Westbrook is here! How do we make this work?

[TrueLAfan]

I hope Ballmer doesn't think that way, or else we'll never win anything unless he changes his mind. Trying to build a team on the fly by throwing money at aging stars has given us one WCF appearance and not much else. Punting on drafting and development because "we're in LA, we need stars" is not a strategy.

The teams that win in this league generally have at least one cornerstone from the draft who grew with the franchise and set the tone. LeBron in Cleveland, Duncan in San Antonio, Curry in the Bay, Giannis in Milwaukee, etc. We've never had that. The closest we've had was Blake and he wasn't quite on that level. Right now we're like the Chiefs when they used to trade for other teams' veteran backup QBs every few years. Eventually we're going to need to find our Mahomes.

Terrance Mann, Bones Hyland, Zu, Brandon Boston, Coffey, Diabate, Preston, and our 1st & 2nd round picks in this upcoming draft has us fully stocked and doing pretty good in the youth-development department. Next season I'm thinking Morris, RoCo, and maybe Batum is gone so maybe the logjam opens up a bit more next season. We're not really lacking at all in this area imo

If Hyland, Boston, Coffey and Preston were anything other than NBA bench players in waiting, they would be on the court consistently. I am not pinning the future of this team on those players. I remember people had high hopes on the futures of Jay Scrub and Kabengele.

I'll disagree with this in terms of Bones. I think his effectiveness and effect on a good team is underestimated. Put it this way: he's been a mid level rotation player as a rookie and, this year, 21/22 year old on one of the best teams in the conference. He's played twice as much as Boston, Preston, Scrubb, and Kabengele combined. He's a mid level bench player right now.

[PeteyPablo]

I am looking forward to seeing the new addition

[NickP]

Lue: we're going to let Russ be Russ.
WTF? That hasn't worked for the last 5 teams he played on and Lue thinks it'll work here?

[donemilio21]

Lue: we're going to let Russ be Russ.
WTF? That hasn't worked for the last 5 teams he played on and Lue thinks it'll work here?

lol seriously... isn't definition of insanity to "trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result" ?

maybe it would work. I mean, I hope it does. doubtful but nothing we can do now but hope.

[nickhx2]

lol russ starting in his very first game

what a joke

irony is probably lue thinks that the way to solve morris's lack of rebounding is to put westbrook in there to do the thing

[esqtvd]

lol russ starting in his very first game

what a joke

irony is probably lue thinks that the way to solve morris's lack of rebounding is to put westbrook in there to do the thing

It's actually a good idea. Russ's rebounds per 100 possessions is even better than Kawhi & PG's

[ejftw]

I have no issues with Russ starting, Mann was always a placeholder, and a damn good one at that. I'm actually kinda surprised Bones didn't get the start off the bat since he's more of a PG than Mann is.

I'm just hoping Lue staggers properly, gets Kawhi early rest and let's him focus the offensive output in the fourth.

[nickhx2]

despite the fact that i think starting westbrook immediately is a joke and a half and that i expect, for the most part, disastrous to mediocre results

i do think the backup unit of plumlee/batum/mann/gordon/powell was probably always gonna be the ideal version, for that side. the less 3-guard trashcan lineups we get from lue, the better, and that lineup can do pretty much everything important - defend, score, shoot, and pass. somewhat weak rebounding, sure, but when you opt to keep and then play marcus morris as a team/coach, you're pretty much saying you don't know what the word means, anyway!

it's just too bad for us that zubac is out because we won't be able to see that bench lineup doing what it should be doing just yet (and by that i mean saving the first unit's hide). but hopefully zubac recovers and things work out on that side.

[esqtvd]

I have no issues with Russ starting, Mann was always a placeholder, and a damn good one at that. I'm actually kinda surprised Bones didn't get the start off the bat since he's more of a PG than Mann is.

I'm just hoping Lue staggers properly, gets Kawhi early rest and let's him focus the offensive output in the fourth.

Yes. The problem was that PG and KL had to bust too much ass for wins to make up for Mann's inability to play the point. We're only 3-2 in last 5 and Mann is minus-2.8.

They've both been playing killer minutes and PG's efficiency [minus-3.0] has been taking a deep hurt. Nothing against Mann but that's why he pushed for Russ. Mann's getting HIS numbers but it's killing PG and his 37 mpg lately surely has to take its toll on Kawhi in the 4th quarter too.

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/270615/Paul-George-Drove-Decision-For-Clippers-To-Sign-Russell-Westbrook-Front-Office-Talked-Themselves-Into-It

With over a month to go until the playoffs and every game counts, this just couldn't go on. Mann is a nice player [as is Powell] but they needed another horse.

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[Quake Griffin]

Just lol.

Best front office sports can buy and they did the bidding of an unwise mentally weak Paul George.
Hope it was all worth it.

[MartinToVaught]

Best front office sports can buy

Is it really?

[Captain Ballmer]

Best front office sports can buy

Is it really?

Up to that point they were... Zinger, Warren, West while Frank was only junior.

[MartinToVaught]

Best front office sports can buy

Is it really?

Up to that point they were... Zinger, Warren, West while Frank was only junior.

Up to that point, they had drafted Jerome over MPJ, wasted several more draft picks on G-League big men, got fleeced in historic fashion by OKC for PG, traded for Morris because he had a high-scoring game against us as a Knick (GM Doc logic with GM Doc results), wasted roster spot after roster spot on PG's buddies, promoted Lue instead of doing a serious coaching search, traded Lou (fine) for a totally cooked Rondo (horrible), traded one of our only young players for washed-up EJ, so on and so forth. The occasional steal like the Zubac trade or the Norm trade doesn't even come close to balancing out the stupidity, laziness, and/or desperation of all our other moves.

We have the highest payroll in the league for a team of old fossils who just chuck threes and get torched on defense all game. We also go into every single game with an extreme coaching disadvantage. We're terrible at drafting and undervalue the good players we do manage to draft (look at how Mann's being treated). This front office is way overrated. I'm jealous of teams like Denver, OKC and Memphis whose front offices actually know how to build a team the right way.

[Quake Griffin]

Can we cut bait at this point and just pretend this didn’t happen?

Or will we be prideful and double down on the move?
Or do we all need to get on board for the inevitable, lame, boring, tired, oft-used (at every stop) it’s not his fault” train?

[esqtvd]

stats can be tough sledding

Read on Twitter

OTOH--

Read on Twitter

[esqtvd]

PG did NOT want to keep playing point guard [and clearly did not consider Mann one].

Many Clippers players were also excited with the deal, but what did Kawhi Leonard think of the prospect of Westbrook signing with the team?

Appearing on the first episode of his podcast, George revealed how both he and Leonard reacted to the idea of the Clippers signing the former Los Angeles Lakers point guard.

“We both loved it, we both loved it,” George said. “We thought we needed a point guard. We traded Reggie [Jackson], we traded John [Wall], our two point guards. So we’re like, ‘man, we really need a point.’

“I’m playing point out there, I thought I could do it. It’s a lot, it’s a lot. Especially, you got Drew Holiday picking you up. … He [Westbrook] gonna do all the running.”

https://clutchpoints.com/clippers-star-paul-george-reveals-kawhi-leonards-reaction-to-russell-westbrook-move

[madmaxmedia]

I think one thing is clear so far- Russell is doing his absolute best to fit and try to help the team win, which was perhaps the biggest variable in whether this could possibly work out. The team has also supported and rallied around him, and the good vibes seem real. I think Russell playing around 20-25 minutes a game gives us the best chance of maximizing his good and minimizing his bad. If Ty picks his spots right with Russell, he can make the team better and more likely to get past the first round.

[clipperlover]

I think one thing is clear so far- Russell is doing his absolute best to fit and try to help the team win, which was perhaps the biggest variable in whether this could possibly work out. The team has also supported and rallied around him, and the good vibes seem real. I think Russell playing around 20-25 minutes a game gives us the best chance of maximizing his good and minimizing his bad. If Ty picks his spots right with Russell, he can make the team better and more likely to get past the first round.

The one thing that they are learning with Russ is how to attack with him. He was getting down court and no one was with him. In the last game, Kawhi was moving down the court faster than I have seen him before. I liked Russ and Mann on the floor together. Russ attacked and then Mann slipped in behind the defense. Russ, Mann, and Norm should allow us to attack constantly.

As Plumlee and Zu get more comfortable with Russ, then it makes the attack game even better. As long as our starters can keep even with the other teams starters, there is no reason our primarily second unit shouldn't destroy the opponent's primary second units. We dominate in bench points and we are very tough to beat.

[playaloc916]

People clown Russ by saying he's always happy even if the team loses and he has a good/bad game. I actually think him being happy might be a good thing for the locker room. I don't mean in a Court Jester way, but neither Kawhi or PG stand out as true leaders. I think if the team gets into a rut, it'll be hard to get out of it without some encouragement and positivity, which is what Russ brings... I think.

[madmaxmedia]

Truly we are the beacon of hope for the lost, bought out souls of the NBA.