Clips 12-10 in the Russ Era

baldur · Post #61 » by **baldur** » Wed Mar 1, 2023 9:30 am

Thanks for the laughter.

lonzo_pelota · Post #62 » by **lonzo_pelota** » Wed Mar 1, 2023 12:06 pm

Westbrook is playing his heart out , u can tell he's giving it 110% in all three of these losses. The win streak is coming.

Edrees · Post #63 » by **Edrees** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 12:24 am

Revived wrote:
Edrees wrote:He's good for their offense but their defense is cooked with him there. Too bad defense is more important for a team that wants to win playoffs.

Their best two players (Kawhi & George) have been kinda inconsistent in these games as well.

Playing 4 on 5 on offense in crunchtime when teams sag off Westbrook on the perimeter will do that to you. Sure they have passing dimension to their team now but with tighter defense late in games that doesn't mean anything when the spacing is cooked.

Post #64 » by **HMFFL** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 12:26 am

The Clippers will figure it out. I have been more focused on how the Lakers are doing without Russ.

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Desiderium · Post #65 » by **Desiderium** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 12:33 am

The difference is that Lakers were paying him a ridiculous amount of money, whereas Clippers got him at a bargain price. His contract really hurt the Lakers in putting some good pieces around them that could have reduced his usage. The less Russ does, the more effective he is.

RoyceDa59 · Post #66 » by **RoyceDa59** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 12:40 am

When will people learn.

Russ at this stage of his career will always bring more losses than wins. His presence is a distraction.

KyRo23 · Post #67 » by **KyRo23** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 12:43 am

I tuned in at the end and saw some wild Russ plays. He lost a couple out of bounds and had a bad pass for a turnover. It seems like his legs were wobbly. He really has an issue slowing down when need be and his mind at this stage of his career is moving way faster than his body is able

HotRocks34 · Post #68 » by **HotRocks34** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 12:49 am

Ok so let's look at Russ' stats through his first 3 Clippers games:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAC/2023.html

16/5/9 on 53/44/100 in 31 minutes per game. 4+ turnovers per game.
Started all 3 games (closed 2 of 3 games)
20.7 PER; .640 TS; .163 WS48; +2.4 BPM

All this for a guy on like a $750,000 contract.

HUGE steal. And he's just figuring things out with the team.

In watching the games, the fit is better than I thought it would be (and I thought it would be good). The Clippers have zero natural playmakers outside of Russ (except for maybe young guys like Preston). They desperately needed a guy like Russ.

The thing I notice most when watching the team now is how badly they need a legit backup point to run things decently when Russ sits. It's amazing they've been as good as they've been in recent years with essentially no point guards.

Russ isn't what he used to be, but as long as he stays in his lane and plays within himself, he still has a lot to offer this team (and other teams).

And people said he'd be out of the league at like the end of this year. :lol:

levon · Post #69 » by **levon** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 1:01 am

HotRocks34 wrote:Ok so let's look at Russ' stats through his first 3 Clippers games:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAC/2023.html

16/5/9 on 53/44/100 in 31 minutes per game. 4+ turnovers per game.
Started all 3 games (closed 2 of 3 games)
20.7 PER; .640 TS; .163 WS48; +2.4 BPM

All this for a guy on like a $750,000 contract.

HUGE steal. And he's just figuring things out with the team.

In watching the games, the fit is better than I thought it would be (and I thought it would be good). The Clippers have zero natural playmakers outside of Russ (except for maybe young guys like Preston). They desperately needed a guy like Russ.

The thing I notice most when watching the team now is how badly they need a legit backup point to run things decently when Russ sits. It's amazing they've been as good as they've been in recent years with essentially no point guards.

Russ isn't what he used to be, but as long as he stays in his lane and plays within himself, he still has a lot to offer this team (and other teams).

And people said he'd be out of the league at like the end of this year.

Unless you think he's going to go from a career 52% TS (49% this year so far) to 64% on the Clippers, you might want to acknowledge that this is all small sample size theatre. You might want to also acknowledge his 25.7 TO%, which unlike his scoring efficiency is more indicative of the trend than an anomaly (he's averaging the second highest TO% of his career this season, highest being last season).

I admire you wanting for this to work as badly as you do, though.

Russ' FMV is minimum to mMLE going forward. Basically late career Lance Stephenson. He's not going to be the difference between the Clippers winning a title either way.

fpzark · Post #70 » by **fpzark** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 1:08 am

Russ will put up good stat lines and still lose you the game. Watching him shoot at this point is like watching anyone try and solve a written geometry problem after getting hit by a two by four.

HotRocks34 · Post #71 » by **HotRocks34** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 1:18 am

fpzark wrote:Russ will put up good stat lines and still lose you the game. Watching him shoot at this point is like watching anyone try and solve a written geometry problem after getting hit by a two by four.

Russ is not the reason why the team is losing the games.

Kawhi didn't have it against Minny, and Marcus Morris just flat-out sucks right now.

Let's look at the Minny box score advanced stats:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202302280LAC.html

Two Clippers had a positive (ORTG - DRTG). They were Zubac and Russ.

Russ had the Clippers' best BPM in the game.

This is working. The Clippers still have plenty to figure out, but right now Russ isn't a part of their problems.

Lue will figure it out. Takes time. He's got several new pieces to work with.

fpzark · Post #72 » by **fpzark** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 1:20 am

HotRocks34 wrote:
fpzark wrote:Russ will put up good stat lines and still lose you the game. Watching him shoot at this point is like watching anyone try and solve a written geometry problem after getting hit by a two by four.

Russ is not the reason why the team is losing the games.

Kawhi didn't have it against Minny, and Marcus Morris just flat-out sucks right now.

Let's look at the Minny box score advanced stats:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202302280LAC.html

Two Clippers had a positive (ORTG - DRTG). They were Zubac and Russ.

This is working. The Clippers still have plenty to figure out, but right now Russ isn't a part of their problems.

Lue will figure it out. Takes time. He's got several new pieces to work with.

By the time Lue figures it out Russ will regress. He's a mirage in the desert at this point.

RRR3 · Post #73 » by **RRR3** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 1:24 am

It is infuriating how some fans refuse to admit players who used to be good are no longer good. Westbrook is not good. At best he's mid.

fpzark · Post #74 » by **fpzark** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 1:36 am

RRR3 wrote:It is infuriating how some fans refuse to admit players who used to be good are no longer good. Westbrook is not good. At best he's mid.

If he played to his strengths now vs 10 years ago he might not be a net negative

RRR3 · Post #75 » by **RRR3** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 2:45 am

fpzark wrote:
RRR3 wrote:It is infuriating how some fans refuse to admit players who used to be good are no longer good. Westbrook is not good. At best he's mid.

If he played to his strengths now vs 10 years ago he might not be a net negative

I agree, but he doesn't and never will so it's a moot point.

LakersLegacy · Post #76 » by **LakersLegacy** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 3:01 am

It won’t be a good or bad signing until the play-offs. It’s not even about the play-off seed this year.

Onlytimewilltel · Post #77 » by **Onlytimewilltel** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 3:18 am

HanzGruber · Post #78 » by **HanzGruber** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 3:20 am

HotRocks34 wrote:Ok so let's look at Russ' stats through his first 3 Clippers games:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAC/2023.html

16/5/9 on 53/44/100 in 31 minutes per game. 4+ turnovers per game.
Started all 3 games (closed 2 of 3 games)
20.7 PER; .640 TS; .163 WS48; +2.4 BPM

All this for a guy on like a $750,000 contract.

HUGE steal. And he's just figuring things out with the team.

In watching the games, the fit is better than I thought it would be (and I thought it would be good). The Clippers have zero natural playmakers outside of Russ (except for maybe young guys like Preston). They desperately needed a guy like Russ.

The thing I notice most when watching the team now is how badly they need a legit backup point to run things decently when Russ sits. It's amazing they've been as good as they've been in recent years with essentially no point guards.

Russ isn't what he used to be, but as long as he stays in his lane and plays within himself, he still has a lot to offer this team (and other teams).

And people said he'd be out of the league at like the end of this year.

Yea and the chances of him staying anywhere close to those numbers is 0. He’s not gonna magically become a great or even good shooter by changing teams

milkii · Post #79 » by **milkii** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 3:24 am

0 - 4

IG2 · Post #80 » by **IG2** » Thu Mar 2, 2023 3:46 am

You won't know the many ways in which RW can kill your team until he starts playing for your own team. His counting stats will always look decent, but they are misleading. They won't capture the poor decision making in crucial moments, the horrible team defense and how he can kill your spacing (although less of an issue on a great shooting team like LAC). He's unplayable in crunch time.

Just not someone you can seriously contend with.