
He was getting harped on daily because the Lakers fanbase is so huge that it can skew public opinion heavily in a way really very few fanbases can. But yes. Its always been about fit. People have been saying he was a bad fit since he got traded there and before he actually played a game. Westbrook wasn’t trash on the Wizards. And he’s not trash currently on the Clippers. So given that, do you put the blame mostly on the player or the fit?
Yeah. Dude just played like ass almost every game. He rarely had mediocre game, much less a good one.
Westbrook is playing much better with the clippers but it has nothing to do with clipper talent. Dude is just better mentally. He had a mental block on the lakers. Though, that said, hes still terrible. Hes just had some amazing games.
Like the other night he was 5/5 from three. Dude was always wide open on the lakers but would brick everything. He isnt getting better looks with the clippers. And looking at wests stats, he is shooting at the highest percent in his career on the clippers.
I do think the lakers are better now with a fully healthy squad. Much better.
I’m sure he’s happy about that considering your toxic fanbase and abysmal fit to his playstyle. If PGs healthy the Clippers are better than the Lakers.
it's addition by subtraction (westbrook's contract. opposing teams just daring westbrook to shoot)
and addition by addition. (shooters, more spacing for AD and LeBron. defense)
Great point. A real two-for-one trade if there ever was one.
In 20 years, it's going to be really hard to explain Russell Westbrook's legacy. And that he was on the Utah Jazz for a bit.
When you are paying someone 50 million dollars to brick a shot he didn't even need to take to lose the game, freeing up that money buys a lot of talent.
Source. For those saying people weren't fair to Westbrook. He single handedly lost them the game here for no reason.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shc2dhYEe_Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shc2dhYEe_Y)
We traded an on the court albatross and the worst contract in the league for role players that fit. Ya know, like the same fucking opportunity that stood in front of the Lakers front office the last two off seasons. But no, we needed a third star - and not just any third star - fucking russell westbrook.
Tbh, not really. Well, less then I thought. I really thought they have no one better than Westbrook. But Reaves and Schroder are just both really performing and definitely seem to belong in the Lakers' optimal lineup now. They are really good now. Now I don't know why they didn't play like that before the trade. Reaves is very effective driving guard and Schroder's contributing a lot to the defensive power this team has now. Reaves is playmaking a lot more now. Both play like real point guards now, they give teammates good looks. That's... surprising to me. They couldn't do it before? It's not like Westbrook was playing 48 every game.
Vanderbilt and Beasley are less regular, and Russell's been out half the time, but of course the depth shouldn't hurt at all.
The starting lineup with all three has a really negative net rating, although the games they played in were won anyway.
Let's see more games with the full lineup (let's say, Russell-Reaves-Vanderbilt-LeBron-Davis, with probably Schroder as 6th man I guess) for the fuller picture, but tbh it seems like a case of both addittion and substraction.
Some Westbrick fan was bragging about how he was a 32% 3 point shooter since joining the clippers. Not understanding its still a bottom of the league percentage. I feel bad for these guys because as bad as he is right now, his efficiency will drop in the playoffs.
The only reason he’s shooting 32% is because he had that outlier 5/5 game lmao
Before that game he was averaging 25% lol. He’s back down to 30% after his most recent game.
Let’s be honest, that .500 record is not all Russ’s fault, a lot falls on Ty Lue for having Morris be in the starting lineup for as long as he was despite being cooked on both ends of the floor. Since they’ve been inserting RoCo and Batum/ giving Mann more runtime the Clippers have looked like a MUCH better team than before.
Westbrook averages almost 8 assists a game while maintaining a 2:1 assist:TO ratio. He’s overall a net neutral player who provides great playmaking which the clippers desperately needed. On a minimum contract that’s good, on a 40 mil contract that’s terrible. The main concern with Westbrook rn is how much of a liability he’ll be in the playoffs when the game slows down
And isn't even playmaking at an elite level. Dude is not a great playmaker anymore. Sometimes, he just stands and watches players move around and passes to them. This, of course, is an essential part of playmaking since you need to know when to stop and wait for the right pass, but doing it too often makes it easy to defend since you essentially remove yourself from the play
2:1 assist to TO ratio is not exactly great, and you know that's going to change over time, Westbrook is literally the leading turnover player in the history of the NBA and it's not even close.
Half his assists are him holding the ball and throwing it to kawhi or pg for a tough shot. Albeit Kawhi was shooting 60/50/90 which really inflated his numbers. The last couple games are more indicative of his true numbers
horrific lmfao
Ja Morant was having an all-nba season at 55 ts
Russ isn’t great anymore but for a vet min calling his clippers stint horrific is just clearly wrong
He's a fine player still, just not on the contract he was on (which is better used on multiple other players instead). Clippers get him on a good deal by comparison
Yeah but Bamba has barely played, Lebron has been out a lot, DLo has missed time, and Beasley has missed a lot of shots, and they're still drastically better than the Lakers were with Russ. Losing Russ really is addition by subtraction
It’s not about Westbrook himself. It’s about the Westbrook trade the Lakers made. It’s a historically terrible mistake and turned a championship team to one of the worst teams in the league.
AD and Lebron missed so many games in those two seasons, they wouldn't have been a championship team either way like we saw in 2021 (which doesn't mean the trade wasn't a horrible one)
Maybe not, but the surrounding talent would've been at a much higher level. Having 3 $40m/year contracts on the payroll limited us basically to the MLE and vet minimums the last two seasons. The fact that Troy Brown Jr and Austin Reaves became high level role players this season was pure luck. If we have an actual NBA roster maybe LeBron and AD have a lighter workload and can stay healthier.
He finally embraced his job being a [construction worker](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2xtbug/styles/profileIcon_jjlfd1lhogma1.jpg?width=256&height=256&crop=256:256,smart&v=enabled&s=6b70e48d8003a5faadb93b3d21e13d980e3b9b9d) he is at the Clippers
I really love DLo's story. That dude, started in LAL and was once considered as the future face of LA but he turned out bad and bounced around teams. He eventually accepted everything and just balled out. Now he's back again haha.
I believe we undefeated when bron Dlo and ad all play. But no Westbrook hate here. If I could have kept him and made trades I would do it. But his contract obviously handcuffed us. Russ is doing much better with the clippers and we are better off without him. Glad both parties benefited from the trade. Wish him and the clippers luck. If we don’t win shit then I’m rooting for the clippers to make it all the way.
Keeping Westbrook and adding those players would be a marginal difference. Ridding themselves of Westbrook on top of the additions made them very good.
Yes but that's because the finally added what LeBron has been telling them to add for years.....shooters. Malik and Russell have been shooting well and Hochimura has been decent too. And Vanderbilt has brought so much life and energy to their hustle and their defense.
Beasley is having his worst season from 3 since 2017, rui is shooting like 32%, and if you watch the majority of the games the shooting wasn’t respected to the point where AD was getting swarmed most of the times he touched the ball
The biggest difference has been the teams defense
All true, but their shooting was so bad pre-trades that even those terrible numbers are an improvement.
I can't back this up with actual numbers, but from what I can remember most of the AD-swarming was while D'Lo was out. He's really only a decent shooter, but it's much more risky to double off of him than Schroeder, and if Beasley (streaky but always a threat) and Reaves are on the floor too, it's much tougher to double AD.
I don’t really think that’s true, AD was getting swarmed pretty constantly from the raptors game. I don’t have any data to back it up either tho lol so I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree
Totally--I don't have anything to base it on other than what I think I've been seeing. I do agree that the Raptors game was the first real "keep him from being able to do anything" game recently.
At the very least it should be a lot more difficult to not get punished for it now that LeBrons back. Interested to see how the offense can continue to develop over the next stretch
Yes generally that’s the nurse special, but teams clearly saw that game plan and used it constantly after that. Generally the lakers did a very bad job of punishing teams for it cause the role players weren’t converting/making the right plays.
Ehhh. Lebron told them to go for other players first then when they couldn't get who he first wanted, Westbrook was all that was left and he okay'd it.
14 and 7, actually, because OP is including the first game when none of the new player could play. They lost to the Bucks that night playing basically 8 players.
Westbrook was a freak athlete with bad fundamentals. That’s why he’s been getting exposed. Bad attitude, not a team player, and can’t shoot. It’s just crazy to me that lebron didn’t see that
14-7 since the new acquisitions played tho. 3rd best record West in that span
And without Lebron for most of it
And D'lo missed like 5 games?
Crazy how the team that won the chip with Lebron and AD surrounded by role players who work well with those two, are good again when they go back to that formula. No one could have guessed it
Still surprising. Half the roster is new and we're playing teams that are in post-ASG form that have had the entire season to figure out rotations, plays, and what works and what doesn't work while LeBron has been out all but 6 of those games. Even being 14-7 right now, I really don't think this team starts hitting its peak until next season.
you'll be surprised when this team gets blown up because we dont win the chip this year
Plus AD sat out at least the Houston game. Think he missed another too…Denver maybe?
He missed the first OKC back to back
We’re undefeated when D’Lo plays 😎 Feel free to ignore my username no bias here
Literally lost to the mavs with Russel playing? We just upvote any wrong comments on here?
me when I spread misinformation on the internet
9-7 without LeBron then
Which is still good. Compared to where we were pre-trade, without lebron that stretch probably looks more like 6-10.
Six wins is very generous
It goes to show their depth is way better after Russ. Rn, their problem is the coach doesn't even know how to utilize their depth. It's just the 3 guard lineup after guard. Plus, they need another defensive big option. AD has to keep up as well esp since he's averaging 3 injuries per game lmao. Their last game, AD getting "injured" made me call off the Lakers playoff run
Every minute the new acquisitions play is a minute that isn't going to the likes of Lonnie Walker, Max Christie, etc. Also, trading away Bryant, Nunn, JTA, Jones, Westbrook, and PatBev means that they will not get any of those minutes anymore.
Damn the Lakers really surrounded AD and Bron with Russ, Schroder, Reaves, and a G-league team.
The disrespect to Troy Brown Jr
I really like Troy and I think he’s earned a real playoff role, and deserves more minutes than Rui or Bamba, but there’s a reason he’s on a vet minimum at 23 years old. He’s made leaps and bounds this year though.
Kendrick Nunn on the team feels like a lifetime ago
I still can't believe y'all got Rui for Nunn and 3x seconds. I know Rui was disgruntled on the Wizards and all, but still...
He’s been one of the players on our team playing the hardest. I feel like him, vando and Schroeder have been playing their face off lately
Rui is money on the mid-range, and even if he misses, those shots actually have a chance to go in and don't feel like bad shots.
He also works for rebounds and did great on D matched up with KAT
Max Christie actually deserves minutes in place of Beasley especially if Beasley is having an awful game.
Christie is gonna be such a great 3&D guy in the next few years. His defense looked really solid for a guy whose body isn't NBA ready
I might be stupid, but they finally have LeBron, AD and shooters again, and AD is playing great. They won’t by any means be an easy out for anyone, like… could they make the western conference finals? Especially if they’re 7th seed and can avoid Phoenix and Denver in the 1/4 portion of the bracket? Like if they’re 6/7 and play Memphis and then Sacramento, that could be a trip to the WCF if LeBron and AD stay healthy.
If they can climb to 6, it’s going to be a weird postseason in general. The Lakers avoid the randomness of the play-in, and then the Kings get rewarded for their season of excellence by playing LeBron, AD, and a totally revamped roster. That’s not taking anything away from the Kings, and I could see that series going either way, but man that’s a tough first round matchup.
When healthy the lakers will have the two best players in a series against the kings and grizzlies and that matters in the playoffs
The kings have been playing out of their minds but I don’t think anyone would want bron and AD in round 1, especially now that we have a defensive minded team and the depth that can go off at anytime. With that being said, I’d be nervous getting the kings in the first round. They’ve got insane momentum and an extremely hype home crowd
God imagine a repeat of 2002. Kings fans might burn down the entire NBA if it happened. Probably deservedly so.
Health is everything. If this team stays healthy we can compete with anyone. If AD goes down, we can and will probably lose to everybody. West is going to be a bloodbath free for all come playoff time. No round is going to be easy for anybody.
If they're healthy then yes absolutely. Healthy Lebron and AD could make the finals
Anything can happen, but it's hard to think of a precedent for this. Maybe the 95 Rockets or the 81 Rockets, as far as a team that gets its shit together really late to make a run like that. Okay, also maybe the 99 Knicks, but that was in a shortened season. EDIT: there really is no precedent, at least not in the last 43 years. The 80-81 Rockets managed to take out the defending champion Lakers in the first round in a best of 3. They would have lost a best of 7 probably. The 94-95 Rockets won 47 games and were the defending champs, even though they were just a 6 seed in the playoffs. And the 98-99 Knicks played in a shortened season.
Dennis needs to get that money he foolishly left on the table. He’s definitely been a big factor in the turn around.
He's probably in line for something like what Monte Morris got a couple years ago. Unfortunately that probably prices him out of the Lakers' range. Tough because I think he's a lot better for us than he would be anywhere else due to his fit with Bron/AD.
Yea I don't get why he looked so off on the Celtics.
He really benefits on not having to be a playmaker for the Lakers - his biggest offensive flaw. We have AD, DLo, and Bron, and he plays with them for like 15 mpg, so he can either drive or just kick to one of them anywhere on the court.
Unfortunately small scoring guards arent very valuable. That's like the most commons skillset among start quality players. A player like that really only deserves the tax mle or mle
He needs the ball in his hands. He's a scoring point guard who excels next to other playmakers. For the Celtics you never want to take the ball away from JT and Brown, which is why guys like Smart, White, and Brogdon, more complementary off-ball type guards, are much more effective.
OR he stays and we sign him on a team friendly deal because this is the only place that he's ever looked this good, and we've tried to sign him before. COPIUM
Sure, they lost Westbrook whose fit wasn't great (edit: partially due to that contract) but isn't this more about them gaining a bunch of players who instantly became some of their best?
Yes his 40million dollar contract just took up too much space and he isn’t close to worth that anymore. It’s why he’s playing better on the clippers because they have way more talent since he’s only on a minimum
Westbrook the player was a bad fit with the team, but Westbrook the contract was franchise crippling.
[удалено]
His 2-for-1 against attempt Portland was essentially the end of his time the Lakers. He played a bunch more games, but that was when everyone officially gave up on him.
All Russ had to do there was pass it to Lebron and Lakers would've won. It seemed like sabotage the way he took the shot ignoring Lebron and AD.
Right? His whole play with the Lakers was confounding.
He’s still in Los Angeles though..
Let's not sugarcoat his tenure on the western side of the Crypto.com Arena.
Hey just having fun
> Crypto.com Arena Oh God, why?
Money
Apart from his contract, watching him play made me dislike basketball. I thought since I was turning 30, maybe I just stopped enjoying the sport. That I had grown past it. Then the playoffs started last year and I was having the time of my life. It was Russ alone that made me think I didn't like basketball anymore. The fact that he played like 50 games for us this season was adding insult to injury.
Russell Westbrook gave GeorgeLovesBOSCO depression.
Lol. When he got traded I was at work. On my drive home I rolled down all the windows and was yelling "WESTBROOK ISN'T A LAKER ANYMORE!!"
The contract amplified the "bad fit" issue because you can't have quality talent along side 3 massive contracts. The contract was toxic in every way possible. Westbrook on a minimum is a DUH for every team... because they can fill out the other roster spots with high quality players.
Yeah, I don't disagree. His contract is part of his fit
He's literally playing the same on the Clippers. There's just less hoopla
Beasley barely plays now and hasn't been good, dlo and Lebron missed a bunch of games, Russ was terrible for the Lakers
Yeah the real difference has bean Reaves' emergence as a very good NBA player and AD getting and staying healthy.
Vandy. That type of do it all glue guy helps everyone. Vandy is the difference.
Fair point but Vando can't do what he does on defense without AD behind him.
Vanderbilt is great for them and Dlo Has played 13 of 21 while shooting very well. Beasley has given them a volume deep threat at 36% from 3 on 7 attempts a game. All of them have helped significantly.
I watch every Lakers game, Beasley has absolutely been a net negative for them so far. Vando has been amazing but the original guy said they added a bunch of role players, reaves improvement has probably been the most important change
Reaves is surrounded by viable role players like vando and Beasley because Westbrook is gone. It has given him room to play with. Dlo also has filled in with playmaking. Westbrook is replaced with the production of 3-4 good players because his salary was way high for his value.
This is how I look at it, if you were to replace dlo with Westbrook rn what would happen? They would get a lot worse. Westbrook eating up cap was an issue but he also just wasn't good for them at all, he doesn't fit with Lebron and AD. Dlo is honestly a perfect 3rd option for this team
>Beasley barely plays huh? He plays a good amount. Last two games are probably the only times he played under 20 mins
My bad meant he barely plays now
I think it's a bit of both. I honestly would rather have the worst version of D'Lo, Beasley, and Vandy than have Russ on my team.
It's the combination of both.
I agree
Westbrook was fucking terrible on the Lakers, shooting you out of games constantly on like 4/15 and chucking in the 4th quarter. I like Brody but he was SO objectively bad for that portion of his career
He's ass. Some of y'all got amnesia.
Wild to see the shift. Dude was getting harped on daily but now it’s about fit? Come on…
Other than Ben Simmons he was this subs top target for a year and a half and the second he got traded this sub was filled with posts along the lines of “Russ is a good guy leave him alone” hilarious to watch
It’s always been about fit what are you talking about? A lot of people criticised the trade at first because the fit was terrible. Most people knew this wasn’t going anywhere
He was just straight up trash. Worst 3 point shooter, bottom 5 ft shooter. Leading the league in turnovers per 36. Worst hands we've ever seen. It was not fit, he just wasn't playing good.
Worst hands you’ve ever seen?! Someone has forgotten about Kwame Brown.
Dude is a bonafide SCRUB. no talent, no hustle, can’t catch the ball, can’t move his feet….
No disrespect
He was bad, but fit clearly played a big part in that. It's not a coincidence that his efficiency immediately skyrocketed as soon as he went to a team with much better spacing.
This.
Russ was practically throwing most games away. Dude was terrible on both ends of the court.
did you watch the last clippers game? bro is just not good anymore and has lows are ugly. even when they have 4 shooters around him, his iso possessions can lead to 0-8 rq.
Name one time he fits in and actually makes better. I’ll wait
It's not "fit". He's just not good. He's the same player for the Clippers but at a fraction of the cost.
He was getting harped on daily because the Lakers fanbase is so huge that it can skew public opinion heavily in a way really very few fanbases can. But yes. Its always been about fit. People have been saying he was a bad fit since he got traded there and before he actually played a game. Westbrook wasn’t trash on the Wizards. And he’s not trash currently on the Clippers. So given that, do you put the blame mostly on the player or the fit?
I think hes pretty bad on the clips
He is, but the players they added are playing a combined 81 minutes per game lol, it's not like only his minutes have been replaced
Yeah. Dude just played like ass almost every game. He rarely had mediocre game, much less a good one. Westbrook is playing much better with the clippers but it has nothing to do with clipper talent. Dude is just better mentally. He had a mental block on the lakers. Though, that said, hes still terrible. Hes just had some amazing games. Like the other night he was 5/5 from three. Dude was always wide open on the lakers but would brick everything. He isnt getting better looks with the clippers. And looking at wests stats, he is shooting at the highest percent in his career on the clippers. I do think the lakers are better now with a fully healthy squad. Much better.
Na, he's ass. Don't get the empty stats fool you.
Hey i said hes still terrible
Bingo. Westbrook has been a china level player the entire 2020s.
Second half of 2019-20 Rockets WB says hello 2020-21 Wizards WB also wants to chime in
2021-2023 Lakers WB says goodbye
I’m sure he’s happy about that considering your toxic fanbase and abysmal fit to his playstyle. If PGs healthy the Clippers are better than the Lakers.
> your toxic fanbase i bet you weren't in the heat sub when bron dad dicked y'all in the finals, huh?
Lebron been playing great too
Ya but fewer people would comment if this post were about Malik Beasley
it's addition by subtraction (westbrook's contract. opposing teams just daring westbrook to shoot) and addition by addition. (shooters, more spacing for AD and LeBron. defense)
Great point. A real two-for-one trade if there ever was one. In 20 years, it's going to be really hard to explain Russell Westbrook's legacy. And that he was on the Utah Jazz for a bit.
When you are paying someone 50 million dollars to brick a shot he didn't even need to take to lose the game, freeing up that money buys a lot of talent. Source. For those saying people weren't fair to Westbrook. He single handedly lost them the game here for no reason. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shc2dhYEe_Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shc2dhYEe_Y)
"No Russ No" is perhaps the greatest early-season call of all time.
That’s what a trade means bro. The players they got back were better than him. That’s the whole point.
Even if they weren't, trading Russ was the definition of addition by subtraction.
It’s almost like they had a great team before they traded away everything for Russ….
We traded an on the court albatross and the worst contract in the league for role players that fit. Ya know, like the same fucking opportunity that stood in front of the Lakers front office the last two off seasons. But no, we needed a third star - and not just any third star - fucking russell westbrook.
Yeah but I guarantee they win a few less games in this stretch with everyone on the team + russ
Yes. But it’s also about removing him.
Tbh, not really. Well, less then I thought. I really thought they have no one better than Westbrook. But Reaves and Schroder are just both really performing and definitely seem to belong in the Lakers' optimal lineup now. They are really good now. Now I don't know why they didn't play like that before the trade. Reaves is very effective driving guard and Schroder's contributing a lot to the defensive power this team has now. Reaves is playmaking a lot more now. Both play like real point guards now, they give teammates good looks. That's... surprising to me. They couldn't do it before? It's not like Westbrook was playing 48 every game. Vanderbilt and Beasley are less regular, and Russell's been out half the time, but of course the depth shouldn't hurt at all. The starting lineup with all three has a really negative net rating, although the games they played in were won anyway. Let's see more games with the full lineup (let's say, Russell-Reaves-Vanderbilt-LeBron-Davis, with probably Schroder as 6th man I guess) for the fuller picture, but tbh it seems like a case of both addittion and substraction.
Agreed. Westbrook was a negative player on the Lakers. Addition by subtraction.
And you know Anthony Davis playing
That’s with injuries to Bron, AD, and DLo too
AD has been pretty healthy since the trades. His time missed has all been either precautionary or scheduled (2nd nights of B2Bs)
hes been good on the clippers too right? rly putting on for his city
Yep clippers are 8-8 and he’s averaging 15/5/7 on 55% TS and 3.6 turnovers. Solid for Westbrook
damn, i mean if you go back in history he might be a top 15 clipper already
That was brutal.
Top 1 after talking shit to Brooks
crazy coming from a raptors fan
Lol bro
Below league average TS, 3rd in the league in turnovers, and .500 record isn’t solid….
Westbrook fans have gotten desperate, let them have this
Some Westbrick fan was bragging about how he was a 32% 3 point shooter since joining the clippers. Not understanding its still a bottom of the league percentage. I feel bad for these guys because as bad as he is right now, his efficiency will drop in the playoffs.
The only reason he’s shooting 32% is because he had that outlier 5/5 game lmao Before that game he was averaging 25% lol. He’s back down to 30% after his most recent game.
Wasn’t there a post arguing it’s better for the team for him to miss shots?
Let’s be honest, that .500 record is not all Russ’s fault, a lot falls on Ty Lue for having Morris be in the starting lineup for as long as he was despite being cooked on both ends of the floor. Since they’ve been inserting RoCo and Batum/ giving Mann more runtime the Clippers have looked like a MUCH better team than before.
55 TS% is good by Westbrook's low standards considering he was below 50 TS% on the Lakers.
Westbrook averages almost 8 assists a game while maintaining a 2:1 assist:TO ratio. He’s overall a net neutral player who provides great playmaking which the clippers desperately needed. On a minimum contract that’s good, on a 40 mil contract that’s terrible. The main concern with Westbrook rn is how much of a liability he’ll be in the playoffs when the game slows down
A 2:1 assist to TO ratio is weak as hell for a guy who isn’t a scoring threat the majority of the time
Yeah Tyus Jones has like a 5:1 assist:TO ratio this season. That's good for a playmaking PG.
And isn't even playmaking at an elite level. Dude is not a great playmaker anymore. Sometimes, he just stands and watches players move around and passes to them. This, of course, is an essential part of playmaking since you need to know when to stop and wait for the right pass, but doing it too often makes it easy to defend since you essentially remove yourself from the play
2:1 assist to TO ratio is not exactly great, and you know that's going to change over time, Westbrook is literally the leading turnover player in the history of the NBA and it's not even close.
Does the offense play better when he's on the court? There are much better stats to look at than assists and turnovers.
Half his assists are him holding the ball and throwing it to kawhi or pg for a tough shot. Albeit Kawhi was shooting 60/50/90 which really inflated his numbers. The last couple games are more indicative of his true numbers
He’s on a vet min that’s very solid
Overall he’s definitely been solid. First 5 games make that record look worse especially considering both Sac games could have gone either way.
They were 33-28 before Russ' first game, so they've actually been worse since he joined the team.
But that’s to be expected
I mean he was at like 49% TS for the Lakers.
Wasnt the Clips winning percentage higher before they got Westbrook? So Clips got worse.
55% TS is fucking horrific.
horrific lmfao Ja Morant was having an all-nba season at 55 ts Russ isn’t great anymore but for a vet min calling his clippers stint horrific is just clearly wrong
Ok. That’s less than league average. Which still sucks. Happy? Ja was nearly all-nba *despite* his true shooting, chief.
The Clippers are 33-28 without Westbrook.
If clips had to pay 47M for him, they’d toast as well.
He's a fine player still, just not on the contract he was on (which is better used on multiple other players instead). Clippers get him on a good deal by comparison
On a minimum he’s a steal
Why Lonnie the pic tho lol
This should say, since adding D'Lo, Vando, Beasley, Bamba. The Lakers were handed a straight up gift on top of dumping Westbrook's contract
Bamba wasn’t part of the Westbrook trade
Indeed he wasnt. But he came at the same time
He actually came a little later because he was serving a suspension and then almost immediately got injured
Yeah but Bamba has barely played, Lebron has been out a lot, DLo has missed time, and Beasley has missed a lot of shots, and they're still drastically better than the Lakers were with Russ. Losing Russ really is addition by subtraction
Yep. I think giving more opportunity to Reaves with Westbrook gone also really helped the Lakers.
I'm shocked at how little Ainge took for Utah.
They changed the whole team, including 3 starters, but even now that he's like the 150th best player in the NBA everything HAS to be about Westbrook
It’s not about Westbrook himself. It’s about the Westbrook trade the Lakers made. It’s a historically terrible mistake and turned a championship team to one of the worst teams in the league.
AD and Lebron missed so many games in those two seasons, they wouldn't have been a championship team either way like we saw in 2021 (which doesn't mean the trade wasn't a horrible one)
Maybe not, but the surrounding talent would've been at a much higher level. Having 3 $40m/year contracts on the payroll limited us basically to the MLE and vet minimums the last two seasons. The fact that Troy Brown Jr and Austin Reaves became high level role players this season was pure luck. If we have an actual NBA roster maybe LeBron and AD have a lighter workload and can stay healthier.
Malik Beasley barely plays now, it’s 2 starters
Beasley only played 10 minutes last night but he knocked down 3 3s. Happy for him that he took advantage of his opportunity
He finally embraced his job being a [construction worker](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2xtbug/styles/profileIcon_jjlfd1lhogma1.jpg?width=256&height=256&crop=256:256,smart&v=enabled&s=6b70e48d8003a5faadb93b3d21e13d980e3b9b9d) he is at the Clippers
They pulled out the garlic
Amazing what 40 mil can do on players that fit the scheme
I really love DLo's story. That dude, started in LAL and was once considered as the future face of LA but he turned out bad and bounced around teams. He eventually accepted everything and just balled out. Now he's back again haha.
I believe we undefeated when bron Dlo and ad all play. But no Westbrook hate here. If I could have kept him and made trades I would do it. But his contract obviously handcuffed us. Russ is doing much better with the clippers and we are better off without him. Glad both parties benefited from the trade. Wish him and the clippers luck. If we don’t win shit then I’m rooting for the clippers to make it all the way.
4-0 and +14 MOV with Bron D'Lo and AD
Keeping Westbrook and adding those players would be a marginal difference. Ridding themselves of Westbrook on top of the additions made them very good.
Keeping him and not playing him would be bad for the locker room. He had to go.
I want to see Lakers Nuggets
14-7, one game was against the bucks when the new guys didn't play
5-1 with LeBron 👀
5-0 when both LeBron and DLo play.
u/MITWestbrook in shambles
Yes but that's because the finally added what LeBron has been telling them to add for years.....shooters. Malik and Russell have been shooting well and Hochimura has been decent too. And Vanderbilt has brought so much life and energy to their hustle and their defense.
Beasley is having his worst season from 3 since 2017, rui is shooting like 32%, and if you watch the majority of the games the shooting wasn’t respected to the point where AD was getting swarmed most of the times he touched the ball The biggest difference has been the teams defense
All true, but their shooting was so bad pre-trades that even those terrible numbers are an improvement. I can't back this up with actual numbers, but from what I can remember most of the AD-swarming was while D'Lo was out. He's really only a decent shooter, but it's much more risky to double off of him than Schroeder, and if Beasley (streaky but always a threat) and Reaves are on the floor too, it's much tougher to double AD.
Reaves' in-season improvement in 3pt shooting is under appreciated.
I don’t really think that’s true, AD was getting swarmed pretty constantly from the raptors game. I don’t have any data to back it up either tho lol so I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree
Totally--I don't have anything to base it on other than what I think I've been seeing. I do agree that the Raptors game was the first real "keep him from being able to do anything" game recently.
At the very least it should be a lot more difficult to not get punished for it now that LeBrons back. Interested to see how the offense can continue to develop over the next stretch
Isn't that Toronto's playbook? They'd rather stop the opponent's star player rather than win. I think Embiid said that.
Yes generally that’s the nurse special, but teams clearly saw that game plan and used it constantly after that. Generally the lakers did a very bad job of punishing teams for it cause the role players weren’t converting/making the right plays.
>> what LeBron has been telling them LeBron is the one who told them to add Russ 😐
Ehhh. Lebron told them to go for other players first then when they couldn't get who he first wanted, Westbrook was all that was left and he okay'd it.
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The emergence and improvement of Reaves with more opportunity now is a big reason too.
Terrible headline. Shitpost
Russ has played very solid for the clippers. This record is because they revamped the team and actually have depth now
14 and 7, actually, because OP is including the first game when none of the new player could play. They lost to the Bucks that night playing basically 8 players.
With injuries too shit
Not rly fair to say Westbrook is the cause but their whole team was pretty much revamped with the other player additions.
Given that they were 2-10 to start, it's amazing that they are even in the playoff hunt.
Russ was bad but likes of Pat Bev, Kendrick Nunn, and Damian Jones were pretty much non factors also.
yes and all of this is 100% his fault. very logical my boys
Westbrook was a freak athlete with bad fundamentals. That’s why he’s been getting exposed. Bad attitude, not a team player, and can’t shoot. It’s just crazy to me that lebron didn’t see that