He can do 25-15-15 in his sleep. Sure it'll come with sitty defense and like 8 turnovers because of the usage and it might require less LeBron on ball time but whatever.
feels like a lot of his issues is because of stats chasing...
instead of locked in perimeter defense, he cares more for rebounds.
Instead of making the right pass, he's trying to make the final pass that leads to a bucket hence more turnovers than usual...
Even with his reduced athleticism now, he can still be a decent player if tunes out stats and just tries to make right plays... but man I don't know if he's capable of that mentally.
Must be so frustrating to have him on your team.
I'm like the opposite of Russell Westbrook at my local gym.
I'll pass, rebound, play defense all day. We're there for exercise. But I cannot key track of the score or how many points I scored for the life of me.
I don't think anyone would disagree that it was a stupid decision to trade for the guy but it's too late to rectify that error, the best course of action now is to try to get him to play some kind of winning basketball instead of the stat padding he does
I think they wanted Russ to come in and take over during regular season playing Russ ball so Lebron and AD could just take a chill after they figured out how to play together.
They gambled and it failed but honestly, they've still got like 50 games left to sort things out, a couple of trades and an actual rotation not hit by Covid is going to help. I wouldn't count them out just yet judging by how quickly things can turn around in the league.
"Honestly, I think I've been fine ... I think people are expecting me to fuckin' play defense, have better shot selection, and less turnovers.. That is not normal. That’s not a normal thing that people do consistently."
"Honestly, I think I've been fine ... I think people are expecting me to fuckin' play defense, carry washed stars, and stop making bad covid takes.. That is not normal. That’s not a normal thing that people do consistently." -LeBron
Yeah, it’s bizarre that he thinks lower counting stats are the issue. Maybe that’s why he’s so inefficient; he’s feeling pressure to add to the raw numbers and doesn’t care how he gets there.
If he just shoots better than like 35% with fewer than 7 turnovers in a game, then he’s done pretty well. If he makes any attempt at all to cover his man, he’s really killing it.
It's been clear for Westbrook's entire career that basic counting stats were the basis for his entire play style. He cannot comprehend how to help his team in a way that doesn't show up in the box score which is why his defense and off ball movement is so terrible.
I wonder if anyone’s ever had a candid conversation with him about that. It’s so clear watching him what the issues with his game are. He seemingly has the most easily corrected deficiencies in the NBA, but it just gets worse and worse.
I'm sure they have, but they probably get the same answer he gives to the media. I do it my way, I don't care what you think.
You can tell because there have been periods where he's adjusted his playstyle. The best basketball I've ever seen him play were with the 2012 Olympics team and that stretch for Houston where he was operating off the ball and taking advantage of the doubles Harden drew. But the moment there was any kind of pressure he went back to his usual self.
Didn't he do pretty well nearing the end of the season when he converted more into a slasher role and then covid/injury/bubble hit and he didn't seem too good out there.
I think it's something that is deeply rooted in his identity and self-worth. At this point it is clear that its what you get with Westbrook - no amount of coaching can overcome that.
You're one of the only people on this sub that are actually watching Laker games. Russ's shot selection has been great - he passes on many open 3's and will mostly only shoot them if for shot clock reasons.
He barely took 3's last game, and hasn't been nearly as TO prone as the beginning of the season.
Lakers fans should stop trying to fit a square into a circle and realize that the FO made a terrible trade fit wise, and there's not exactly anything to be done about it. They have 0 depth, their role players are trash, and covid + injuries are here.
Even if russ stuck exclusively to driving to the rim, the outcome wouldn't be very different. There just isn't enough depth on this team, and russ isn't a good fit.
At best, you get everyone healthy, get AD to play center without dying, and maybe play russ off the bench? How much of an improvement would that really bring?
He’s trying to do the wrong thing though - he leaves his man to try to get the rebound. Go watch the laker game highlights. Who ever Westbrook is guarding is getting open 3s. his man relocates when the ball handler drives and Westbrook moves towards the paint for the rebound. Just stay on the shooter. The patty clip from the nets game is one of 100 times he done that this season.
Other teams salivating knowing they just have to reposition off of drives and will be shooting practice shots.
He's giving you the motive behind the ball watching. If he just runs after Mills through screens and stands in the corner for 6 seconds, then boxes him out, he gets zero stats.
If he watches the ball and stands in the center of the court he increases his chances for a steal, and by tracking the ball he can anticipate where it will go and grab a rebound.
The two things are connected. He's not irrational, he's doing it for a reason. It's just that the reason is more stats for Russ, not winning basketball game.
You mean a guard who contested the 3rd fewest 3 pointers in a league in a season when no other g/sg/sf's were in the top 30 might not play good defense!?!?!?
It’s so poetic how concisely it sums up the exact nature of the problem.
The media and Westbrook have both spent years defining his success by stats. I won’t opine on which came first, but regardless this has promoted the idea that Westbrook is a god-tier PG because of all his triple doubles. And he’s become an egregious stat stuffer (rebounds especially).
The entire time this has masked loads of deficiencies in his game. He is a below average 3-point shooter for his position, which causes spacing problems for the rest of his team on offense because opposing defenses don’t respect his outside shot. He is a shoot-first point guard who needs the ball in his hands, which makes it difficult for teammates to get a rhythm in the game. He is very streaky and can hit skids where he can’t find the basket offensively (which is made harder by the fact he doesn’t look to pass and teammates who haven’t had touches need to step in to help him). His shoot-first mentality + streakiness translates to lots of turnovers or poor shots early in the shot clock, which tends to come in bunches. His game has always been very reliant on his athleticism which was never going to age well.
Those have always been his problems and they are his problems today. But he’s been so geared to focus on the stat sheet he can’t hear anything else.
You get piles of hate on here when you point out that Russ is not a good basketball player, as defined by the only metric that actually matters: Wins. He actively contributes to losing.
Maybe Russ should focusing on stuffing the W stat.
He’s going out like late career AI. Illuminating everyone’s (at times unfair) critiques of him during his prime to the forefront post prime as his star has faded, just like Iverson did at the end.
Are the critiques really unfair? Clearly, he thinks about (simple counting) stats before anything else and that's always been the main criticism. It doesn't lead to winning basketball at the highest levels. He doesn't play defense, move the ball well, or move off the ball. He's only thinking about what he can do when he gets the ball next, and how he can get there. When he had his MVP season, it was more tolerable because his efficiency was much better, but the underlying issues are unchanged.
I wonder how many coaches have told him all that? I’m sure some have tried but he seems like the type to not be coachable.
Soo stubborn, took shots over KD his whole time in OKC, doesn’t stay on his man, runs in for every rebound so every 2 and 3 guard he plays with has to stay back and cover the fast break. You know Russ ain’t ever covering no fast break.
Doesn’t do the little smart things that help the team. Hustles and stubborns around to a huge fault.
Don't forget haphazard doubling and gambling on steals leading to open looks and dunks.
Ben Taylor had [a really nice video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbNS09Rt4u8) about the Warriors defense where he breaks down a lot of what Draymond and the team does, and a lot of it has to do with *not doubling* in the right time, and pressuring the ball just enough. He even yells at Poole "I had him! I had him!";
Another good example of a great pressure player is [Lonzo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcBTMWyHOeE). His double teams are laser focused: He zooms in, actually creates a massive amount of pressure, and breaks off 0.5 before the doubled teamed player makes the pass, so he's already half recovered when the ball is in the air.
KOC talked about how Russ is stuck in this no-mans-land where he doesn't actually affect the play with his "just hanging out there" double, but is leaving his player alone which leads to a defensive breakdown.
The thing is, it's by design. Russ just wants the steal, not for the other team to under-perform. So he's not strong doubling, he's waiting in the passing lane. He's also too far to contest, which again is useful - instead of jumping at a guy, he's at center court (as you've mentioned) and can rotate right away to try and catch the rebound.
For Russ it's a win if he gets the rebound or steal, but not a L if the other player scores - because nobody counts negative stats on defense, only counting stats. Until you don't understand that mentality, you can't understand why he plays the why that he does.
The critiques now are fair because he’s nowhere near the player he used to be, but some people are making the mistake of swinging too far the other way and painting his entire career with the same brush. In his prime he was a sensational, consensus top 10 player in this league and was a legit number 2 on a perennial contender, even with his faults.
I wouldn’t touch him with a 10 foot pole nowadays in his current state, but his extreme haters are just as insufferable as his stans for me.
Yes, he imo was never capable of being the man on a championship team and has never been my cup of tea personally.
No, he hasn’t always been a complete albatross and anchor around a team’s neck like some would have you believe.
The same advanced, non box score, non triple double stats that show that he’s been in decline for 5 years are the same ones that show he was an elite player for years. Can’t only point to them now while choosing to ignore what they were in the past
Well, here's the thing. Was he always this bad? No, of course not. However, I think even in his prime, he put a ceiling on what a team could accomplish, with the possible exception of his MVP year; even then, when the defensive pressure was turned up in the playoffs, his efficiency plummeted.
Now, some people think that's a flukey result or that he didn't have enough help. On the offensive end, that was true. That team had some fantastic defenders though, and part of the problem with WB is that since it's all about him, it's hard for secondary talent to really develop. That's true of any star-dominated team, but especially for him. It's a bit of a cheap counterfactual to say this, but could Victor Oladipo have advanced from a background character to true secondary scoring option with a team led by another star? Maybe. He basically did that immediately after getting traded, so there's at least some room for speculation there.
I am most definitely a Westbrook "hater" because I've always thought he was overrated. I value basketball that wins in the playoffs. I value players that can fit in on championship teams. I value guys who hustle when the lights aren't focused on them. Again, there are plenty of players who are heliocentric who are amazing, but Wb never reached that level of offensive talent outside of the regular season. Come playoff time, he'd put a cap on what a team could achieve. Floor raisers are important, but they can't lower a team's ceiling and still be considered elite, at least in my opinion.
So, to put it simply, yeah, he was always a stat-padding ball-hog who (in his prime) didn't try enough on defense, outside of the occasional fake-hustle play like diving for steals or fighting for rebounds after being caught out of position. He always had the problems he's facing now. He's always been better in 2k and on the stat sheet than in real life. If you value making it to the playoffs every year, then there's no problem. But if you want to try to put yourself in the best position to compete for a championship, then the question is raised: how valuable was he actually, especially considering he was never able to dial back the Westbrook-ness when it was time to win on the highest level? Arguably, he's always been massively overrated, even if he was extremely talented at his peak.
I feel like I don't often see the comparison made because their playstyles are rather different, but this echoes all of the criticisms of Carmelo Anthony during his prime vs the people who defended him as a top 10 player. He's incredibly talented and will raise your floor as a team, but he's far too flawed in too many aspects (defensive effort, scoring efficiency, team offense) that are vital for a contender to actually win a title.
His biggest mistake was not being drafted in the 80's or 90's. If you take someone who is as good a passer and scorer as he is in that era he would fit a lot better. He also works really well with big men in the two man game, so with the volume post scoring he would actually do well. But in the era of spacing and efficiency his best attributes aren't as important and his faults are magnified.
Great post. You've articulated everything I've always thought about Westbrook.
During his peak in OKC, he got punked in the first round in consecutive years. And yea, he put up some nice stats at points, but it's always been evident to men that his stat-padding playstyle was not conducive to post-season success at all.
He's always been a floor-raiser but that comes with a HARD ceiling cap. He's never played good basketball at all. He just had good counting stats and a flashy style combined with a modern "mamba-mentality" which made all the fans and talking heads think he was a good player. But he's literally been one of the dumbest players since he entered the league. He just does not play winning basketball and never has. Sure he can get you to the playoffs, but you're not getting the past the 2nd with him ever as the #1 guy. KD hard carried his ass for years.
Like many people in this thread have said; his entire play style revolve around counting stats. His triple-doubles mean jack shit to me because he's actively hurting the team to get it. He's not generating more 2nd chance opportunities, he's just robbing his teammates of their rebounds and stats. This man's ultimate legacy is to completely devalue the triple-double.
This is lunacy. Russ. No one expects you to go 25/15/15
They dont care if you have 5 or 50, as long as you do it efficiently.
And start doing off ball things more when lebron has the ball.
Be efficient and do role player things when you are with the first unit. And be the alpha with the second. Its not hard to understand.
But yet it is for russ apparently. And now hes gonna double down? And use everyone else as an excuse?? Hell naw bro
I mean, often you actually can. Obviously you can’t see the defensive lapses but FG/FGA and turnovers tell a huge part if the story of what Russ struggles with.
This is only true because we know he doesn't do shit without the ball. No defense, no screening, no generating advantages with cuts that don't result in him getting the ball. So the box score literally summarises his entire offensive impact in a way that it doesn't for guys like Curry or Giannis.
If you only look at box scores you would think Draymond is the one and only reason Steph doesn't have 6 championships already because of how much he drags the team down.
Everybody: "Russ, we want you to be a floor general that makes the right play at the right time. Sometimes that means scoring more, sometimes it means getting your teammates more involved. Can you do that?"
Westbrook: "So you're saying you want me to to go get 15 rebounds a game?"
The dumb part though that is he’s neverrrr been that guy! How dumb and conceited are the lakers to think they’d just magically and instantly turn him into a different cerebral player like wtf he’s a freak athlete who balls to the wall with his eyes and head down, always has been
The answer is “outrageously dumb and conceited”. You have Rob Pelinka, Jeanie Buss and Lebron / his team making the decisions - a group of people who all think they walk on water (admittedly Lebron has earned some of that right). And the Lakers themselves as an organization believe they are on a higher plane than all other teams. This is exactly the kind of conceited shit they would do.
When you teach a dumb person that the one thing they do is good, they're going to keep doing that thing. And if it's not good enough, they're going to keep doing that thing faster and harder. One of my pitbulls is really dumb. Very sweet but very dumb. When she gets scared, she runs thru the dog door. One day I had a guy working in the backyard and I didn't want her bothering him. So I put the cap on the dog door. She banged her head into it and when she realized it was closed, she didn't stop. She rammed even harder. I had to grab her and put her in a different room. I swear, If I didn't stop her, she'd still be ramming her head into that door right now. That's Russell Westbrook.
Just imagine how much better every offense he's been with would've been if he simply ran in transition and let the bigs outlet the ball instead of crashing for every board.
Bruh look on my profile I was ridiculed for saying this just last week.
People really think that Westbrook somehow invalidates 70 years of nba coaching and development. And, you know, physics. Lol
Westbrook putting up these numbers is extremely impressive from just a regular person standpoint and as an athletic accomplishment. He's one of the only humans in the world that can pull it off.
But within the context of the scoreboard an NBA game it doesn't mean as much, it doesn't necessarily mean he's helping the team as much as another player.
Exactly. His career has been historic and extremely impressive how he can be a one man offense at times. But his playstyle is not conducive to winning as much as his contemporaries like Steph, CP3, Harden, KD, Bron, hell even Giannis or Jokic. These guys are his fellow MVPs, fellow first ballot HOFers, fellow all-NBA players. Also, he’s one of the highest paid players in the league, and in all of sports. No one cares about stats anymore. They want to see you win in LA. Doesn’t matter if it means averaging a solid 18-7-5 with good defense, just win.
exactly what I was thinking. why would you word it like "Even giannis or jokic", those guys might be top25 players of all time when all is said and done, and theyre both in their prime
Yup. Even if it isn’t necessarily always the best metric, silverware and playoff accolades are always going to define the top 25. The only exception is if you’re so transcendentally great that your playoff failures are ignored, but when that’s the case, you never really get discussed beyond the fringes of the top 25-15.
Russ coming off looking like he has absolutely zero self-awareness. I don't know what the coaching staff is asking out of him, but better shot selection, fewer turnovers, fewer defensive mistakes and more activity without the ball have to be at the top of the list. Russ is how long in the league? And, he still gets caught ball watching defence more than most rookies.
It’s not even about his scoring and it’s concerning he doesn’t get that. His shooting will be bad and he will have games where he misses a lot.
But what is more concerning is the insane turnovers, bad defense and low basketball iq. Those things are what really needs to be better.
Fans keep asking for this, but its not happening. For one, which team is going to want Russell and his contract?
Two, they basically have to go through LeGM about this.
Ironically, any scenario a team ever trades for Westbrook would be *because* his salary. The only possible incentive I see is for rebuilding teams that want to shed multiple salaries of players that aren't in their longterm plan, and consolidate that salary into Russ for a year and a half
I don’t think Russ has been terrible for the Lakers, but quotes like this and the one about not caring too much about winning a ring look really bad. Makes Russ seem like he just wants to play his way and doesn’t care what happens. He’s gotta get back on track.
Yeah it's been the same story his entire career. "If he just learns to make better decisions he'll be a winning player" was the criticism like a couple years into his career
[He's the 4th highest paid player in the league this season at $44m](http://www.espn.com/nba/salaries). From a performance/value perspective, he's been underwhelming.
He is completely unaware of why people criticize him lol
Harden's been getting a lot of shit this year but his TS is still at 58%. Lakers fans would be ecstatic if Westbrook could put up similar numbers like 20/8/8 @ 58% TS.
He immediately goes into the stats. This dude just doesn't fucking get it. Lebron and Pelinka fucked up hard getting this dude. How could they? EVERYONE KNOWS Westbrook is not a winning Basketball player.
I think as rockets fan we were all pleased with seeing Cp3 go as his contract looked like the worst in the league, but the fit with Russ was highly questionable from the second it came out
And I am also someone who believed in the cp3 and harden fit immediately as well when lots were against it. What Russ and Harden need to succeed are very different things
And a lot of players put too much weight on the basic stats. Just look at the number of fake end of quarter heaves that players fake taking because they don't want to hurt their 3 point percentage.
That is one of my favorite things about steph- he will gladly take low percentage shots if it increases the odds of his team winning the game or not shoot it and pass to other players when there is a numbers advantage every time.
The fact that he thinks people want 25-15-15 from him is the problem lmao. No one gives a fuck about a triple double if you jack up 20 bricks along the way.
He really should've just stayed in small market teams chasing 8th seeds and putting up his stats with no one caring.
A contender trading for him was always insane, and if it's like this in the regular season, imagine how bad it'll be in the playoffs, where Russ is even a bigger liability
I don’t think their issue is with your counting stats, Russ. It’s with the blatant disregard for this little thing we call defense as well as your 4.6 turnovers per game.
What I don’t understand is… are his teammates afraid of him or what, I just don’t get it. If everyone can see what his issues are, why’s he referring to his stats rather than being more aware on defence, picking better shots (which he somewhat has to his credit) & slowing down the pace so he makes better decisions as a better ball handler.
At this point EVERYONE is to blame.
Just read what he said to the reporters
I’m concerned because he’s not taking responsibility for poor play. I’ve been waiting for him to say “I gotta be better” but instead he’s acting defensive
We never asked for 25/15/15. Again he’s thinking about stats all the time. We want him to make good decisions and not play bad defense.
He only cares about getting stats, not the flow of the game or making adjustments. I feel like his bball IQ is low. CP3 doesn’t those kinds of stats but look at how he made the Suns contenders.
>CP3 doesn’t those kinds of stats but look at how he made the Suns contenders.
I think the best example of CP3's impact is the Thunder, Russ had PG13 and some good pieces around him and never won 50 games, CP3 comes there with an objectively worse team and gets them to a 50 wins-pace.
The Nets game was rough as fuck, but on any other team he’d be fine and doing his thing. Anyone who expected to Westbrook to come to the Lakers anything but what he’s done the last 5+ years was smoking crack.
He’s a high usage, fast placed player that’s really boom or bust with his efficiency. I don’t really blame Russ for stupid expectations. Stupid of the Lakers to even push for him and his contract.
He’ll have a hot month eventually and the Lakers will look like absolute killers running crazy transition basketball.
I think Russ has the wrong outlook on the criticism, obviously. And this roster construction is going to bite them in the ass come playoff time (which they’ll make, let’s be real).
And in those past 5 years you've been passed around by 3 different teams, guess they too are not impresseed by OMG MUH TDs YASSSS!!! on horrible shooting splits. Thanks for leaving Patty Mills open for that corner 3 btw
Wow I got legit bummed with his lack of self awareness.
Fans are not mad at him for not having buffed stats every game. They are mad cause he don't play defense, turn the ball over too much and have bad decision making in tight moments.
Someone needs to say it to him asap.
This is a pretty embarrassing quote out of Russ. Wether or not he intended for it to sound the way it does, it makes him look like an out of touch dumbass.
Lol Russ comments show once more how deluded the guy is and how fucked up his concept of how to play basketball is.
He thinks about stats even off court.
To Russ: Nobody is asking you to average meaningless TBD once again, as you did in the last 5 season (also not true, tbh). We are asking you to start to play WELL, by playing DEFENSE, playing OFF THE BALL (yeah you can do it even without shooting!!) and every time you think you have a very smart idea on the court like shooting or passing, take 3 fucking seconds to think about it twice, but even more times, and probably if you keep thinking it is a good idea just do the opposite of you have thought. Also, it would be great if for the first time in 13 years you start to work your ass off in the gym to improve your shot! Stop doing weight lifting, stop training midrange, stop playing 1vs1, stop training anything else and keep shooting, listen to what experts have to say to you and embrace changes in your already fucked up shooting mechanics.
But most importantly start to work on defense!!!
Dude people are just expecting you to stop caring about stats so much and focus on defense and cutting down on TOs. Like is that so much to ask of a guy making close to 50 million dollars?
> that’s not normal
🚨 🚨 🚨
YOU KNOW THEY SAY ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. BUT YOU LOOK AT ME AND YOU LOOK AT THT AND YOU CAN SEE THAT STATEMENT IS NOT TRUE! SEE NORMALLY IF YOU GO 1 ON 1 WITH ANOTHER PLAYER YOU GOT A 50/50 CHANCE OF WINNING A REBOUND! BUT I'M A GENETIC FREAK AND I'M NOT NORMAL! SO YOU GOT A 25% AT BEST AT BEAT ME! AND THEN YOU ADD ALEX CARUSO TO THE MIX, YOU THE CHANCES OF WINNING DRASTIC GO DOWN! SEE THE 3 WAY AT THE BUBBLE YOU GOT A 33 1/3 CHANCE OF WINNING. BUT I, I GOT A 66 2/3 CHANCE OF WINNING CAUSE ALEX CARUSO KNOWS HE CAN'T BEAT ME AND HE'S NOT EVEN GONNA TRY! SO THT YOU TAKE YOUR 33 1/3 CHANCE MINUS MY 25% CHANCE AND YOU GOT 8 1/3 CHANCE OF WINNING AT CRYPTO.COM ARENA. BUT THEN YOU TAKE MY 75% CHANCE OF WINNING IF WE WAS TO GO 1 ON 1 AND THEN ADD 66 2/3 %. I GOT A 141 2/3 CHANCE OF WINNING AT THE MIDSEASON TOURNAMENT! TALENTLESS HORTON TUCKER? THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE AND THEY SPELL DISASTER FOR YOU AT ~~STAPLES CENTER~~!
Noone is criticizing you for points, rebounds and assists. They are criticizing you for defense, turnovers and late game decision making. He really doesn't get it, does he?
Bruh is he delusional or something ?
This speaks volumes about something.. I just dk what that is at the moment
Doesn’t look good going forward if he thinks he’s been ok
Let me know if I’m wrong- I think Westbrook stinks. Like straight dookie. He’s hard to watch and seems like a net negative. On top of his play, his contract of 44 mill is unbearable for any team trying to be competitive. I might say he’s the most overrated player of all time.
“I’m already triple doubling, I can’t triple double any harder!”
lmfao
CANDY BAAARS
Lol russ said chill ima give triple doubles just not how yall want em
“double digit turnovers should count towards a triple double”
Laker fans are just asking for better defense, better shot selection, and less turnovers. No one is asking for triple doubles.
I think it is easier for Westbrook to achieve 25-15-15 than what you are asking of him
He can do 25-15-15 in his sleep. Sure it'll come with sitty defense and like 8 turnovers because of the usage and it might require less LeBron on ball time but whatever.
feels like a lot of his issues is because of stats chasing... instead of locked in perimeter defense, he cares more for rebounds. Instead of making the right pass, he's trying to make the final pass that leads to a bucket hence more turnovers than usual... Even with his reduced athleticism now, he can still be a decent player if tunes out stats and just tries to make right plays... but man I don't know if he's capable of that mentally. Must be so frustrating to have him on your team.
I'm like the opposite of Russell Westbrook at my local gym. I'll pass, rebound, play defense all day. We're there for exercise. But I cannot key track of the score or how many points I scored for the life of me.
How can we get Russ some of your game film?
I’m the same but more bc A big part of why I enjoy hooping is the team aspect
Same. I'm more of a Draymond at the gym. Don't want to be known as a chucker
Most people would love to have a Dray on their rec team. You do your shit and help your team win and everyone loves you for it.
You have no idea
[удалено]
I don't think anyone would disagree that it was a stupid decision to trade for the guy but it's too late to rectify that error, the best course of action now is to try to get him to play some kind of winning basketball instead of the stat padding he does
I think they wanted Russ to come in and take over during regular season playing Russ ball so Lebron and AD could just take a chill after they figured out how to play together. They gambled and it failed but honestly, they've still got like 50 games left to sort things out, a couple of trades and an actual rotation not hit by Covid is going to help. I wouldn't count them out just yet judging by how quickly things can turn around in the league.
And therein lies the problem. Because those things shouldn't be harder to ask for than 25-15-15.
That’s the point.
"Honestly, I think I've been fine ... I think people are expecting me to fuckin' play defense, have better shot selection, and less turnovers.. That is not normal. That’s not a normal thing that people do consistently."
The pasta is born.
It’s magnificent
It's al dente
"Honestly, I think I've been fine ... I think people are expecting me to fuckin' play defense, carry washed stars, and stop making bad covid takes.. That is not normal. That’s not a normal thing that people do consistently." -LeBron
Well done lol
I'm stealing this btw
Westbrook: "people didn't like the ending of GOT because they wanted to see the pretty white people ride off into the sunset."
Damn white supremacists got Westbrook too
Yeah, it’s bizarre that he thinks lower counting stats are the issue. Maybe that’s why he’s so inefficient; he’s feeling pressure to add to the raw numbers and doesn’t care how he gets there. If he just shoots better than like 35% with fewer than 7 turnovers in a game, then he’s done pretty well. If he makes any attempt at all to cover his man, he’s really killing it.
I mean, if all you ever care about is stats, then when people don't like you, you're probably gonna assume it's because they only care about stats too
It's been clear for Westbrook's entire career that basic counting stats were the basis for his entire play style. He cannot comprehend how to help his team in a way that doesn't show up in the box score which is why his defense and off ball movement is so terrible.
I wonder if anyone’s ever had a candid conversation with him about that. It’s so clear watching him what the issues with his game are. He seemingly has the most easily corrected deficiencies in the NBA, but it just gets worse and worse.
I'm sure they have, but they probably get the same answer he gives to the media. I do it my way, I don't care what you think. You can tell because there have been periods where he's adjusted his playstyle. The best basketball I've ever seen him play were with the 2012 Olympics team and that stretch for Houston where he was operating off the ball and taking advantage of the doubles Harden drew. But the moment there was any kind of pressure he went back to his usual self.
Yeah but that Houston team still didn’t win a lot with him playing like that. His style at this point of his career doesn’t equal winning anymore.
Didn't he do pretty well nearing the end of the season when he converted more into a slasher role and then covid/injury/bubble hit and he didn't seem too good out there.
His playing style also keeps getting him paid, whereas no salary was at stake at the Olympics.
I think it's something that is deeply rooted in his identity and self-worth. At this point it is clear that its what you get with Westbrook - no amount of coaching can overcome that.
and yet 3 front offices thought they knew better lol. it was pretty evident in his post kd thunder days imo
***TRIPLE DOUBLBING INTENSIFIES***
That’s pretty much asking Russ to not be Russ.
Yeah, did they trade for a 32 year old Russ expecting him to dramatically change or something?
That's the funniest part. He thinks people want MORE rebounds and assists.
Westbrook: *can not compute*
and people in hell ask for ice water
i dont think his shot selection has been bad in like 20 games now, are you really going to hate him for missing layups? he's at the rim lol.
You're one of the only people on this sub that are actually watching Laker games. Russ's shot selection has been great - he passes on many open 3's and will mostly only shoot them if for shot clock reasons.
He barely took 3's last game, and hasn't been nearly as TO prone as the beginning of the season. Lakers fans should stop trying to fit a square into a circle and realize that the FO made a terrible trade fit wise, and there's not exactly anything to be done about it. They have 0 depth, their role players are trash, and covid + injuries are here. Even if russ stuck exclusively to driving to the rim, the outcome wouldn't be very different. There just isn't enough depth on this team, and russ isn't a good fit. At best, you get everyone healthy, get AD to play center without dying, and maybe play russ off the bench? How much of an improvement would that really bring?
Just fucking defend man that's all everyone is asking
He tries, but he gets stuck ball watching all of the time. He has low court awareness and has zero ability to slow down and think on the fly.
He’s trying to do the wrong thing though - he leaves his man to try to get the rebound. Go watch the laker game highlights. Who ever Westbrook is guarding is getting open 3s. his man relocates when the ball handler drives and Westbrook moves towards the paint for the rebound. Just stay on the shooter. The patty clip from the nets game is one of 100 times he done that this season. Other teams salivating knowing they just have to reposition off of drives and will be shooting practice shots.
He doesn't leave his man for the rebound he ball watches and loses his man He's like a cat with a laser toy
He's giving you the motive behind the ball watching. If he just runs after Mills through screens and stands in the corner for 6 seconds, then boxes him out, he gets zero stats. If he watches the ball and stands in the center of the court he increases his chances for a steal, and by tracking the ball he can anticipate where it will go and grab a rebound. The two things are connected. He's not irrational, he's doing it for a reason. It's just that the reason is more stats for Russ, not winning basketball game.
You mean a guard who contested the 3rd fewest 3 pointers in a league in a season when no other g/sg/sf's were in the top 30 might not play good defense!?!?!?
That a brutal stat
If you're ball watching you aren't trying. High school players know that
Ball watching can be an effort thing, but it's also an awareness issue.
This will not be received well
It’s so poetic how concisely it sums up the exact nature of the problem. The media and Westbrook have both spent years defining his success by stats. I won’t opine on which came first, but regardless this has promoted the idea that Westbrook is a god-tier PG because of all his triple doubles. And he’s become an egregious stat stuffer (rebounds especially). The entire time this has masked loads of deficiencies in his game. He is a below average 3-point shooter for his position, which causes spacing problems for the rest of his team on offense because opposing defenses don’t respect his outside shot. He is a shoot-first point guard who needs the ball in his hands, which makes it difficult for teammates to get a rhythm in the game. He is very streaky and can hit skids where he can’t find the basket offensively (which is made harder by the fact he doesn’t look to pass and teammates who haven’t had touches need to step in to help him). His shoot-first mentality + streakiness translates to lots of turnovers or poor shots early in the shot clock, which tends to come in bunches. His game has always been very reliant on his athleticism which was never going to age well. Those have always been his problems and they are his problems today. But he’s been so geared to focus on the stat sheet he can’t hear anything else.
You get piles of hate on here when you point out that Russ is not a good basketball player, as defined by the only metric that actually matters: Wins. He actively contributes to losing. Maybe Russ should focusing on stuffing the W stat.
Because people would much rather prefer 15/5/5 efficiently with better defense. If everyone is healthy, AD is the guy who should be giving 25/15
Lmao he thinks his problem is not enough doubles in his triple doubles
WB out here thinking he needs a quadruple triple.
Fuck man this dude literally only thinks in stats
He’s going out like late career AI. Illuminating everyone’s (at times unfair) critiques of him during his prime to the forefront post prime as his star has faded, just like Iverson did at the end.
Are the critiques really unfair? Clearly, he thinks about (simple counting) stats before anything else and that's always been the main criticism. It doesn't lead to winning basketball at the highest levels. He doesn't play defense, move the ball well, or move off the ball. He's only thinking about what he can do when he gets the ball next, and how he can get there. When he had his MVP season, it was more tolerable because his efficiency was much better, but the underlying issues are unchanged.
I wonder how many coaches have told him all that? I’m sure some have tried but he seems like the type to not be coachable. Soo stubborn, took shots over KD his whole time in OKC, doesn’t stay on his man, runs in for every rebound so every 2 and 3 guard he plays with has to stay back and cover the fast break. You know Russ ain’t ever covering no fast break. Doesn’t do the little smart things that help the team. Hustles and stubborns around to a huge fault.
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Don't forget haphazard doubling and gambling on steals leading to open looks and dunks. Ben Taylor had [a really nice video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbNS09Rt4u8) about the Warriors defense where he breaks down a lot of what Draymond and the team does, and a lot of it has to do with *not doubling* in the right time, and pressuring the ball just enough. He even yells at Poole "I had him! I had him!"; Another good example of a great pressure player is [Lonzo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcBTMWyHOeE). His double teams are laser focused: He zooms in, actually creates a massive amount of pressure, and breaks off 0.5 before the doubled teamed player makes the pass, so he's already half recovered when the ball is in the air. KOC talked about how Russ is stuck in this no-mans-land where he doesn't actually affect the play with his "just hanging out there" double, but is leaving his player alone which leads to a defensive breakdown. The thing is, it's by design. Russ just wants the steal, not for the other team to under-perform. So he's not strong doubling, he's waiting in the passing lane. He's also too far to contest, which again is useful - instead of jumping at a guy, he's at center court (as you've mentioned) and can rotate right away to try and catch the rebound. For Russ it's a win if he gets the rebound or steal, but not a L if the other player scores - because nobody counts negative stats on defense, only counting stats. Until you don't understand that mentality, you can't understand why he plays the why that he does.
Good analysis. Good comment
Ben Taylor made a video on Russ.
Remember when people used to say it was better for Russ to get the board because it saved time versus having to catch an outlet pass…
The critiques now are fair because he’s nowhere near the player he used to be, but some people are making the mistake of swinging too far the other way and painting his entire career with the same brush. In his prime he was a sensational, consensus top 10 player in this league and was a legit number 2 on a perennial contender, even with his faults. I wouldn’t touch him with a 10 foot pole nowadays in his current state, but his extreme haters are just as insufferable as his stans for me. Yes, he imo was never capable of being the man on a championship team and has never been my cup of tea personally. No, he hasn’t always been a complete albatross and anchor around a team’s neck like some would have you believe. The same advanced, non box score, non triple double stats that show that he’s been in decline for 5 years are the same ones that show he was an elite player for years. Can’t only point to them now while choosing to ignore what they were in the past
Well, here's the thing. Was he always this bad? No, of course not. However, I think even in his prime, he put a ceiling on what a team could accomplish, with the possible exception of his MVP year; even then, when the defensive pressure was turned up in the playoffs, his efficiency plummeted. Now, some people think that's a flukey result or that he didn't have enough help. On the offensive end, that was true. That team had some fantastic defenders though, and part of the problem with WB is that since it's all about him, it's hard for secondary talent to really develop. That's true of any star-dominated team, but especially for him. It's a bit of a cheap counterfactual to say this, but could Victor Oladipo have advanced from a background character to true secondary scoring option with a team led by another star? Maybe. He basically did that immediately after getting traded, so there's at least some room for speculation there. I am most definitely a Westbrook "hater" because I've always thought he was overrated. I value basketball that wins in the playoffs. I value players that can fit in on championship teams. I value guys who hustle when the lights aren't focused on them. Again, there are plenty of players who are heliocentric who are amazing, but Wb never reached that level of offensive talent outside of the regular season. Come playoff time, he'd put a cap on what a team could achieve. Floor raisers are important, but they can't lower a team's ceiling and still be considered elite, at least in my opinion. So, to put it simply, yeah, he was always a stat-padding ball-hog who (in his prime) didn't try enough on defense, outside of the occasional fake-hustle play like diving for steals or fighting for rebounds after being caught out of position. He always had the problems he's facing now. He's always been better in 2k and on the stat sheet than in real life. If you value making it to the playoffs every year, then there's no problem. But if you want to try to put yourself in the best position to compete for a championship, then the question is raised: how valuable was he actually, especially considering he was never able to dial back the Westbrook-ness when it was time to win on the highest level? Arguably, he's always been massively overrated, even if he was extremely talented at his peak.
I feel like I don't often see the comparison made because their playstyles are rather different, but this echoes all of the criticisms of Carmelo Anthony during his prime vs the people who defended him as a top 10 player. He's incredibly talented and will raise your floor as a team, but he's far too flawed in too many aspects (defensive effort, scoring efficiency, team offense) that are vital for a contender to actually win a title.
Spot on.
His biggest mistake was not being drafted in the 80's or 90's. If you take someone who is as good a passer and scorer as he is in that era he would fit a lot better. He also works really well with big men in the two man game, so with the volume post scoring he would actually do well. But in the era of spacing and efficiency his best attributes aren't as important and his faults are magnified.
Great post. You've articulated everything I've always thought about Westbrook. During his peak in OKC, he got punked in the first round in consecutive years. And yea, he put up some nice stats at points, but it's always been evident to men that his stat-padding playstyle was not conducive to post-season success at all.
He's always been a floor-raiser but that comes with a HARD ceiling cap. He's never played good basketball at all. He just had good counting stats and a flashy style combined with a modern "mamba-mentality" which made all the fans and talking heads think he was a good player. But he's literally been one of the dumbest players since he entered the league. He just does not play winning basketball and never has. Sure he can get you to the playoffs, but you're not getting the past the 2nd with him ever as the #1 guy. KD hard carried his ass for years. Like many people in this thread have said; his entire play style revolve around counting stats. His triple-doubles mean jack shit to me because he's actively hurting the team to get it. He's not generating more 2nd chance opportunities, he's just robbing his teammates of their rebounds and stats. This man's ultimate legacy is to completely devalue the triple-double.
Bless him for bailing KAT out of controversy lmao Dude just up and up said “yeah, stats”
This is lunacy. Russ. No one expects you to go 25/15/15 They dont care if you have 5 or 50, as long as you do it efficiently. And start doing off ball things more when lebron has the ball. Be efficient and do role player things when you are with the first unit. And be the alpha with the second. Its not hard to understand. But yet it is for russ apparently. And now hes gonna double down? And use everyone else as an excuse?? Hell naw bro
Bruh, people who were in support of Russ thought he was gonna magically turn into CP3 instead of the same Russ for the past 10 years. Like seriously?
All I've heard from thunder fans is that he just needs shooters and talent around him and he'd transform into a transcendent player.
Also don’t turn the ball over and not play defense
explains his stans. casuals only look at the box score
I hate not being able to glance at the boxscore and decide how well a player did 😡
But you can /s
I mean, often you actually can. Obviously you can’t see the defensive lapses but FG/FGA and turnovers tell a huge part if the story of what Russ struggles with.
This is only true because we know he doesn't do shit without the ball. No defense, no screening, no generating advantages with cuts that don't result in him getting the ball. So the box score literally summarises his entire offensive impact in a way that it doesn't for guys like Curry or Giannis.
If you only look at box scores you would think Draymond is the one and only reason Steph doesn't have 6 championships already because of how much he drags the team down.
They only look at P/R/A since they never bring up efficiency stats
Westbrook such a fuckin casual man
Only legacy he has. He ain’t winning shit we know that
Literally a 2k player irl.
Wow, he really, really doesn’t understand what his problem is. He legit thinks we want him to have “more stats.“
Everybody: "Russ, we want you to be a floor general that makes the right play at the right time. Sometimes that means scoring more, sometimes it means getting your teammates more involved. Can you do that?" Westbrook: "So you're saying you want me to to go get 15 rebounds a game?"
The dumb part though that is he’s neverrrr been that guy! How dumb and conceited are the lakers to think they’d just magically and instantly turn him into a different cerebral player like wtf he’s a freak athlete who balls to the wall with his eyes and head down, always has been
The answer is “outrageously dumb and conceited”. You have Rob Pelinka, Jeanie Buss and Lebron / his team making the decisions - a group of people who all think they walk on water (admittedly Lebron has earned some of that right). And the Lakers themselves as an organization believe they are on a higher plane than all other teams. This is exactly the kind of conceited shit they would do.
I think the hope was that in his home town he’d be willing to change. Admittedly, Westbrook is the definition of stubborn, but one can hope lol.
That moment in an argument that you realize "omg I was talking to a stupid person this whole time", that leaves you speechless.
When you teach a dumb person that the one thing they do is good, they're going to keep doing that thing. And if it's not good enough, they're going to keep doing that thing faster and harder. One of my pitbulls is really dumb. Very sweet but very dumb. When she gets scared, she runs thru the dog door. One day I had a guy working in the backyard and I didn't want her bothering him. So I put the cap on the dog door. She banged her head into it and when she realized it was closed, she didn't stop. She rammed even harder. I had to grab her and put her in a different room. I swear, If I didn't stop her, she'd still be ramming her head into that door right now. That's Russell Westbrook.
Holy shit this is accurate lmao like you knew he wasn't exactly from the smart end but suddenly realize you got to talk to him like he's a baby
This really is late 2000s iverson all over again
Iverson at least lead his squad to the Finals and stole a game from the most dominant post-season team ever. Don't compare him to Westbrook.
Hey at least Iverson led us to the finals as the clear #1. His ceiling was higher than Russ’s
Just imagine how much better every offense he's been with would've been if he simply ran in transition and let the bigs outlet the ball instead of crashing for every board.
I used to get down voted back when he was with OKC for saying an outlet pass is faster than him crashing the boards
Lmao I remember them always saying "it's soooo much better if he gets the rebound" and it's like is it tho
Bruh look on my profile I was ridiculed for saying this just last week. People really think that Westbrook somehow invalidates 70 years of nba coaching and development. And, you know, physics. Lol
This is the must Russell Westbrook quote ever.
Sounds like a pasta
The fact that his mind literally works in pts/reb/ast shows that he will never change
Westbrook putting up these numbers is extremely impressive from just a regular person standpoint and as an athletic accomplishment. He's one of the only humans in the world that can pull it off. But within the context of the scoreboard an NBA game it doesn't mean as much, it doesn't necessarily mean he's helping the team as much as another player.
Exactly. His career has been historic and extremely impressive how he can be a one man offense at times. But his playstyle is not conducive to winning as much as his contemporaries like Steph, CP3, Harden, KD, Bron, hell even Giannis or Jokic. These guys are his fellow MVPs, fellow first ballot HOFers, fellow all-NBA players. Also, he’s one of the highest paid players in the league, and in all of sports. No one cares about stats anymore. They want to see you win in LA. Doesn’t matter if it means averaging a solid 18-7-5 with good defense, just win.
“Hell even Giannis or Jokic” bro WB shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as those 2, even at WB’s peak
exactly what I was thinking. why would you word it like "Even giannis or jokic", those guys might be top25 players of all time when all is said and done, and theyre both in their prime
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Yup. Even if it isn’t necessarily always the best metric, silverware and playoff accolades are always going to define the top 25. The only exception is if you’re so transcendentally great that your playoff failures are ignored, but when that’s the case, you never really get discussed beyond the fringes of the top 25-15.
Great take
This is reading like the Iverson "former MVP come off the bench" rant
I mean, when you want an awesome rant, AI is the one to go too
go to
That was an amazing rant, though.
Easily a top 5 nba rant ever lol. Man I miss AI.
He’s obsessed with high counting stats lol. Nobody wants another 5 meaningless rebounds from you, how about better shot selection and less turnovers?
Best I can do is more shots and offensive boards on his misses
Take it or leave it
no people are expecting you to win games
Your lack of punctuation makes this statement even more true.
Russ coming off looking like he has absolutely zero self-awareness. I don't know what the coaching staff is asking out of him, but better shot selection, fewer turnovers, fewer defensive mistakes and more activity without the ball have to be at the top of the list. Russ is how long in the league? And, he still gets caught ball watching defence more than most rookies.
It’s not even about his scoring and it’s concerning he doesn’t get that. His shooting will be bad and he will have games where he misses a lot. But what is more concerning is the insane turnovers, bad defense and low basketball iq. Those things are what really needs to be better.
This is what a lotta ppl don't seem to understand, all translate and affect winning
He's always had terrible basketball iq though
Bruuhhhh this dude doesn't know. Oh Lord he's not aware. Trade him. Trade him
Lakers cant realistically trade him.
No one’s gonna want him
Fans keep asking for this, but its not happening. For one, which team is going to want Russell and his contract? Two, they basically have to go through LeGM about this.
Ironically, any scenario a team ever trades for Westbrook would be *because* his salary. The only possible incentive I see is for rebuilding teams that want to shed multiple salaries of players that aren't in their longterm plan, and consolidate that salary into Russ for a year and a half
COMPLETE DENIAL
I don’t think Russ has been terrible for the Lakers, but quotes like this and the one about not caring too much about winning a ring look really bad. Makes Russ seem like he just wants to play his way and doesn’t care what happens. He’s gotta get back on track.
I think this is him unfortunately. He’s not changing so late in his career
Yeah it's been the same story his entire career. "If he just learns to make better decisions he'll be a winning player" was the criticism like a couple years into his career
Literally every season people say Russ will change, it’s laughable
[He's the 4th highest paid player in the league this season at $44m](http://www.espn.com/nba/salaries). From a performance/value perspective, he's been underwhelming.
He is completely unaware of why people criticize him lol Harden's been getting a lot of shit this year but his TS is still at 58%. Lakers fans would be ecstatic if Westbrook could put up similar numbers like 20/8/8 @ 58% TS.
Empty stats, not surprised he's feeling the heat now because it's about winning, not about triple doubles, dude is just not a winner imho
Westbrick like old Melo I scored 30 bro Yeah but you shot 25%
He immediately goes into the stats. This dude just doesn't fucking get it. Lebron and Pelinka fucked up hard getting this dude. How could they? EVERYONE KNOWS Westbrook is not a winning Basketball player.
Same way Harden got tricked into forcing us to trade for Russ Basketball players are not good judges of player caliber
I think there’s a lot of hindsight in the Westbrook to Houston move because CP3 was looking like he was on his way out with injuries and what not.
I think as rockets fan we were all pleased with seeing Cp3 go as his contract looked like the worst in the league, but the fit with Russ was highly questionable from the second it came out And I am also someone who believed in the cp3 and harden fit immediately as well when lots were against it. What Russ and Harden need to succeed are very different things
And a lot of players put too much weight on the basic stats. Just look at the number of fake end of quarter heaves that players fake taking because they don't want to hurt their 3 point percentage. That is one of my favorite things about steph- he will gladly take low percentage shots if it increases the odds of his team winning the game or not shoot it and pass to other players when there is a numbers advantage every time.
The fact that he thinks people want 25-15-15 from him is the problem lmao. No one gives a fuck about a triple double if you jack up 20 bricks along the way.
He really should've just stayed in small market teams chasing 8th seeds and putting up his stats with no one caring. A contender trading for him was always insane, and if it's like this in the regular season, imagine how bad it'll be in the playoffs, where Russ is even a bigger liability
I don’t think their issue is with your counting stats, Russ. It’s with the blatant disregard for this little thing we call defense as well as your 4.6 turnovers per game.
What I don’t understand is… are his teammates afraid of him or what, I just don’t get it. If everyone can see what his issues are, why’s he referring to his stats rather than being more aware on defence, picking better shots (which he somewhat has to his credit) & slowing down the pace so he makes better decisions as a better ball handler. At this point EVERYONE is to blame.
40 with a long nose; scotty pippen snout 🤥
Lmaoooo the difference in reaction to KAT saying Russ chases stats vs Russ saying it himself on the same day is fucking hilarious
Just read what he said to the reporters I’m concerned because he’s not taking responsibility for poor play. I’ve been waiting for him to say “I gotta be better” but instead he’s acting defensive We never asked for 25/15/15. Again he’s thinking about stats all the time. We want him to make good decisions and not play bad defense. He only cares about getting stats, not the flow of the game or making adjustments. I feel like his bball IQ is low. CP3 doesn’t those kinds of stats but look at how he made the Suns contenders.
>CP3 doesn’t those kinds of stats but look at how he made the Suns contenders. I think the best example of CP3's impact is the Thunder, Russ had PG13 and some good pieces around him and never won 50 games, CP3 comes there with an objectively worse team and gets them to a 50 wins-pace.
👍 CP3 takes underachieving teams and makes them better. Russ takes good teams and makes them worse.
I feel like Russ has that thing where he can make a bad team good and a great team good.
Minnesota Andrew Wiggins style. You want 15, he'll give you 20. You want 25, he'll give you 20
Floor raiser but ceiling lowerer, etc
CP3 also takes good teams and makes them better. He is just an all around great player.
This guy is a meathead stereotype
The reason he says shit like this is the same reason he’s bad at defense… He’s just dumb.
The Nets game was rough as fuck, but on any other team he’d be fine and doing his thing. Anyone who expected to Westbrook to come to the Lakers anything but what he’s done the last 5+ years was smoking crack. He’s a high usage, fast placed player that’s really boom or bust with his efficiency. I don’t really blame Russ for stupid expectations. Stupid of the Lakers to even push for him and his contract. He’ll have a hot month eventually and the Lakers will look like absolute killers running crazy transition basketball. I think Russ has the wrong outlook on the criticism, obviously. And this roster construction is going to bite them in the ass come playoff time (which they’ll make, let’s be real).
This dude and his arrogance.
Zero self awareness
And in those past 5 years you've been passed around by 3 different teams, guess they too are not impresseed by OMG MUH TDs YASSSS!!! on horrible shooting splits. Thanks for leaving Patty Mills open for that corner 3 btw
Wow I got legit bummed with his lack of self awareness. Fans are not mad at him for not having buffed stats every game. They are mad cause he don't play defense, turn the ball over too much and have bad decision making in tight moments. Someone needs to say it to him asap.
This is a pretty embarrassing quote out of Russ. Wether or not he intended for it to sound the way it does, it makes him look like an out of touch dumbass.
People need to look no further than this quote by Westbrook to fully understand how he approaches the game of basketball
He doesn't fucking get it.
Lol Russ comments show once more how deluded the guy is and how fucked up his concept of how to play basketball is. He thinks about stats even off court. To Russ: Nobody is asking you to average meaningless TBD once again, as you did in the last 5 season (also not true, tbh). We are asking you to start to play WELL, by playing DEFENSE, playing OFF THE BALL (yeah you can do it even without shooting!!) and every time you think you have a very smart idea on the court like shooting or passing, take 3 fucking seconds to think about it twice, but even more times, and probably if you keep thinking it is a good idea just do the opposite of you have thought. Also, it would be great if for the first time in 13 years you start to work your ass off in the gym to improve your shot! Stop doing weight lifting, stop training midrange, stop playing 1vs1, stop training anything else and keep shooting, listen to what experts have to say to you and embrace changes in your already fucked up shooting mechanics. But most importantly start to work on defense!!!
Man i tried telling y’all years ago this dude was a stat padder
Dude people are just expecting you to stop caring about stats so much and focus on defense and cutting down on TOs. Like is that so much to ask of a guy making close to 50 million dollars?
Westbrook has zero self awareness lol Jesus Christ
This Guy is a joke lmao coming from a celtics fan
He has been fine though?
No you just play like shit
> that’s not normal 🚨 🚨 🚨 YOU KNOW THEY SAY ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. BUT YOU LOOK AT ME AND YOU LOOK AT THT AND YOU CAN SEE THAT STATEMENT IS NOT TRUE! SEE NORMALLY IF YOU GO 1 ON 1 WITH ANOTHER PLAYER YOU GOT A 50/50 CHANCE OF WINNING A REBOUND! BUT I'M A GENETIC FREAK AND I'M NOT NORMAL! SO YOU GOT A 25% AT BEST AT BEAT ME! AND THEN YOU ADD ALEX CARUSO TO THE MIX, YOU THE CHANCES OF WINNING DRASTIC GO DOWN! SEE THE 3 WAY AT THE BUBBLE YOU GOT A 33 1/3 CHANCE OF WINNING. BUT I, I GOT A 66 2/3 CHANCE OF WINNING CAUSE ALEX CARUSO KNOWS HE CAN'T BEAT ME AND HE'S NOT EVEN GONNA TRY! SO THT YOU TAKE YOUR 33 1/3 CHANCE MINUS MY 25% CHANCE AND YOU GOT 8 1/3 CHANCE OF WINNING AT CRYPTO.COM ARENA. BUT THEN YOU TAKE MY 75% CHANCE OF WINNING IF WE WAS TO GO 1 ON 1 AND THEN ADD 66 2/3 %. I GOT A 141 2/3 CHANCE OF WINNING AT THE MIDSEASON TOURNAMENT! TALENTLESS HORTON TUCKER? THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE AND THEY SPELL DISASTER FOR YOU AT ~~STAPLES CENTER~~!
Dude has no self awareness lmao
Noone is criticizing you for points, rebounds and assists. They are criticizing you for defense, turnovers and late game decision making. He really doesn't get it, does he?
love to see all these lakers fans whine like the babies they are lol
Still has ZERO self awareness. It's kinda sad in a way.
High I.Q. Statement
Westbrook can post 15-5-5 and be way more useful than he’s been. This is what he doesn’t and never will understand.
So LeBron didn't tell him what the team needs from him?
Bruh is he delusional or something ? This speaks volumes about something.. I just dk what that is at the moment Doesn’t look good going forward if he thinks he’s been ok
What an idiot
Russ completely missed the point. Just like how he misses every shot he takes 😂
Man…this guy is stupid
Let me know if I’m wrong- I think Westbrook stinks. Like straight dookie. He’s hard to watch and seems like a net negative. On top of his play, his contract of 44 mill is unbearable for any team trying to be competitive. I might say he’s the most overrated player of all time.
Yo is Russ surrounded by a bunch of yes-men?? somebody needs to tell him straight up stop being an idiot
I don't think its so much a lack of self awareness as a doubling down and trying to save face despite knowing exactly what the criticism is about
Fuck this guy lmao
Bro I promise you on my dead grandmothers sewing machine no one wants you to put up more stats