"If Westbrook don't be careful, he will find himself out of the league come next year"

[Lockdown504090]

Lebron and Russ were just a horrendous fit, especially given lebrons decline in athleticism. It’s not Russ fault. He didn’t sign with LA, he was traded there.


I will add though. He took a minimum to stay with the clippers and there are 0 other good teams that can offer him the role he has with the clippers

[ryguy613]

Lebron and Russ were just a horrendous fit, especially given lebrons decline in athleticism. It’s not Russ fault. He didn’t sign with LA, he was traded there.


I will add though. He took a minimum to stay with the clippers and there are 0 other good teams that can offer him the role he has with the clippers

right, people act as though Russell Westbrook literally taking a vet minimum deal is somehow the polar opposite of him being in danger of being out of the league. lol. like sure... adding Russell Westbrook for the price of on the house to an already stacked roster is an easy choice for a team. its a whole different story when you have to give up resources to acquire him, and/or pay him an exorbitant amount of money every year which makes it impossible to build a working roster.

[madmaxmedia]

It's almost as if he was a horrible fit on the Lakers at 48 million dollars, and a much better fit next to a team full of shooting threats at 3.8 mil

The $48M shouldn't matter on the court, but yeah that and the circumstances in which the player is acquired is inevitably going to have an effect on a team, coaching staff, etc. (and yeah while I don't think the Clippers are the team of shooters they were a couple of years ago, they are better than the Laker teams Russ was on.)

[og15]

Lebron and Russ were just a horrendous fit, especially given lebrons decline in athleticism. It’s not Russ fault. He didn’t sign with LA, he was traded there.


I will add though. He took a minimum to stay with the clippers and there are 0 other good teams that can offer him the role he has with the clippers

right, people act as though Russell Westbrook literally taking a vet minimum deal is somehow the polar opposite of him being in danger of being out of the league. lol. like sure... adding Russell Westbrook for the price of on the house to an already stacked roster is an easy choice for a team. its a whole different story when you have to give up resources to acquire him, and/or pay him an exorbitant amount of money every year which makes it impossible to build a working roster.

Clippers picked up Westbrook from waiver, which meant they had no birds rights. Westbrook being from LA and wanting to stay in the area had only one choice of he wanted to be a Clipper, take the minimum because the team couldn't offer him one cent more than he is currently making based on cap rules. He got the max contract the Clippers could possibly give him.

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For us Clippers fans, Westbrook so far has been solid, and his deficiencies are a lot less noticeable when he's not taking up 35% of your cap.

That said, please super Westbrook fans, we don't need you to bring your LeBron or Lakers beef along, WE DON'T CARE, move on.

[ryguy613]

It's almost as if he was a horrible fit on the Lakers at 48 million dollars, and a much better fit next to a team full of shooting threats at 3.8 mil

The $48M shouldn't matter on the court, but yeah that and the circumstances in which the player is acquired is inevitably going to have an effect on a team, coaching staff, etc. (and yeah while I don't think the Clippers are the team of shooters they were a couple of years ago, they are better than the Laker teams Russ was on.)

of course the $48M matters on the court. Money spent on that contract stops money being spent on building out the roster with complimentary players. Its a whole different ask when you're adding him to an already complete roster for free as opposed to adding him in as a 3rd of the cap.

[ryguy613]

Lebron and Russ were just a horrendous fit, especially given lebrons decline in athleticism. It’s not Russ fault. He didn’t sign with LA, he was traded there.


I will add though. He took a minimum to stay with the clippers and there are 0 other good teams that can offer him the role he has with the clippers

right, people act as though Russell Westbrook literally taking a vet minimum deal is somehow the polar opposite of him being in danger of being out of the league. lol. like sure... adding Russell Westbrook for the price of on the house to an already stacked roster is an easy choice for a team. its a whole different story when you have to give up resources to acquire him, and/or pay him an exorbitant amount of money every year which makes it impossible to build a working roster.

Clippers picked up Westbrook from waiver, which meant they had no birds rights. Westbrook being from LA and wanting to stay in the area had only one choice of he wanted to be a Clipper, take the minimum because the team couldn't offer him one cent more than he is currently making based on cap rules. He got the max contract the Clippers could possibly give him.

----

For us Clippers fans, Westbrook so far has been solid, and his deficiencies are a lot less noticeable when he's not taking up 35% of your cap.

That said, please super Westbrook fans, we don't need you to bring your LeBron or Lakers beef along, WE DON'T CARE, move on.

i disagree with none of what you just said, and none of what you said is at odds with what i said. players who go for minimum contracts (in general) are not on very solid footing in the nba. that goes double if youre a player coming off of a max contract who has the pedigree and name recognition of westbrook. Im happy for russ, and good for the clippers that they were able to get him for free based on the circumstances... but THOSE circumstances are essentially what KP was talking about.

[Goomba3666]

He's always been an incredibly underrated playmaker.

This! His assists numbers aren’t coming from swinging the ball to semi-open players on the perimeter every possession.Dude is breaking down his defender, collapsing the defense, drawing an extra 1-2 defenders and kicking it out to the perimeter.

He’s also making some EXTREMELY tough passes below the ft line and getting guys OPEN dunks.

They aren’t ‘cheap’ stat-padding assists.

[Goomba3666]

Hot take:

Westbrook is superior fit for clippers compared to harden. Harden gets assists for sure but he bounces air out of the basketball. Westbrook brings ball up quick and gets plays going quick and allows other 2 superstars still have their iso plays. If the trade happpens harden should be 6 man.

Agreed. Harden will slow this team down significantly, not hustle on defense, and will ultimately make thiem extremely predictable.

[Scoundreldays]

Hot take:

Westbrook is superior fit for clippers compared to harden. Harden gets assists for sure but he bounces air out of the basketball. Westbrook brings ball up quick and gets plays going quick and allows other 2 superstars still have their iso plays. If the trade happpens harden should be 6 man.

Agreed. Harden will slow this team down significantly, not hustle on defense, and will ultimately make thiem extremely predictable.

Agree with you both, not a fan of him coming to the Clippers

[Bobbymcgee]

He'll be great as long as the Clippers stay healthy. Then he can focus on what he does best - bringing up the ball on the fastbreak, slashing to the basket, finding the open man, and rebounding. Thankfully the Clippers also have a lot of guys who can shoot the ball and Westbrook can feed them all game.

I have always felt that the Clippers generate too much offense from jump shots and not enough from dunks and fast breaks. This team, now healthy, is starting to show that they can break down offenses and create easy shots.

Personally, I think the star of the show last night was really RoCo. His energy, defense and mobility at the PF was critical to the success, albeit against a young team. Hopefully that synergy will continue. I am guessing Mann has already lost his starting spot.

Considering all the current candidates, I like RoCo starting at the PF spot the best. He is a savvy vet who plays decent defense and doesn't need to score much but is still a threat to do so. Kind of like PJ Tucker type role when he was with the Bucks.

I still prefer Mann coming off the bench and playing more backcourt and SF minutes but maybe he will prove me wrong and do great at PF.

[HMFFL]

Regular season Russ doesn't concern me, it's the primetime games, or a playoff game. He gets itchy and tries taking over. Every team he's played for has shown that OKC is what seemed to work best for him.

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[og15]

He'll be great as long as the Clippers stay healthy. Then he can focus on what he does best - bringing up the ball on the fastbreak, slashing to the basket, finding the open man, and rebounding. Thankfully the Clippers also have a lot of guys who can shoot the ball and Westbrook can feed them all game.

I have always felt that the Clippers generate too much offense from jump shots and not enough from dunks and fast breaks. This team, now healthy, is starting to show that they can break down offenses and create easy shots.

Personally, I think the star of the show last night was really RoCo. His energy, defense and mobility at the PF was critical to the success, albeit against a young team. Hopefully that synergy will continue. I am guessing Mann has already lost his starting spot.

Considering all the current candidates, I like RoCo starting at the PF spot the best. He is a savvy vet who plays decent defense and doesn't need to score much but is still a threat to do so. Kind of like PJ Tucker type role when he was with the Bucks.

I still prefer Mann coming off the bench and playing more backcourt and SF minutes but maybe he will prove me wrong and do great at PF.

I thought Lue implied that technically Kawhi would be the power forward in the lineup, but Mann is more a versatile guy that you can put in different positions, but his primary position will be more of the other guard.

[Goomba3666]

Not sure how honest we’re being ,but this is the Lebron effect. If you’re perceived as the reason why he couldn’t win, you’re pretty much on the media’s hit list for a while. The only players that survive are the young ones. I remember them doing Jordan Clarkson dirty when he was with the Cavs along with Ingram, Kuzma, and Ball when they didn’t make the playoffs. Russ took the scapegoat bait, over stayed, and the media MADE SURE that it would cost him millions. If you look hard enough, you can see them doing it AD in slow motion; only thing saving him is his Klutch affiliation.

If this isn’t a successful year, the media will make him pay dearly.

[clippertown]

I have always felt that the Clippers generate too much offense from jump shots and not enough from dunks and fast breaks. This team, now healthy, is starting to show that they can break down offenses and create easy shots.

Personally, I think the star of the show last night was really RoCo. His energy, defense and mobility at the PF was critical to the success, albeit against a young team. Hopefully that synergy will continue. I am guessing Mann has already lost his starting spot.

Considering all the current candidates, I like RoCo starting at the PF spot the best. He is a savvy vet who plays decent defense and doesn't need to score much but is still a threat to do so. Kind of like PJ Tucker type role when he was with the Bucks.

I still prefer Mann coming off the bench and playing more backcourt and SF minutes but maybe he will prove me wrong and do great at PF.

I thought Lue implied that technically Kawhi would be the power forward in the lineup, but Mann is more a versatile guy that you can put in different positions, but his primary position will be more of the other guard.

Playing Mann at the SG would mean PG and KL have to play out of position. Its something Lue might do to add James Harden to the lineup, but it would be foolish to inconvenience the main stars to add a non-shooter to the starting lineup.

RoCo was very impressive for the same reasons that Mann is popular - he does the little things well. However, RoCo is a natural PF and Mann is a PG playing SF. One thing I noticed last night was the backup squad missed Mann badly - KMjr had a horrible game.

[JN61]

Regular season Russ doesn't concern me, it's the primetime games, or a playoff game. He gets itchy and tries taking over. Every team he's played for has shown that OKC is what seemed to work best for him.

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Which has been very successful for him. In this era for n.1/2 option only Curry have had more post season success than Westbrook from Pg position.

[JN61]

He's always been an incredibly underrated playmaker.

This! His assists numbers aren’t coming from swinging the ball to semi-open players on the perimeter every possession.Dude is breaking down his defender, collapsing the defense, drawing an extra 1-2 defenders and kicking it out to the perimeter.

He’s also making some EXTREMELY tough passes below the ft line and getting guys OPEN dunks.

They aren’t ‘cheap’ stat-padding assists.

Yes. To me it is crazy NBA media still tries to paint his assists of creating easy plays inside instead of kicking to shooter every time and rely on luck as a bad thing. While same media praises cp0 for exactly same easy scoring opportunity plays which Westbrook prefers...

[JN61]

James Harden might find himself out of the league before Russ.

There is a reason the Clippers aren't offering a lot for Harden. At this point they might just rather have Russ.

I know I'd rather have RWB, 10 out of 10 times.

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Would you rather a disgruntled Westbrook or a disgruntled Harden? A happy and healthy Westbrook is better than an unhappy and lazy Harden, but put Harden in the right situation and his ceiling is way higher than Brodies. Its not even close IMO.

Individually absolutely. Not even close. Harden will put up better numbers. However in context of a team I'm not sure. Harden relies far more to dribbling air out of the basketball taking plays away from Pg and Leonard. Also Westbrook is superior hustle guy and defender.

[Homer38]

After I closely watched that tragedy he inflicted at Lakers, I REALLY don't believe this will translate when games get serious.

Guy is cancer. Clippers may enjoy themselves

You may ask yourself was the guy who has been positive everywhere but on the Lakers the issue or guy who is addicted to get all the credits in the world and first one to throw his teammates under the bus. LeBron has list longer than hunger years of players who have been put in his doghouse so LeBron can still get his numbers. Because God forbid LeBron to ever adjust his game.

LBJ adjusted his game as he always done...The problem, Westbrook was a horrible fit with LBJ and Davis....The numbers were solid when Westbrook and LBJ were on the court together...But when LBJ was on the bench, it was a real struggle for Westbrook...Btw, the lakers were in the 13th seed with Westbrook last year after 55 games and they made a run in the WCF when he was gone....Westbrook is a very good player at 4 million at this point, but at 48 million, no.Westbrook has always had a problem with his decisions in crucial moments in the game like last year vs Portland...no excuses on that

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[KrAzY3]

It's almost as if he was a horrible fit on the Lakers at 48 million dollars, and a much better fit next to a team full of shooting threats at 3.8 mil

It didn't help that he was the scapegoat as well. Can't blame the other guy, so of course it was all Westbrook's fault. Adding him when LeBron was going for the scoring record was kind of brilliant...

[Homer38]

It's almost as if he was a horrible fit on the Lakers at 48 million dollars, and a much better fit next to a team full of shooting threats at 3.8 mil

It didn't help that he was the scapegoat as well. Can't blame the other guy, so of course it was all Westbrook's fault. Adding him when LeBron was going for the scoring record was kind of brilliant...

They were not wrong too...I mean the lakers were much better before they added Westbrook and after they traded Westbrook....