Why won't Westbrook come off the bench?

[JerryFox]

I mean didn't he see that whole Carmelo situation in OKC? Pretty sure he was ON that team. How did that work out for Carmelo?

And why the hell is Pat Bev egging him on? "Nah... nah... he ain't gon come off the bench, we need him in the starting lineup"
Really???

[Cappy_Smurf]

Too dangerous.

He could get seriously injured or possibly even killed.

[Slink]

The guy only knows how to play one way. He can't adjust or reinvent himself.

[TylersLakers]

The bigger question to me is why the Lakers care what he thinks at all. If I was Darvin Ham, I'd tell him he has 5 games to make it work off the bench or he's gone and they can send him home.

Why the Lakers are tip-toeing around it, I have no earthly idea.

[Landsberger]

Why does everyone focus on Westbrook? While I never wanted him close to this team for all the reasons we all know now, he'd be the best option off our bench if he went there and taking him out of the starting line up would have negligible effect in our win totals. His presence hides the fact that we're just not that good, the Bronfense is so predictable and it no longer works as he's aged and Davis is a faux star in many ways.

Westbrook is throwing a lot of shade at structural issues that go beyond what he's not doing. Best hope is that we can get a good consistent bench guy for him IMHO. Not going to change the trajectory much but it will be the start of a long road to our next real chance at relevance in a few years. The sooner we move beyond the Bron "era" the sooner we get back.

[stan francisco]

Because Rob and Ham are puppets to LBJ and Jeannie?
Because Lakers brass don’t think defense matters?
Because Linda and Kurt have say in the matter?

I’m reaching because it just can’t be for basketball reasons. Able to play defense suddenly late in his career or not, Russ shouldn’t play next to LBJ anyway. Ever. His offense is limited to exactly what LBJ does but less and he does it all much worse, except defensive rebounding. Horrible fit, the two of them.

Whomever thought it would work should be quiet about basketball issues next time, imo.

He should come off the bench, indeed.

[Hans1984]

That's a good question. There's no rational explanation for it.

[stan francisco]

That's a good question. There's no rational explanation for it.

Yeah, none.

Not sure if it’s Jeannie or Klutch but there’s gotta be some stinky going on in the background. What, I don’t know.

Jeannie weirdly came out supporting Russ a month or two back, stating some bs like he was one of the leagues best players etc. It felt like unprompted defense of signing him which was weird. If it was a sales job to the rest of the league, good luck to us fans. If Kurt and Linda are in Jeannie’s ear more than Rob and coach, good luck to us fans.

Rob, who is a very good to great drafter and evaluator of basket ball talent, seems to just play along and make decisions that sit well with Klutch and/or Jeannie. I don’t buy that he’s as incompetent as the Russ signing suggests. Perhaps a smooth talker and servile to his bosses but far from that dumb.

Dr Buss’ biggest strength was to delegate tasks to experts, allow them the mandate to operate, with trust.

I miss having Jerry West in the FO.

[danfantastk32]

Somewhere down deep in a few people's head.....there is this idea that maybe Vogel really was the issue all along.

And with that though clanging around....perhaps a new system would bring out more from Russ. Maybe not enough to win a title, but enough to make him tradable. The only thing people want from the Lakers, is their 2 picks. Everyone in the NBA can smell the Laker desperation like a fart in a car. 1 pick ain't enough. 2 picks.

But if the Lakers can get Russ looking somewhat like his old self.....perhaps teams will bite. That's clearly the theory. Sadly, Vogel wasn't the issue. Russ just sucks. So this has done the opposite of what they had hoped.

Expect one of two things: The Lakers are going to include the 2nd pick now, in trades. Or Russ will be benched soon.

[stan francisco]

So, he came off the bench and we got our first win.

[Father Time]

Uh, he will? Seems totally fine with it.

[mighty_duck]

So, he came off the bench and we got our first win.

He came off the vs MIN as well, and that was a loss. While WB off the bench is a very positive step, it isn't enough.
The key to the win = the Lakers hit their shots - the first game we cracked 31% from the 3.
Heck, we shot 47/43/80. If we could keep that up (and the way the defense has been working), this is a 60 win team. With the current roster, I don't see that happening.

[Landsberger]

He came off the bench, led the team in scoring, shot very well and played within himself while posting the best ± on the team...... and we lost by 14 at home to a team that was literally blown up in the offseason.