Russell Westbrook has averaged 15.1 points, 6.4 assists and 5.5 rebounds in 55 games this season
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for as long as russ wants to play he should be sent to a bad team to tank and just entertain
Meanwhile, the Wizards have benched the true tank commander of our time, D’Angelo Russell
even as a tank commander, it’s so god damn frustrating to watch dlo play.
this could be his final season if he doesn’t pick up his player option, he seemed really excited when he was on the call with Nico that he’d be playing for the Mavs, only to get benched later. really tuff all around.
there’s no way someone gives him another contract… (kangz?)
Dlo isn’t turning down 6 million bucks for any amount of playing time in China
Legit one of the most fun players to watch. Always gives 100% no matter the occasion.
The Jameis Winston of the NBA.
Damnnnn i love Jameis but we really comparing those two? Haha. I feel like theres a better comp
the triple double cocaine bear is now half as effective, simply a triple cocaine bear
3 cocaine bears is still scary, less scary than 6 cocaine bears but still scary
Less than six but more than two
Rockets could have used him surely
Might as well send Sengun straight to hell if you put him on the floor with Amen and Russ
lol at least Sengun has an excuse of being a center, teams are leaving our PG Amen wide open and he bricks mid rangers all game
Even Jabari was being guarded like Jarred Vanderbilt until a few weeks ago.
Yes, just what we need, a point guard that’s a bad shooter and doesn’t play any defense
Tbf I have been hoping for a Russ and KD reunion ever since we checked the Harden/Russ and Harden/KD reunions off the list
Would be funny if it was on the rockets for Russ again
Didn’t Russ and KD have a bit of a tenuous breakup? Could’ve sworn that one of the reasons KD said he left OKC was he didn’t want to play with Russ anymore.
God that was a decade ago at this point.
Exactly a decade on 7⁄4 this year. We old.
I don’t think that there was anything specific between him and Russ, but AFAIR KD didn’t tell anyone with the Thunder org that he was leaving before the Athletic piece dropped. I think I remember Russ answering a question about that pretty candidly in a way that made it clear he didn’t appreciate it.
I really want to say there was some sort of shit talk directed at Russ from KD in the aftermath, but I really can’t remember anything specific other than him laughing at Russ’s play with the rest of GSW on the bench once.
It’s kinda funny to me that he specifically excluded Russ from the shit talk on burner #1 and has now given Russ maybe his best nickname on burner #2.
I could’ve sworn the KD files also gave him a decent amount of credit, while burner #1 was also giving him credit saying that he was too good for that Thunder team
Pretty much this
and has now given Russ maybe his best nickname on burner #2.
What was it? I missed it.
It was a bit complicated, as all things with KD are. They got into a few shoving matches and shit-talking in our first match-ups with the Warriors, but KD also got on a burner and said basically he had no help on the Thunder team EXCEPT for Russ. So mixed messages, I think.
kd has always fucked with russ. he left because he didn’t like the organization or billy donovan
Opposite of that, he said on his old burners that it was just him and Russ and they couldn’t win with the rest of those guys
Someone who could pass and rebound would work
Because you’re team clearly doesn’t need a true pg
What? You can fault him for his efficiency, TO and shooting.
But he always hustles, and plays defense.
Westbrook, Thompson, Sengun lineups would be nasty work. Just throw the ball off the backboard and get the rebound
Infinite rebound glitch
no team with Championship aspirations could use him
Good thing that doesn’t include the rockets.
why wouldn’t it
Rockets don’t have championship aspirations clearly
based on what
no real pg
I wouldn’t be worried about anyone in the East and the only team that I’d be worried about in the West is OKC
hmm maybe i don’t watch the rockets enough but you don’t think spurs/(healthy) nuggets or even the wolves would be a challenge?
oh I think those teams absolutely will be competitive, I guess I should’ve said OKC is the only team in the West I think is notably better than us. To me, the rest of those teams are on our same level
Based on ur team lmfao
Denver was 1 game away from defeating the champions with Russ playing a significant role. If last years nuggets had a little bit more depth, I could see it going a different way and now the narrative is completely flipped.
Or if AG’s hammy isn’t falling off the bone
They only needed a little bit in my opinion. I never advocated for Westbrook to be a starter level guy, but other commentators acting like he can’t contribute with a 7-8th man role in a playoff rotation just shows lack of ball knowledge.
MPJ was playing with 1 arm and AG hamstring injury was devastating as it’s been now a multi year issue. They could have won that series against OKC.
Also, people forget how bad Jamal Murray was last year. There was stretch of time where he had 0 chemistry with Jokic and Westbrook was playing to give him some rest.
Maybe the Nuggets win in 6 is they didn’t play Russ significant minutes
Who would they play? Did you even watch the series / pay attention to the regular season? Who was the guy that was playing that role last season? Don’t say Peyton Watson cause he absolutely wasn’t developed to current levels under Malone. Nuggets had essentially 6man roster last season with Russ being 6.
what? Game 1 & 2 he played well but outside of that he was terrible in that series
He literally broke his hand in G2 and played through it because the Nuggets got blown out the one game he didn’t play vs the Clippers.
This sub always removes that context when discussing that series
Yes, I know what happened… I watched the series.
They put him as 6th guy on the roster when he needed to be 7th-8th. He can absolutely be that on a championship team. Denver’s roster construction + injuries were terrible and he ended up being 5-6th in terms of rotation which was the mistake but that was due to roster construction. He shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place. When you play guys beyond their level it’s the fault of the GM/Coaches and not of the player in my opinion.
No one is advocating him to be starter rotation guy.
*despite Russ playing a significant role. He shot them out of games and he won them some games, they probably win with someone more consistent getting those minutes
We said the Rockets though
yea thats what I said as well
That’s my king
Kings fans you guys will forever get okay in my book because of how you treated my Brodie
I hope he remembers this chapter of his career fondly, even though we’re dogshit.
What’s not to love about a guy who plays his heart out every night?
Kings legend
I don’t care what his stats show, he is at least trying on defense and is willing to go against the other teams top scorers, at least for stretches. I was at a game and he just decided to guard Giannis and he actually did better than anyone else was doing. He was barking and showing some fight, as a fan that was at least fun to watch.
Overall, he is a negative, he is a below avg shooter and surprisingly bad at finishing around the rim, and still has a lot of turnovers, but the Kings don’t need to be winning anyway so he is at least a somewhat entertaining player on a should be tanking team. I thought it was a bad move to sign him, I still do from a developmental standpoint, but this season just sucks anyway so whatever.
surprisingly bad at finishing around the rim
This has actually always been the case, it’s the illusion that he dunks everything so his paint FG % must be high but it’s actually not. He’s always been mediocre/bad finishing around the rim cause he doesn’t really have finesse and bad touch
It was not always the case, his hands are ridiculous janked up at this point from injuries and surgeries
It was always the case, he’s having one of his most efficient seasons ever at the rim right now. He has never had great touch.
I can’t find league average FG% from 0-3 feet on basketball reference but I did compare Russ to a collection of people (including people with high similarity scores to Westbrook) over their first 10 years in the league to account for their prime athleticism. They’re different kinds of players, I know, but superstars who took a lot of shots from 0-3 feet.
Allen Iverson: .576
Lillard: .577
Westbrook: .581
Vince Carter: .598
Harden: .634
Wade: .658
Durant: .730
Westbrook at his best was just fine from close even at his best.
Yeah if there was a stat for most times flying at the basket full speed and then bricking the layup too hard off the backboard, he’d be the all-time leader
He’s still serviceable for what is a league minimum contract if he was in a backup role. Just obviously doesn’t have it in him anymore to be a starter at his age, which is why he’s a 5 star tank general in Sacramento.
Isn’t he like a tankers wet dream with all net negative stats still though, when you use advanced metrics?
ORTG: 111.7
DRTG: 123.2
NETRTG: -11.5
Yeah I mean if you just look at the shooting percentages that already starts to show red flags and obviously if you know anything about Westbrook he’s not a high IQ player.
52.6% TS for his career. 2nd all time in turnovers 5,018. Have to agree.
He is 7th all time in the Assists list. People higher than him are Stockton, CP3, Kidd, LeBron, Nash and Mark Jackson.
A 2.048:1 (10,277:5,018) assist to turnover ratio for a career isn’t great. Like even LeBron’s ratio is marginal better 2.121:1 (11,858:5,591) and turnovers are the worst thing about LeBron’s game throughout his career and Russ’s is even worse
PG who had the ball a lot has a lot of assists
*PG who has the ball a lot has a lot of turnovers.
Yes they go together
[deleted]
Sure
What about his velocikoberapm
If you look at his per-36 numbers, his output levels have been very consistent since he got to the Lakers (‘21-22).
He never got much worse. Obviously now he isnt that impactful anymore and the team is just terrible but the Lakers run was just a terrible fit
Even when he was a good fit (for a time) with the Clippers, it was impossible to trust him. He was just as likely to sabotage a shift as he was to completely flip the game (in a good way) just coming off the bench for 6 or 7 minutes.
He was awesome on the Clippers until they got Harden. He was their pg and carried them when Kawhi, PG or both were hurr and was the only one who put up a fight in the Suns series. Then because its the Clippers and they are stupid and got Harden everything went down
harden made russ shoot 26⁄24 splits in the playoffs and average as many turnovers as assists? interesting
i assume harden was also the reason russ for his career is 40⁄30 splits in the playoffs
It’s insane how people justify Westbrook man. It’s like he has been so ridiculously inneficient and ineffective for so long that people just take it for granted that he will do all those things, and just focus on the few good things. So crazy. He has been a big negative player for half a decade now, not even the least bit conducive to winning basketball.
The thing that drives me nuts about Russ has nothing to do with him and ALL about the people who have decided that you can’t just look at his play and call it what it is.
The half dozen times I’ve watched him have been some of the worst 4-5 minutes of basketball I’ve seen this year, just awesome stuff
Schrödinger’s Westbrick.
That’s just Kings basketball baby
You could argue he’s been the Kings’ best player. Which is…not great for the kings.
He’s not a starting level player anymore, but not many league minimum guys are. He still has juice left to give a good team something off the bench in limited minutes. Sacramento is expertly deploying him as an all time tank commander.
Sac really went overboard giving Schroeder a big contract, for Westbrook to show up off the street and play better.
These are empty stats, Westbrook has been awful.
Notice how playoff contenders like the Cavs want Schroeder in their rotation? Nobody except for the kings wants Russ.
The triple double cocaine bear still got it
Tank Commander Brodie
His turnovers have gone way down this season too. Great for him.
Fantastic, bet it’s leading to a lot of entertaining and winning basketball
Why would you think that Russell Westbrook in year 18 would be the one deciding if a team plays winning or losing basketball? This is a discussion mostly about if he can contribute anywhere from 6th-8th as a buyout option.
Westbrook fans still talking him up? Do they notice a Westbrook team never does well, ever?
I’ve really loved russ this season. I’d love to extend him if we end up getting Boozer or Wilson, but I’d be worried about taking ball handling reps away from the other top prospects.
Hope this is not it for him. But it appears he will only be signed and get actual PT in a very specific situation. The Kings fit that bill this year. Not sure who if any will be a fit for him next season
THEY WERE SAYIN HE WOULD BE OUT THE LEAGUE FOR NOT RESIGNING WITH DENVER NEVER FORGET
I hope the kings cut him and the rockets get him.
Unfortunately expected. He’s still absolutely a top 100-150 basketball player in the world but he’s also got the same flaws he’s always had it isn’t translating to winning basketball. He’s still just kinda stuck in career purgatory
Ah yes we’re in the “Russel Westbrook is a quite good basketball player” season moment
Nowhere in the post does OP say anything like that. You saw the name Westbrook and saw the colour red lol
Agreed. But can’t be angry at myself at this point of the season / his career