Official RUSSELL WESTBROOK Thread (Traded to Utah)

[laker50]

The problem is not Russ but Pelinka.
He was the one that traded 4 good role players and a FRP for Westbrook.

Russ wasn't the one breaking up a championship team.

Pelinka is a horrible manager but probably was a great agent.

[Hanging from Rafters]

[DancingBarry]

[levon]

I prefer Reaves as primary ballhandler far more than Beverley, that's for sure.

I have no idea when and where Lonnie Walker is going to play.

Russ
Nunn
Lebron
AD
Jones

Schroder
Beverley
Reaves
JTA (?)
Bryant

[yinoma2001]

[non-player zealot]

[Hanging from Rafters]

[epic_]

Speaking way too soon, but hoping that first quarter is a template of how Russ should play this year.
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💜💛 🏆 👀 🍖 #18!!!

[J.C. Smith]

It's a good sign that he knocked down both of his threes. Aside from a couple of turnovers I think he's played about as well as you can ask him to so far in the first couple preseason appearances.

[ContagiousInspiration]

Thank you for typing anything positive about Russ.

Maybe if he does good enough he can be traded before the season starts

[lakersfever714]

Today, he played like a $10M player. It's not terrible but it certainly wasn't great. For the Lakers to take that leap into contenders, he would have to play like a $30M player. Otherwise, everyone else would have to step up in order to make up for his little contribution.

[BandwagonLBJhopper]

Westbrook started great, flashes of what he used to be and some nice form on his set shot three. But it got worse rapidly as the game went on with the turnovers, forced shots and turnovers we are all used to seeing.

I don't think he is a bad player, his strengths just don't fit on this team and his weaknesses are hella magnified next to Lebron.

The best we can hope for is him playing decent enough that it ups his trade value.

[ZeroDark30_]

Reaves maturation as a secondary playmaker only makes Westbrook more expendable. This team is a shooter and big away from being dangerous. We can always add a big wing later.

[miggz23]

[2019]

[yinoma2001]

Yesterday was a tale of two Russ's.

First half of Russ was good. Making decisive scoring attacks and hitting wide open 3s.

Second half of Russ was the bad Russ from last year. 4 TOs in 20 minutes or so is not good at all. With Ham's system, you don't need a dribble heavy PG. Instead, you have to move the ball.
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[governator]

[PenG_]

Still the same player. He looked good early, shooting the open corner three and actually converting on aggressive drives in transition.

But as last year showed, his finishing has fallen off a cliff. Once he misses a layup, the bad habits re-surface and it gets ugly quick. Preseason game, whatever, but it's relevant considering what Russ showed last season.

It's always interesting watching him and CP3 in the same game. So much of what hurts Russ is his lack of options in the midrange. Lebron has a similar problem obviously, but it harms his overall offensive impact a lot less.

[lakersfever714]

We need him to be the second ballhandler when Lebron sits. He just couldn't do it. It seems like he just doesn't have it anymore.

The problem with Brick is that he's a shoot-first guard his entire career and passing was never his strong point. So what happens when he gets older and no longer have that freakish speed to go to the rim? He ends up missing layups. So now when he wants to drive and pass instead, he turns it over because he just doesn't have that true point guard mentality. His turnovers CANNOT be fixed.

Luckily, we have DS as another ballhandler!! I'd much rather DS be the dedicated secondary ballhandler.

We don't really need Brick at this point. We could just buy him out and hold on to our frp.

If we start Brick to play alongside Bron and let DS run the second unit, then Brick would have to be an above average three point shooter and play good defense because we wouldn't need him to run the offense.

Just playing good defense and can shoot three? There's like so many that could fill that role.

[yinoma2001]

I thought Russ had a very good first 8-9 minutes. Aggressive and decisive quick scores.

It's when he started reverting to being dribble happy that the turnovers and bad shot selection piled up as he went back to triple dub Russ.

I think the key, if he has to start, is to reduce his minutes. Seems he can be more focused when on a tighter leash. We really don't need him to play more than 25 minutes per game. If you can give me Russ at 100% effort/focus for 25 minutes versus 60% effort/focus for 32 minutes, I'll take the former.

We still have to sort this mess as Dennis/Lonnie will be joining the rotation. And we are hard pressed for minutes as is with Nunn/Reaves really deserving at least 25mpg plus too.
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[lakersfever714]

[yinoma2001]

[Aeneas Hunter]

[lakersfever714]

Trading Russ would mean giving up at least one future frp so that's a no-no. I guess we could limit his minutes on the bench. I don't know what's a good situation to put him in though.

Can't use him as a defensive specialist or a three point specialist or a ballhandler because of the TO.

It would really bother me if we spent this season as another Westbrick experiment again because we actually have a very talented team with healthy and young energetic players that could hang with the team with the best record last season.

Whatever our decision with Russ, I hope we make it soon and have the team focus on chemistry building for a championship run.

[Aeneas Hunter]