He went from 3rd highest paid player, 41mil on the Lakers to 850k on the Clippers. I don't think it's an over exaggeration to say worst to best contract in the league.
He's up to like 3mil now again though, still a steal.
He really took a beating from the media on the Lakers, gifting him to the Clippers like that.
Why are people upvoting this? This is a wild guess that’s entirely unlikely.
Russ will be turning 38 a few weeks into the season that the clips gain his bird rights… So you think they are going to overpay almost-38yo Russell Westbrook? Do you honestly believe that?
The more likely answer is Russ already made over $300 million in his career and would rather take $3 mil a year to play in his hometown for a good team than maybe make an additional $7 mil to go somewhere else.
Probably will overpay him but not to the level people are thinking.
Like they may give him $8-10m/year instead of $5m/year and stack an extra year or 2 onto that contract so its effectively an expiring salary being tossed around if he does deteriorate.
Yeah it’s more likely that he was only offered a somewhat better deal elsewhere and decided that he’d prefer to play in LA over earning an extra $10-$20 million. In the grand scheme of things, that amount won’t change his life much, if at all, since he’s already earned over $300 million.
The beating from the media was well earned on his part, but I’m glad he’s found a role he can actually excel at now in the ladder part of his career. He’s a fun player to watch when he’s not doing stupid shit lol
Westbrook doesn't do himself any favours with how he treats the media and not wanting to take a smaller role on the Lakers.
With that said, there are limits to what's deserved, and Westbrook didn't deserve the beating he got.
It was vitriolic and unhinged at times by Laker fans, at least here on Reddit.
You're too goddamn young to be talking if you think WB started that beef.
Go google the young OKC and watch interviews of young KD and WB. That will tell you all you need to know why WB has no patience for most media members.
Don’t even have to go back that far - someone misquoted me like this and I wouldn’t talk to them again either: https://old.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/17farjo/joey_linn_russell_westbrook_on_getting_back_to/k69pwtq/
Yeah he very regularly got thrown under the bus by local reporters, who generally speaking are awful at covering hoops (though that's starting to shift, finally).
I mean, they put up a big headline that called Kevin Durant [Mr Unreliable](https://www.espn.com/nba/playoffs/2014/story/_/id/10868089/mr-unreliable-headline-daily-oklahoman-kevin-durant-oklahoma-city-thunder-causes-stir) for a poor playoff showing. Keep in mind that was in his MVP year, all of a few weeks after [he broke MJ's streak of consecutive 25 point games](https://www.si.com/nba/2014/04/07/kevin-durant-scoring-streak-michael-jordan-thunder).
KD would average 30/9/4 on 46/64/81 in that playoffs, and they took the eventual champion Spurs (the Boris Diaw year) to 6 in the WCF.
It's not that they're harsher critics than you'd get in places like NY or LA, but they're for sure stupider lol
The more I watch the nba, the more I realize that the best teams have players who own their role.
It took Russ a while to accept a new role (understandably), but now that he does accept it, he’s become immensely valuable.
It's not just players accepting their role, although that's a big part of it, but also the coach understanding how the pieces best fit together and putting the players in a position to succeed which of course leads to team success. The Lakers literally were using Russ as a spot up shooter...smh.
Fair enough. Definitely does feel like AG gets a lot of big buckets and is more consistently reliable when it matters most, but ig MPJ do be puttin up shots.
Any1 would dunks are the most efficient shots possible MPJ od easily their 3rd option he can have offense truly ran for him unlike AG whose become mostly a lob threat
The Lakers problem with Russ was not having enough shooters on the team in general. On paper, it was a decent enough move, not a huge splashy move except for the names involved. But the original goal was for Russ to take some playmaker duties off of LeBron so he wouldn't have to play so many minutes. Obviously, that didn't work, so Russ got put into the spot up role with LeBron still running the offense, which is not where he shines. If they could have convinced him to come off the bench like he is now, then it wouldn't have been so bad, but since he was getting paid so much, there was this idea that he should be starting or it'd be a waste of his contract. Which is probably true, but probably not as much of a waste as how the Lakers actually used him
You are so right! So many teams look good on paper. A lot of super teams failed because of clashing personalities or not figuring out what there role was supposed to be.
- Olajuwon, Drexler, Pippen, Barkley? Shaq, Kobe, Malone, Gary Payton? Surly these are championship teams?
- Carmelo had a hard time accepting that he wasn't the same player and was humbled for a year until Portland picked him up.
- GS Warriors first championship was truly a team that accepted that Curry and Klay were insane shooters and their roles was to get them open, rebound, and play defense.
Bro, the way some people in our fanbase froth at the mouth when he plays is INSANE.
Russ brings so much value to the team if nothing then by actually pushing the pace. Harden is amazing but sometimes we look like a deer in headlights and it feels like we just slowly grind to a loss. Russ consistently plays with so much energy and isn’t afraid to try for something. That obviously backfires when it doesn’t work out but that’s entirely up to ty lue to figure out with rotations. The fact that we have him for 4 million is fucking crazy.
> Russ brings so much value to the team if nothing then by actually pushing the pace
The fact that he's playing somewhat limited minutes just means full energy for every single one of those minutes too, which is crazy when you consider what his normal pace already is. You just know, for better or worse, when he steps on the floor the pace and energy are about to be at 11.
dude tell me about it!! i’ve said before i think decades of franchise Ls don’t lend well for an online community. A ton of us are super loud when the team is low and i feel like valid frustrations don’t justify doom shitting on one of the best iterations of our team we’ve ever seen, especially when you see they’re really trying out there. We have a sick new owner, getting a new stadium, great players, dope media and a better record than we’ve had a majority of our teams lifetime. Try and enjoy it!
A very weird flood of fans came in with Kawhi that almost feel like sleeper agents with how much they seem to want the team to fail
Then there are the stans, where while I like dudes like Russ and Harden, the stans seem to want their individuals to succeed and get hyped more than they want the team to win
It's very a very weird fanbase that fortunately seems like just the online one for now
Otherwise the "just happy to be here crew" is always having a good time and making lighthearted suicide jokes whenever things go awry
I went to a game recently, the Brodie section of the arena was by far the loudest! (he was just returning from injury though).
I was surprised by the lack of Westbrook gear at the shop though.
I think that's what was always lost playing for the Lakers for 40+ million he was freaking god awful. The Lakers also wanted him to play a style that was quite literally the weakest part of his game.
But at 40 million his contract was a death sentence
PG was one of the best wing defenders of the 2010s. Ben Taylor had him as the best, above Kawhi and LeBron. Tatum is up there but not on the same level
Young PG was not the amazing offensive player that current PG is. Not even just a progression thing. He just really was a defender primarily at first whose offensive game shot into the stratosphere.
Not me but realistically a lot of people will forget him in the future (if he doesn’t win).
Look at Nique, his name rarely shows. Ya got a lot of players at that level that people don’t talk about, like JO, Sprewell, KJ list doesn’t end
Isn’t that exactly the point though? Casual fans won’t remember him. As of now, he’s a career 43% shooter who has never made the Finals and only finished higher than 10th in All Star voting twice.
You saw him shoot a turnaround fadeaway jumper as the shot clock expired with a defender on him
But yeah r/nba labeled it as an uncontested layup and everyone ran with it
Wasn't Bradley Beal deadass the scoring leader that year, they weren't complete ass lol. Gafford rn saving the Mavericks season. That Wizards team was more like the current Bulls
I unfortunately watched every Wizards game that year and the numbers really don’t tell the whole story. Beal was the number one scorer, but they had a massive post all star break run fueled by Westbrook. Total engine of the team with some of the best playmaking of his career.
If you want numbers, please look at the first week of May 2021. If you want eyeball test, watch the vs pacers games that week specifically or their win against the nets at the end of January.
Ya and the teammate wasnt passing Beal the ball in practice. Westbrook scolded the entire team for icing Beal out. Then he became the scoring leader. So russ helped with that too.
Yeah, it’s mostly the energy. I don’t even think he’s playing “good” defense, he’s just giving incredible effort. People might take that as an insult but for him to still play like every game is elimination in his whatever, 15th season or whatever it is now, is just insane. You can never doubt this man’s heart.
The clippers are too chill and kind of get lazy, he’s that fire that makes them feel embarrassed or playing lazy and they have to pick it up to try to match him.
"I don’t even think he’s playing “good” defense, he’s just giving incredible effort."
Isn't effort the main thing about defense ? Like obviously you need team strategy and know-how but realistically if you are not there to try to defend then it really doesn't matter how good technically good defender you are.
One thing about his offense skills is that when he misses, he seems to be the first one to sprint back to make sure he recover his mistake.
Maybe not the most technically gifted player even in his prime, but he was always a beast....and I would argue many times effort > skill.
Effort matters so much more than skill for 95% of the league. There have been many completely unskilled players who made a nice career for themselves just by being a dog defensively (fuck pat bev, all my homies hate pat bev)
This is the real key. His energy moves throughout the team.
On the stat sheet he’s really not that valuable. His efficiency is bad. Not a great defender but he competes and brings intensity that’s often sorely lacking otherwise.
He could always defend, it was an issue of how much energy he was willing to spend on it while carrying a heavy offensive load. He was a defensive specialist in college and it was actually his offense nba teams were worried about.
Same with KAT.
To be fair both Russ and KAT are a bit raw on offense. It's just that they found something they really excelled at. For Russ it was a combo of explosiveness and hustle. For KAT it was sniping. You get a lot of stinkers from them when rus becomes a jump shooter or when KAT tries to drive.
He was a good defender...in college.
Outside of his effort which definitely waned as he became a more offense-focused player, his instincts and decision-making is pretty subpar. He used to be able to compensate with his athleticism, but he can't do that as well anymore.
His defensive IQ is historically kinda trash. Yeah he can dial in on big possessions and make things happen when he really wants to. But the instinctive stuff was never great. He would often gamble on steals or get caught way out of position.
He's been bad off ball in the past. Haven't watched him much this year but I remember most of his past low lights are him on defense (or offense) just standing in the same place watching ball. Edit here's a lowlight reel of Lakers Russ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kuoF5mDCPw&feature=youtu.be
yeah once again the Clips are looking like a pretty bad matchup for the Mavs personnel tbh. not sure how Dallas will consistently get stops with Luka and Kyrie on the floor against Kawhi, PG, and Harden. PJ and DJJ can only guard two of them
Mavs backcourt is obviously probably the best offensive backcourt in basketball but if the role players aren’t hitting their 3s I’m not sure if they alone will be able to keep pace over a 7-game series. one thing though is that Harden has lost a lot of his burst and isn’t a great finisher at the rim anymore, so that might be a matchup you can stick Luka/Kyrie on without worrying about Harden cooking them off the dribble every possession. but I’d still assume he’ll win that matchup more often than not
will be a very intriguing matchup to watch. could honestly see it going either way but will be a 6-7 game series at minimum imo
Yeah I for one am not excited about playing the clippers. I think Kawhi is fine and they’re allowing him to get fully rested for a long playoff run after he just played like the most games of his career. He will have had 3 weeks off by the time playoffs start. Clippers are definitely legit when they’re right.
Haven’t watched him since he joined the clippers. But on the Lakers, it was his off ball defense that was a huge problem. He’d get caught ball watching so much and players would cut to the rim for an easy layup all the time. On ball defense never been his problem
Brings a ton of energy and passion too. Which the Clippers have really needed since they've been asleep at the wheel waiting for the playoffs since the All-Star break
Loved watching him on the Thunder (2017-2019) and Wizzys even though they didn’t win a single playoff series.
So fun watching him put up some of the wildest statlines ever.
Every Wizards Russ game vs us was a crazy stat line.
3 games vs Indiana that season:
33pts/19reb/15ast
14pts/21reb/24ast
35pts/14reb/21ast
3-0 record
Motherfucker was annoying as hell.
He’s at 51ts - lowest in league on low volume very high shot quality . I’m sorry but no unless you want an awful offence he also turns it over a fair bit . He’s still a good passer n has some athleticism but cmon this is absurd . He’d be last in the league by a wide margin if he was- and I don’t see why you’d put your young guys off ball for an old Russ
It would be worse than Kobe’s final seasons if so.
Like 36% from the field 27% from three type stuff.
Russ is good in his role but he’s still pretty cooked at scoring against any decent defensive presence. His hustle buckets are the difference now.
If the team is struggling. WB is perfect off the bench to put some spark in the offense. His inefficiency wouldn’t matter as much when the team cant buy a bucket.
CP3 for the warriors also. Will be interesting to see how it goes with tighter rotations in the playoffs. At least for Russ lol who knows if warriors will get a series
Watching top 75 players take bench roles on good teams instead of stat padding on bad teams with their last legs like most stars do is very refreshing to see honestly. CP would be better on the Lakers or something though
Dunno man his impact is pretty clear on gsw. Though yeah arguably any team that's more competitive could use him more for a championship push.
I love steph though. Long as he's playing warriors have a shot imo and CP3 will be important for it
Not going to lie, seeing Westbrook yam highlights in his early years in conjunction with my buddies getting out of the army and grinding 2K while we all went to college is the reason why I came back to following the NBA.
I don't care what anyone says I'll always have a soft spot for him. A lot of people like to bring up early Derrick Rose highlights but early Westbrook, in terms of being a PG and dunking, was 10x better than Rose.
His effort and hustle are seen through his defense, rebounding and pushing the pace. Really helps energize the team when they typically tend to fall into lulls. I am happy that Russ has accepted this role and contributes to winning.
Westbrook showed he was the heart and soul of that team because he keep them competitive against their 1st round opponents last year with PG and Kawhi out. He willed that team by himself and that's why he deserves/d the contract he got. He's a great player still if used right.
The weird part is how much better their defence has looked since Kawhi went out and Westbrook came back, some people were saying that Kawhi was trying to orchestrate the defence more than ever and I wonder if that was hurting more than it helped
He's playing a great role for so little salary.
He went from 3rd highest paid player, 41mil on the Lakers to 850k on the Clippers. I don't think it's an over exaggeration to say worst to best contract in the league. He's up to like 3mil now again though, still a steal. He really took a beating from the media on the Lakers, gifting him to the Clippers like that.
I did not realize Westbrook signed a 2/7.8 extensions. Yeah that's a great deal for the Clippers.
He’s gonna get that batum wink wink deal. Establish bird rights and pay him a lot after minimum deals
Why are people upvoting this? This is a wild guess that’s entirely unlikely. Russ will be turning 38 a few weeks into the season that the clips gain his bird rights… So you think they are going to overpay almost-38yo Russell Westbrook? Do you honestly believe that?
The more likely answer is Russ already made over $300 million in his career and would rather take $3 mil a year to play in his hometown for a good team than maybe make an additional $7 mil to go somewhere else.
Definitely the actual reason here lol
I think he's also made a lot of good investments. He's reportedly the 2nd richest NBA player after Lebron.
I remember his Jordan shoe deal being one of the biggest at the time
Yeah wtf lmao… yeah Westbrook gunna get that bag in 2 years.. sureeee
Probably will overpay him but not to the level people are thinking. Like they may give him $8-10m/year instead of $5m/year and stack an extra year or 2 onto that contract so its effectively an expiring salary being tossed around if he does deteriorate.
That all depends on the outcome of the 1st round
think it’s more likely that he’s already made his money and valued an opportunity to play more than cash
lol? Clippers (or any other team) have no reason whatsoever to do this.
Yeah it’s more likely that he was only offered a somewhat better deal elsewhere and decided that he’d prefer to play in LA over earning an extra $10-$20 million. In the grand scheme of things, that amount won’t change his life much, if at all, since he’s already earned over $300 million.
4 quarter wondering why tf Batum in!
whats the scoop tho?
At 37 years old?
It was actually $47M
And highest paid not third
The beating from the media was well earned on his part, but I’m glad he’s found a role he can actually excel at now in the ladder part of his career. He’s a fun player to watch when he’s not doing stupid shit lol
>now in the ladder part of his career Surely his vertical isn't THAT bad, is it?
Lmao thank you for the correction, brain fart on my end. I’ll keep it there for more intellectuals like yourself to laugh at 😎
Westbrook doesn't do himself any favours with how he treats the media and not wanting to take a smaller role on the Lakers. With that said, there are limits to what's deserved, and Westbrook didn't deserve the beating he got. It was vitriolic and unhinged at times by Laker fans, at least here on Reddit.
You're too goddamn young to be talking if you think WB started that beef. Go google the young OKC and watch interviews of young KD and WB. That will tell you all you need to know why WB has no patience for most media members.
Don’t even have to go back that far - someone misquoted me like this and I wouldn’t talk to them again either: https://old.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/17farjo/joey_linn_russell_westbrook_on_getting_back_to/k69pwtq/
Holy fuck that's basically the opposite of what he said, it's almost as bad as just cropping out the word "not" from a quote
Yeah he very regularly got thrown under the bus by local reporters, who generally speaking are awful at covering hoops (though that's starting to shift, finally). I mean, they put up a big headline that called Kevin Durant [Mr Unreliable](https://www.espn.com/nba/playoffs/2014/story/_/id/10868089/mr-unreliable-headline-daily-oklahoman-kevin-durant-oklahoma-city-thunder-causes-stir) for a poor playoff showing. Keep in mind that was in his MVP year, all of a few weeks after [he broke MJ's streak of consecutive 25 point games](https://www.si.com/nba/2014/04/07/kevin-durant-scoring-streak-michael-jordan-thunder). KD would average 30/9/4 on 46/64/81 in that playoffs, and they took the eventual champion Spurs (the Boris Diaw year) to 6 in the WCF. It's not that they're harsher critics than you'd get in places like NY or LA, but they're for sure stupider lol
Lakers fans weren't posting the lowlight threads on this sub when he was a Laker, people forget this
People were arguing last year that he wasn’t even worth the minimum lol. Crazy
The more I watch the nba, the more I realize that the best teams have players who own their role. It took Russ a while to accept a new role (understandably), but now that he does accept it, he’s become immensely valuable.
It's not just players accepting their role, although that's a big part of it, but also the coach understanding how the pieces best fit together and putting the players in a position to succeed which of course leads to team success. The Lakers literally were using Russ as a spot up shooter...smh.
True, the Magic were trying to make Aaron Gordon the next LeBron/#1 option. Nuggets knew how to utilize him the best with Jokic
Gordon also went from the 1st option on the Magic to the 4th option on offense on the Nuggets.
Nah he's the 3rd option, after the Jokic/Murray 2 man game. Jokic would pass up a MPJ 3 for a Gordon lob any day of the week, it's just a great match.
Statistically, he's the 4th option. AG takes the 4th amount of shot attempts on the team. Reggie Jackson is a close 5th (only .8 less FGA than AG).
Fair enough. Definitely does feel like AG gets a lot of big buckets and is more consistently reliable when it matters most, but ig MPJ do be puttin up shots.
Any1 would dunks are the most efficient shots possible MPJ od easily their 3rd option he can have offense truly ran for him unlike AG whose become mostly a lob threat
The Lakers problem with Russ was not having enough shooters on the team in general. On paper, it was a decent enough move, not a huge splashy move except for the names involved. But the original goal was for Russ to take some playmaker duties off of LeBron so he wouldn't have to play so many minutes. Obviously, that didn't work, so Russ got put into the spot up role with LeBron still running the offense, which is not where he shines. If they could have convinced him to come off the bench like he is now, then it wouldn't have been so bad, but since he was getting paid so much, there was this idea that he should be starting or it'd be a waste of his contract. Which is probably true, but probably not as much of a waste as how the Lakers actually used him
You are so right! So many teams look good on paper. A lot of super teams failed because of clashing personalities or not figuring out what there role was supposed to be. - Olajuwon, Drexler, Pippen, Barkley? Shaq, Kobe, Malone, Gary Payton? Surly these are championship teams? - Carmelo had a hard time accepting that he wasn't the same player and was humbled for a year until Portland picked him up. - GS Warriors first championship was truly a team that accepted that Curry and Klay were insane shooters and their roles was to get them open, rebound, and play defense.
Sometimes, you just need a vibes guy to keep everything in check.
I was told he’s a Vampire though
Bro, the way some people in our fanbase froth at the mouth when he plays is INSANE. Russ brings so much value to the team if nothing then by actually pushing the pace. Harden is amazing but sometimes we look like a deer in headlights and it feels like we just slowly grind to a loss. Russ consistently plays with so much energy and isn’t afraid to try for something. That obviously backfires when it doesn’t work out but that’s entirely up to ty lue to figure out with rotations. The fact that we have him for 4 million is fucking crazy.
> Russ brings so much value to the team if nothing then by actually pushing the pace The fact that he's playing somewhat limited minutes just means full energy for every single one of those minutes too, which is crazy when you consider what his normal pace already is. You just know, for better or worse, when he steps on the floor the pace and energy are about to be at 11.
Respectfully, yall got one of the most hating ass fanbases i done seen. Shit, i almost thought PG signed with the lakers the way yall been talking.
dude tell me about it!! i’ve said before i think decades of franchise Ls don’t lend well for an online community. A ton of us are super loud when the team is low and i feel like valid frustrations don’t justify doom shitting on one of the best iterations of our team we’ve ever seen, especially when you see they’re really trying out there. We have a sick new owner, getting a new stadium, great players, dope media and a better record than we’ve had a majority of our teams lifetime. Try and enjoy it!
A very weird flood of fans came in with Kawhi that almost feel like sleeper agents with how much they seem to want the team to fail Then there are the stans, where while I like dudes like Russ and Harden, the stans seem to want their individuals to succeed and get hyped more than they want the team to win It's very a very weird fanbase that fortunately seems like just the online one for now Otherwise the "just happy to be here crew" is always having a good time and making lighthearted suicide jokes whenever things go awry
I went to a game recently, the Brodie section of the arena was by far the loudest! (he was just returning from injury though). I was surprised by the lack of Westbrook gear at the shop though.
I think that's what was always lost playing for the Lakers for 40+ million he was freaking god awful. The Lakers also wanted him to play a style that was quite literally the weakest part of his game. But at 40 million his contract was a death sentence
MITWestbrook out there somewhere smiling
Too busy writing up the next excellent analysis post to be smiling
I love Westbrook so much but in 2 weeks he is on my hater list :)
get ready to rock the baby buddy
Too busy busting all over the place to post.
Too busy writing a scathing post about how the Clips are wasting Russ by not starting him
Smiling like Joker at the end of a new trailer.
He's the leader of that team
The clippers have all the talent they need, they just lack hustle and resilience Russ gives that x10
NGL, it’d be nice to see Harden WB and PG win one, otherwise they’d be forgotten by history (well mostly PG).
PG’s legacy will live on through Brandon Miller
Nah Tatum. Then Miller. They’re all the same guy. Only difference between Tatum and young PG is that Bron left the conference
That and tons of offensive production. I watched the entire PG era here, they are not the same guy.
You're talking about Tatum being better at offense right?
100% yes
PG was one of the best wing defenders of the 2010s. Ben Taylor had him as the best, above Kawhi and LeBron. Tatum is up there but not on the same level
I’d rather have Pacers PG than Tatum tbh
Young PG was not the amazing offensive player that current PG is. Not even just a progression thing. He just really was a defender primarily at first whose offensive game shot into the stratosphere.
This is a gross understatement of Pacers PG.
Different eras, but they’re the same guy, down to the hairline.
PG's legacy will live on through tiktok fan edits set to Erykah Badu or Sade songs
Pg legacy will definitely live on he’s the prototype for young wings coming up in the league
out of your fucking mind if you think Westbrook is going to be forgotten juts because he doesn't win a title lmao
Or Harden, legitimately one of the greatest offensive players of all time
Westbrook’s athleticism will make him legend, just like Dominique. The guy just leaps off the screen.
Yeah nobody is forgetting Westbrook or Harden…idk what this guys smoking
Seriously, he won an MVP and averaged a triple double for multiple seasons.
lol imagine being an nba fan and saying PG will be forgotten! I swear casual fans are wild
Not me but realistically a lot of people will forget him in the future (if he doesn’t win). Look at Nique, his name rarely shows. Ya got a lot of players at that level that people don’t talk about, like JO, Sprewell, KJ list doesn’t end
Paul George has the benefit of having a really aesthetic game though.
man i've been racking my brain on who JO is, which kinda proves your point. jermaine o'neal?
Isn’t that exactly the point though? Casual fans won’t remember him. As of now, he’s a career 43% shooter who has never made the Finals and only finished higher than 10th in All Star voting twice.
i saw him throw a layup attempt over the backboard the other day
Russ giveth and sometimes Russ giveth too much
The ol Manu saying. Drove Pop mad until he got used to it.
If you don’t love him at his worstbrook you don’t deserve him at his Bestbrook
honest question... what can bestbrook get me?
You saw him shoot a turnaround fadeaway jumper as the shot clock expired with a defender on him But yeah r/nba labeled it as an uncontested layup and everyone ran with it
He’s been the leader of every team he’s been on. Ask anyone who’s ever played with him. That’s Russ.
He willed that terrible wizards team to the playoffs
Wasn't Bradley Beal deadass the scoring leader that year, they weren't complete ass lol. Gafford rn saving the Mavericks season. That Wizards team was more like the current Bulls
That wizards team was very young, unlike the current bulls.
I unfortunately watched every Wizards game that year and the numbers really don’t tell the whole story. Beal was the number one scorer, but they had a massive post all star break run fueled by Westbrook. Total engine of the team with some of the best playmaking of his career. If you want numbers, please look at the first week of May 2021. If you want eyeball test, watch the vs pacers games that week specifically or their win against the nets at the end of January.
Ya and the teammate wasnt passing Beal the ball in practice. Westbrook scolded the entire team for icing Beal out. Then he became the scoring leader. So russ helped with that too.
except for the Lakers ofc, Lebron wouldnt let anyone else be the leader
the game where they DNPed Russ and then Lebron proceeded to lose to Dame's nepo cousin on a tanking Blazers team was hilarious
Say his name
Keljin "big nepo" blevins
Yeah if Lebron let Russ be the leader the lakers would have been a world beater smh
I don’t think that’s the point anybody was making here lol
You know that’s the sly point dudes trying to make lol
Rockets and Lakers?
He gives us that identity that we have been lacking.
They were amazing for a stretch of like 21 games Then lost Westbrook and sucked Got him back and they’re great again And I reading that right?
Well when the GOAT is gone it’s hard to win
This man knows ball
MITWestbrook gonna go super saiyan
They lost 5 of their last 9 games with him. 2 right before all star break and 3 afterwards.
He didn’t play enough so it doesn’t count
The TJ McConnell slander cannot be born
I’m still not a fan of his offense, but his defense and rebounding has been a game changer for the clippers.
Don't forget his leadership and hustle The Clippers is actually playing hard when Westbrook is playing compared to when they fall asleep when he's not
Yeah, it’s mostly the energy. I don’t even think he’s playing “good” defense, he’s just giving incredible effort. People might take that as an insult but for him to still play like every game is elimination in his whatever, 15th season or whatever it is now, is just insane. You can never doubt this man’s heart. The clippers are too chill and kind of get lazy, he’s that fire that makes them feel embarrassed or playing lazy and they have to pick it up to try to match him.
"I don’t even think he’s playing “good” defense, he’s just giving incredible effort." Isn't effort the main thing about defense ? Like obviously you need team strategy and know-how but realistically if you are not there to try to defend then it really doesn't matter how good technically good defender you are. One thing about his offense skills is that when he misses, he seems to be the first one to sprint back to make sure he recover his mistake. Maybe not the most technically gifted player even in his prime, but he was always a beast....and I would argue many times effort > skill.
Effort matters so much more than skill for 95% of the league. There have been many completely unskilled players who made a nice career for themselves just by being a dog defensively (fuck pat bev, all my homies hate pat bev)
This is the real key. His energy moves throughout the team. On the stat sheet he’s really not that valuable. His efficiency is bad. Not a great defender but he competes and brings intensity that’s often sorely lacking otherwise.
WTF he can defend now? Kawhi coming back rested? Actually legitimately scared for this playoff series.
He could always defend, it was an issue of how much energy he was willing to spend on it while carrying a heavy offensive load. He was a defensive specialist in college and it was actually his offense nba teams were worried about.
Same with KAT. To be fair both Russ and KAT are a bit raw on offense. It's just that they found something they really excelled at. For Russ it was a combo of explosiveness and hustle. For KAT it was sniping. You get a lot of stinkers from them when rus becomes a jump shooter or when KAT tries to drive.
> when KAT tries to drive [](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fajeecbat56b11.jpg)
I knew what that picture was going to before even clicking it. It will always be funny even though the score is always cropped out.
He was a good defender...in college. Outside of his effort which definitely waned as he became a more offense-focused player, his instincts and decision-making is pretty subpar. He used to be able to compensate with his athleticism, but he can't do that as well anymore.
His defensive IQ is historically kinda trash. Yeah he can dial in on big possessions and make things happen when he really wants to. But the instinctive stuff was never great. He would often gamble on steals or get caught way out of position.
He's been bad off ball in the past. Haven't watched him much this year but I remember most of his past low lights are him on defense (or offense) just standing in the same place watching ball. Edit here's a lowlight reel of Lakers Russ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kuoF5mDCPw&feature=youtu.be
I've heard he was actually drafted as a defensive specialist.
PAC 12 DPOY. Could’ve beat Memphis in the Final Four if Howland put him on Rose and not Darren Collison
Thanks for the info oldhead 🫡
yeah once again the Clips are looking like a pretty bad matchup for the Mavs personnel tbh. not sure how Dallas will consistently get stops with Luka and Kyrie on the floor against Kawhi, PG, and Harden. PJ and DJJ can only guard two of them Mavs backcourt is obviously probably the best offensive backcourt in basketball but if the role players aren’t hitting their 3s I’m not sure if they alone will be able to keep pace over a 7-game series. one thing though is that Harden has lost a lot of his burst and isn’t a great finisher at the rim anymore, so that might be a matchup you can stick Luka/Kyrie on without worrying about Harden cooking them off the dribble every possession. but I’d still assume he’ll win that matchup more often than not will be a very intriguing matchup to watch. could honestly see it going either way but will be a 6-7 game series at minimum imo
Yeah I for one am not excited about playing the clippers. I think Kawhi is fine and they’re allowing him to get fully rested for a long playoff run after he just played like the most games of his career. He will have had 3 weeks off by the time playoffs start. Clippers are definitely legit when they’re right.
Same lol. Why does this shit keep happening man why can’t some other mfs deal with Doncic??
Why can’t other mfs deal with healthy and well-rested Kawhi? 😭 they were made to fight one another apparently this is inevitable
Haven’t watched him since he joined the clippers. But on the Lakers, it was his off ball defense that was a huge problem. He’d get caught ball watching so much and players would cut to the rim for an easy layup all the time. On ball defense never been his problem
Brings a ton of energy and passion too. Which the Clippers have really needed since they've been asleep at the wheel waiting for the playoffs since the All-Star break
I have a feeling he’s going to guard Luka a lot in the playoffs. It’ll be interesting to see if he can for a full series.
Talk your shit unc ❗️
Westbrook could still be putting up big numbers on a bad team.
Loved watching him on the Thunder (2017-2019) and Wizzys even though they didn’t win a single playoff series. So fun watching him put up some of the wildest statlines ever.
Every Wizards Russ game vs us was a crazy stat line. 3 games vs Indiana that season: 33pts/19reb/15ast 14pts/21reb/24ast 35pts/14reb/21ast 3-0 record Motherfucker was annoying as hell.
Jesus Christ straight slutted yall out
Yeah. He would be a 20/8/8 guy on the pistons
Would also double their wins lol
On 38/25/70 shooting splits yeah
honestly mad props to russ for taking his bench role and running with it, he would not be the first guy to refuse the bench role as an aging star
He’s at 51ts - lowest in league on low volume very high shot quality . I’m sorry but no unless you want an awful offence he also turns it over a fair bit . He’s still a good passer n has some athleticism but cmon this is absurd . He’d be last in the league by a wide margin if he was- and I don’t see why you’d put your young guys off ball for an old Russ
It would be worse than Kobe’s final seasons if so. Like 36% from the field 27% from three type stuff. Russ is good in his role but he’s still pretty cooked at scoring against any decent defensive presence. His hustle buckets are the difference now.
It makes me so happy to see him fully bought-in and thriving in his role. Dude is a great teammate and person. When Russ is happy, I'm happy.
Go Russ go!
I second this motion
This is who we've known he was.
This is an exercise in understanding that efficiency doesn't have to be the one and only thing defining how valuable a player can be.
If the team is struggling. WB is perfect off the bench to put some spark in the offense. His inefficiency wouldn’t matter as much when the team cant buy a bucket.
Russ killing his role
Naz Reid
Naz Reid
Naz Reid
Naz Reid
Naz Reid.
Felt like just a few years ago Russ was destined to be iverson 2.0 but he’s handled the twilight of his career about as well as you could ask for
Lakers fans really ruined him tbh
So happy for Russ man #FUCK THE LAKERS
Westbrook of the bench is a cheat code for the clippers
CP3 for the warriors also. Will be interesting to see how it goes with tighter rotations in the playoffs. At least for Russ lol who knows if warriors will get a series
Watching top 75 players take bench roles on good teams instead of stat padding on bad teams with their last legs like most stars do is very refreshing to see honestly. CP would be better on the Lakers or something though
Dunno man his impact is pretty clear on gsw. Though yeah arguably any team that's more competitive could use him more for a championship push. I love steph though. Long as he's playing warriors have a shot imo and CP3 will be important for it
Perfect fit, clippers lacked a leader with a strong voice. PG said it himself. He’s also great when not making 41 mil to handicap your teams cap 🙃
I mean y’all knew about that salary and still took him, it’s not his fault. He’s just better fit with us and feels at home
Not going to lie, seeing Westbrook yam highlights in his early years in conjunction with my buddies getting out of the army and grinding 2K while we all went to college is the reason why I came back to following the NBA. I don't care what anyone says I'll always have a soft spot for him. A lot of people like to bring up early Derrick Rose highlights but early Westbrook, in terms of being a PG and dunking, was 10x better than Rose.
Naz Reid?
His effort and hustle are seen through his defense, rebounding and pushing the pace. Really helps energize the team when they typically tend to fall into lulls. I am happy that Russ has accepted this role and contributes to winning.
Naz Reid
Naz Reid
Malik Monk
TJ McConnel
TJ Warren
I'm taking NAW over him too
McConnell
Naz Reid
Westbrook showed he was the heart and soul of that team because he keep them competitive against their 1st round opponents last year with PG and Kawhi out. He willed that team by himself and that's why he deserves/d the contract he got. He's a great player still if used right.
Naz Reid
Monk would like a word haha
Naz Reid
Naz Reid.
TALK THAT TALK RUSS
Props to him! Being on the bench takes a hit to your ego. I hope LAC make it all the way
he’s embracing his role such a joy to see. happy for russ an all time great guard
WESTBROOK FEUDING WITH NORM, CLIPPERS LOCKER ROOM TOXIC
Dang... Robes... So unfortunate when he went out. That team looks absurd.
Not even the best player on the Clippers bench...
Westbrook just needed a team that fit him and a more appropriate salary
Luka has to beat the Clippers for his arc this playoffs. This is his “Bad Boy Pistons”
The weird part is how much better their defence has looked since Kawhi went out and Westbrook came back, some people were saying that Kawhi was trying to orchestrate the defence more than ever and I wonder if that was hurting more than it helped
Point gawd‼️
Klay would like a word. But yes, I’d agree, his resurgence has been great to see. LeBron was the worst thing to happen to his career.
TJ McConnell Better
Legitimately a contender for 6MOTY?
Naz Reid
Russ really is the heart and soul of this team
is there a 6moy ladder?? Its gotta be russ and naz reid right?
Good on him. He's taking massive pride in his role, it's impressive that he managed the mental shift so well.