Russell Westbrook SPICY post game interview

[JRoy]

I am loving every minute of this.

[TravisScott55]

Lebron traded for Westbrook to get a scapegoat

[LouisLitt]

Didn't the Lakers make a furious comeback in the 4th quarter w/ Russ on the bench? Am I missing something?

Westbrook has literally zero self-awareness.

[Antinomy]

He’s sounding very Iverson & Melo-esque.

Said it before, but I don’t think he’ll last one more full season after this contract is up.

He strikes me as a guy who will only do things on his terms.

[Buckeye-NBAFan]

When asked if he knows the benchmarks he has to hit to make the Lakers’ closing lineup, Russell Westbrook said:

“I shouldn’t have to hit any benchmarks, to be honest. I put a lot of work in. I got a lot of respect in this game. … I earned the right to be in closing lineups.”

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If that's the case, the Lakers can just sign Magic and he can start over Westbrook. He's got more respect within the game than Westbrook, so logically he'd be the better starter, at age 62, apparently.

[Snakebites]

Westbrook just doesn’t get it.

Never has.

Used to be his skill and athleticism made it so he could be a great player (albeit not a winner) despite “not getting it”.

Those days are over, and the Lakers are left holding the bag.

[RamonSessions7]

Someone/ones should’ve already been fired for this trade. Terrible, terrible fit/player/contract. Awful

[Snakebites]

If that's the case, the Lakers can just sign Magic and he can start over Westbrook. He's got more respect within the game than Westbrook, so logically he'd be the better starter, at age 62, apparently.

I had to fact check that. Magic really is 62. Holy crap that makes me feel old.

[Synciere]

Man I was that contrarian who thought the Lakers could make this work if they could get some cheap shooters like Monk and Melo. I thought letting Westbrook cook with Lebron getting extra rest would help them through a long season, then you could finesse the lineup and wind him down in the playoffs. I didn't expect it to go this poorly, foreal this is a shytshow!!!

Knicks trade coming up in T-minus 18 hours...

[mowcrowbar]

I feel a great sense of schadenfreude seeing the tampering Lakers implode like this.

[Hangtime84]

He’s sounding very Iverson & Melo-esque.

Said it before, but I don’t think he’ll last one more full season after this contract is up.

He strikes me as a guy who will only do things on his terms.

It’s very hard to coach high volume scorers who no longer in their primes.

[Mamba Mentality]

And I thought there would never be another Laker player hated and clowned as much as Kwame...

[sp6r=underrated]

Westbrook just doesn’t get it.

Never has.

Used to be his skill and athleticism made it so he could be a great player (albeit not a winner) despite “not getting it”.

Those days are over, and the Lakers are left holding the bag.

Russ is playing poorly but the revisionist view that Russell could never contribute to a title winning club is false. The Thunder were legit contenders for 1/2 a decade (12-16). They made the finals one year. In another season they knocked a 67 win team out of the post-season and took a 73 win team to 7 games.

He was a major contributor on that run and it is wrong to say he's not a winner because they didn't end up with a title. There is a huge difference between playing on clubs like that or the 90s Jazz and playing losing basketball.

Russell's problem is one common to a lot of elite on ball players. When his athleticism declined he wasn't able to make the transition to role player status because the skill-set he developed isn't conductive to that role.

[Snakebites]

Westbrook just doesn’t get it.

Never has.

Used to be his skill and athleticism made it so he could be a great player (albeit not a winner) despite “not getting it”.

Those days are over, and the Lakers are left holding the bag.

Russ is playing poorly but the revisionist view that Russell could never contribute to a title winning club is false. The Thunder were legit contenders for 1/2 a decade (12-16). They made the finals one year. In another season they knocked a 67 win team out of the post-season and took a 73 win team to 7 games.

He was a major contributor on that run and it is wrong to say he's not a winner because they didn't end up with a title. There is a huge difference between playing on clubs like that or the 90s Jazz and playing losing basketball.

Russell's problem is one common to a lot of elite on ball players. When his athleticism declined he wasn't able to make the transition to role player status because the skill-set he developed isn't conductive to that role.

I guess what I meant was he couldn't be the best player on a winning team, but I didn't articulate it fully. I was contrasting 2016-2018 Russ to the one we have now. Yes, you're absolutely correct that he was the second best player on some very strong Thunder teams, though it could be argued that his flaws contributed to them not being the dynasty that talent dictated they could have potentially been.

[jacoby1us]

No humility at all, if I am Vogel I move this guy to street clothes with an undisclosed injury. Hopefully Pelinka and management can work out a buyout as this is just not the place for him. Westbrook is in denial about his lack of production and how much he actually hurts the team versus help them in the crunch time.

[sp6r=underrated]

Westbrook just doesn’t get it.

Never has.

Used to be his skill and athleticism made it so he could be a great player (albeit not a winner) despite “not getting it”.

Those days are over, and the Lakers are left holding the bag.

Russ is playing poorly but the revisionist view that Russell could never contribute to a title winning club is false. The Thunder were legit contenders for 1/2 a decade (12-16). They made the finals one year. In another season they knocked a 67 win team out of the post-season and took a 73 win team to 7 games.

He was a major contributor on that run and it is wrong to say he's not a winner because they didn't end up with a title. There is a huge difference between playing on clubs like that or the 90s Jazz and playing losing basketball.

Russell's problem is one common to a lot of elite on ball players. When his athleticism declined he wasn't able to make the transition to role player status because the skill-set he developed isn't conductive to that role.

I guess what I meant was he couldn't be the best player on a winning team, but I didn't articulate it fully. I was contrasting 2016-2018 Russ to the one we have now. Yes, you're absolutely correct that he was the second best player on some very strong Thunder teams, though it could be argued that his flaws contributed to them not being the dynasty that talent dictated they could have potentially been.

This part seems to imply he was a net negative on those clubs. If I'm understanding you correctly that's false. He's always had flaws, as do majority of elite players, but he was a legit all-NBA contributor on title contending clubs that had solid playoff success comparable to 90s Jazz/Sonics.

I 100% agree he couldn't be the best player on a title contending team unless it was one of those strange circumstances were everything fell into place.

[Ice Trae]

Westbrook taking a page out of Doc Rivers book

[slicedbread2]

The sad thing in all of this is that LBJ and AD pushed Pelinka and Jeanie Buss to bring in Russ despite the obvious evidence showing a massive decline in yearly performance. Dude has been traded to his 4th team in 4 years and ever since he won that MVP, he's only eclipsed the 75% mark at the FT line just once. It's absolutely insane to think that he's now a 67%FT shooter who's low IQ, lack of self awareness and overall bad judgment on the court is killing the Lakers badly.

For crying loud, CP3 in his one season with the Thunder led them closer to winning an actual playoff series than Russ did during his final 3 years in OKC that included post knee surgery Melo and prime PG-13. Harden along with the idiot owner in Houston looked like absolute morons for trading for him(they both overruled Morey and the b-ball ops and ended up having to eat John Wall's salary). The Wizards wised up and realized that they weren't going anywhere with him and traded him for smaller more movable deals.

In the end LBJ has nobody to blame but himself for pushing for this deal. They were sort of limited to begin with because the team rides and dies with Anthony Davis who's health has reduced him to half man/half a season and Day to Davis.

[Johnny Bball]

The guy is a lightning rod for sure, he isn't playing as well as he can, but the Lakers problems run way way way deeper than just Westbrook.

It's not his fault that they stripped themselves of defence, shooting and depth and James just presumed good players would flock to them for vet mins and as waiver wire pickups. Those days are mostly passed.

[mccluskey]

When asked if he knows the benchmarks he has to hit to make the Lakers’ closing lineup, Russell Westbrook said:

“I shouldn’t have to hit any benchmarks, to be honest. I put a lot of work in. I got a lot of respect in this game. … I earned the right to be in closing lineups.”

Read on Twitter

Watch on YouTube

Before giving that quote, to answer the question directly, Russ first said "I dont got that answer for you, I wish I did".

That changes that answer to me a bit. Not that much, since he still said what he said, but it adds some context around the frustration as well.

Media be spinning everywhere. Yeesh.

I don't really think the context of his frustration makes this look any better, though - he's mad at the coach for not playing him but isn't willing to take any responsibility for his terrible play, which is the whole reason the coach isn't playing him. His answer was basically "it doesn't matter how bad I play, I'm a star in this league and should be on the court regardless." He's looking for a way to blame anybody but him for this situation when a real leader would step up and say "hey I'm not playing my best right now, so although I don't like it, I understand why Frank went a different direction at the end of the game, and it's on me to play up to the level I'm capable of playing moving forward so I can contribute more to this team."

the modern NBA has enabled some of the most entitled, privileged dudes on the planet to have some of the lowest standards for professionalism and accountability of any pro sport, and unfortunately Westbrook's response here is the kind of self-important delusional pontificating that's going to happen as a result.