[Highlight] LeBron James Laughs at Russell Westbrook Yelling ‘They better double me’ While Down 29 Points
Still blows my mind that everyone on the Lakers saw them win a series against the Rockets in the bubble by not guarding Westbrook and then still decide to trade what they did for him.
Basically ruined the Bron & AD era.
Westbrook had Covid and a quad injury missed the whole first round and got rushed to play. This season he was on a tear. He averaged 27 on 47% and towards the end of the season he was averaging 34 on 54% when the rockets had 5 out spacing he was unguardable one on one
It was still a poor idea because LeBron, despite being a VERY scale-able player, is a poor fit with Westbrook. It’s like a far worse version of LeBron and D.Wade, who had their own issues playing together (especially that first year) despite making it to the Finals. Maybe if LeBron was willing to play more of the role he did in March with us it could have worked but even still I’d argue it was one of the worst fits possible for them both.
Westbrook was great for AD though.
AD’s jumper completely left him since the bubble too so having another non-shooter next to him and LeBron with no assets to get shooters was a nail in the coffin.
Westbrook would charge into the lane without any regard for spacing or giving AD room to operate. Defenders could sag off Russ to help in the lane.
Davis would adjust, but Brodie was not “good for Davis”
…if you actually watched the games.
I distinctly remember a loooong compilation video of him driving the lane and losing the ball over and over and over and over lol
Truly some of the worst basketball I’ve ever watched
Lebron actually played off of Russ just fine. He was shooting well and getting buckets
Yeah in the few games his shot showed up. Unfortunately for ya’ll most of the games he was a complete brick machine. His shooting numbers were terrible for the most part and a big reason he was left wide open.
Westbrook had Covid and a quad injury missed the whole first round and got rushed to play.
Pure cope, many of his issues were pure mental/extremely poor decision making
Please dont try to rewrite history, russ sucked that year, we did not enjoy having him on the rockets
While I agree, before the bubble Russ was really fucking good. Still would rather we didn’t do the Chris Paul trade but he wasn’t anything to complain about up to that point
Completely rewriting history
Small ball rockets were on a TEAR before Covid and Russ and harden were the best backcourt in the league dominating defenses.
He sucked in the bubble and trading CP3 for him was expensive, but he absolutely was good for you guys in 2020.
I think it’s you who was rewriting history because Russ was playing out of his mind from around December up until the shutdown and was averaging 32ppg or something insane like that when they traded Capela and fully committed to the 5 out, and was even getting some MVP shouts before the season shut down
Westbrickula is the worst NBA player in history
Grown ass man commenting this
Don’t let anyone tell u you’re wrong because you’re not. I’m a huge Russ fan. He was playing fucking fantastic with small ball rockets. Him and harden were dominating the league and their offense was insane.
Westbrook had Covid and a quad injury missed the whole first round and got rushed to play
Fun fact: that was the only time since KD left OKC that Westbrook’s team made it out of the first round of the playoffs. Interesting coincidence that the one time it happened is the one time he didn’t play, don’t you think? Very peculiar.
bro triple double
But he’s a good guy though?
Big tipper.
People believing this washing of the situation is how the trade got made. Don’t believe the glazers.
it would have been good for other teams…it was always dumb for the Lakers.
Lmao
Westbrook became such an awful shooter and off the ball player at that point and they had to play without a center to have functional spacing.
Typical Westbrook fans, focusing on him alone and not how his deficiencies ruin teams
Brick is one of the most overrated players in NBA history. People will watch him blatantly chase empty meaningless stats then turn around and make excuses for why his teams underperformed for like 15 years straight.
Westbrook had Covid
I had Covid too and kicked it in 2 days without doing anything. And Westbrook is a crazy athlete who’s still young. Covid is not some excuse.
Westbrook’s greatest enemy was always his own self. He’s the lowest IQ “point guard” to ever play the game. The lack of BBIQ was always visible
All he had was the crazy athleticism. He was fun to watch because of that athleticism and running through brick walls head first. Not ideal or smart but fun to watch. Once that regressed, it was over
I say this everytime i see this video 😭😭😭
AD’s shot regressing back to normal is what ruined the bron and ad era, westbrook just accelerated that process.
The Lakers were really good the year after they won the bubble and AD’s shot was gone by then. Bron and AD just got injured. Then they traded for Russ and completely got rid of all their depth
Bron and ad were the biggest advocators to getting westbrook.
That’s my point. Pelinka also didn’t have to make the trade, they’re all at fault.
He kinda did since Lebron was only signing 1+1 deals which meant he could leave for nothing at any time.
I’m sure when the lakers made another deep playoff run with the squad they had he wouldn’t have left
Why they downvoting you so heavy 😂😂
If LeBron doesn’t get danuel house kicked out the bubble the rockets win in 5
I needed a laugh. Thank you
Ummmm
If your playoff hopes are resting on Danuel House you were cooked to begin with
He had 20 in bron’s face and locked him up
That’s why Bron ruined his marriage
The joke is on Lebron for encouraging Pelinka to sign Westbrook even after witnessing this disasterclass of a performance
LeBron convinced the lakers to sign him to 50million per with no capspace? Man, pelinka is a cap wizard lol
This story has been debunked multiple times, pelinka wanted hield, LeBron and Ad wanted DeRozan, so they settled on Westbrook bc pelinka didn’t want to give DeRozan a 3rd year
Man DeRozan would have been so much better for them
Even with his inconsistent shooting he would have fit ao much better. On top of that they wouldnt have given up their depth that they traded for westbrook, losing kcp after losing caruso was devastating bc they were the best poa defensive backcourt when they were together. Keeping 1 would have atleast stabilized the defense and helped AD out.
I long for a world where LA somehow keeps Hart and Caruso over the years. I’m not even arrogant enough to dream of also keeping Zubac.
Obviously overall I still can’t complain. Even given the ups and downs and stuff like the Westbrook trade, they’re still the best team I follow. Would’ve been cool though.
So Bron’s plan A was just a different losing player that was also a bad fit.
pelinka didn’t want to give DeRozan a 3rd year
Pretty sure that had more to do with Jeanie being a poverty owner like when they refused to sign Caruso despite his willingness to take a discount.
Yeah man, the the Lakers post Jerry made some dumb ass decisions.
“Keep talking about my squad, our personnel ages, the way he plays, he stays injured, we’re past our time in this league, etc etc etc. Do me one favor PLEASE!!!! And I mean PLEASE!!! Keep that same narrative ENERGY when it begins! That’s all I ask.”
It was exciting helping put this team together this summer. Understanding what I felt and we all felt was going to make us a title-contending team. … I watch enough basketball to know what I need to do to help the ball club depending on the acquisitions we make per year. So I’m very cerebral about what I need to do for our team to be as great as we can be and to be the counterpart to what Russ brings to the table. … I always figure it out.”
They really think we forgot this tweet lmao. If the Lakers had been successful this tweet would have been brought up till the end of time but because it was such a disaster, they’re trying to bury it but real ones remembers this moment.
Not being rude. Can I get a source please because I’ve surprisingly never heard this side.
Derozan told his side of the story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vgZuIXk3IA
“To my knowledge I thought it was a done deal”
DeRozan’s story isn’t true though, or at least he doesn’t seem to be aware of what the reality was at the time, as what he’s describing wouldn’t have worked under the salary cap. He was a free agent and the Lakers were over the cap and over the apron. As such they couldn’t do a sign and trade unless they unloaded a bunch of other contracts just to fit him in, and a sign and trade would have required Greg Popovich agreeing to do it, since DeRozan was on the Spurs at the time (and it’s well established how much Pop will do anything to avoid helping the Lakers).
All the Lakers could offer DeRozan was the MLE as a free agent, and instead he ended up signing for $80 million in a sign and trade with the way under the cap Bulls. This narrative that the Lakers could have just signed DeRozan needs to die because it wasn’t possible at the time. It wasn’t the specter of signing him to a 3rd year that was the issue, it was the CBA/cap/apron situation.
You’re arguing from a different perspective. Derozan thought he’d be a Laker so there were definitely enough talks for him to think so. It’s not his business to know the ins and outs to make the salary cap shenanigans work.
Westbrook also joined via trade so I don’t really see the difference besides the Popovic angle which might or might not have been an issue. SAS was part of the Westbrook multi-team trade too.
Jeanie being cheap has been extensively reported on.
This narrative that the Lakers could have just signed DeRozan needs to die because it wasn’t possible at the time.
Who is even claiming thats how it would have gone?
Doesn’t matter what the facts are, any excuse to blame LeBron for something will be the narrative.
He was traded for while already under contract
So no one gets the blame ? LMAO The bots are out
Of course they’re out when it comes to LeBron. I got downvoted for stating Westbrook was still under contract with his max contract he signed with the Thunder.
That doesn’t mean he didn’t want WB. Maybe just not #1. They wanted a third “star”. Within a couple of weeks of them trading for WB, LeBron was posting WB and him playing basketball together and saying “I don’t think this will work” because of all the critics and he wanted to prove people wrong. 100% he wanted WB at least in some way.
Yall just to continue to believe the most debunkable bs narratives lol
Dude even Nick Wright admits it, only weirdo LeBron fanboys on Reddit try to deny the truth.
Literally never understood why he wanted to play with him how he obliterated him in those playoffs
are we already in a revisionist era as nba fans? lol, russ was all star and 3rd team all nba that year
And had Covid + an injury like a week before that series
This is the real revisionist history. He looked like this every playoff series, why the injury excuses?
How is it revisionist history when what I said is an actual fact? Lol
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29455734/rockets-russell-westbrook-positive-coronavirus
It’s revisionist to act like that was the reason for his poor play when he looks exactly the same every single year in the playoffs
Ok
Podcasts have taught a generation that Westbrook sucked. So here we are.
my buddy swore his team wouuld bounce back after a bad game too
He still wanted him on the Lakers for some reason
No he settled for him. Lebron and AD wanted Demar.
They actually wanted Dame, but he refused to ask for a trade
Everyone’s career might look different if Dame actually does what he should have and left Portland
Is this real? Holy shit, Dame would be insane with LeBron and AD.
Yes. He was option #1 and LeBron and AD pushed hard for him, and met with him multiple times.
He would have had to ask for a trade tho, and he waffled over it…… only to get traded a couple years later anyway
The Blazers and Lakers haven’t done a single trade in like 30 years. It was never a possibility. The franchises do not trade with each other.
The Knicks haven’t traded with the Nets since the early 80s and they still managed to trade for Mikal Bridges and win a chip, and people would argue that the Knicks & Nets trading with one another is far more unlikely than the Blazers & Lakers trading with each other
Everyone has a price. There’s no enemies in business.
Damn…Dame would’ve been lethal
Demar said pelinka didn’t wanna give him 4 years like he wanted right?
They could’ve settled for Hield and not have to give up much, but Bron and AD wanted Westbrook.
Still a problem. Lakers didnt need to get rid of assets for another player.
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Yeah get on a press conference and say “man i really didn’t want this guy, fuck it this is who i get i guess. We’ll make it work, but really idk”. Yeah that’d be real nice of Lebron to do.
You’re so slow why would he act like that
No no , it was all Pelinka
(Rich Paul would like to send you an email)
Gawd, I remember the “fans” being so eerie in those dark days
To be honest given the circumstances, it’s a pretty fascinating marvel of modern technology that they were able to piece together some form of crowd experience compared to the alternative of a completely silent stadium. Like at least it’s eerie because of a situation that humanity had to unite together to work around, rather than so much of the cynical corporate surveillance tech “advances” we get these days
Is there actually proof around the whole “LeBron wanted him” angle. I’m not trying to say there wasn’t, just genuinely interested.
Not really. He wanted DeRozan. The offense looked like it needed another ball handler and the front office went with Westbrook
pelinka convincing the world of this was his greatest act as GM, including luka
his best attribute is self-preservation
has proof ever stopped the conspiracy theories from spreading?
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10009139-report-lebron-westbrook-ad-met-at-james-home-this-month-about-playing-for-lakers
Pelinka wanted to trade for hield at the time. Lebron and ad leveraged russ because theyre idiots who bought way too much into the “we know better than fo” player empowerment bs.
Not a single gm alive except maybe riley would tell lbj no after winning a title a season prior
He’s getting clamped by old rondo😅😅
they clamped Westbrook by not guarding him at all
He’ll have a random game where he’s hitting everything but overall it’s a solid plan.
Then the Lakers would sign him because they panicked about Harden going to the Nets and thought they needed more star power
exactly, this was the real reason that gets lost in the fanfic
That Lakers team was so dominant that playoff run, they made it look easy.
To be fair they did double him
The beginning of the fall off of westbrick
of off of off of
I can respect a competitor who’s willing to talk more shit when he’s down than when he’s up. And that irrational confidence that he’s never totally out of a game.
But it is kinda dampening that he’s immediately getting laughed at.
https://imgur.com/a/b78LJPb
They left him wide open, but traded our depth for him. mfing trade.
Ask the Spurs about 29 point leads.
Not every thread has to be about you :)
Crazy they traded all those laker pieces..
LeBron screwed up by bringing in Westbrick. It’s his own fault.
This is what he was thinking of years later, when Russ was in the Lakers’ locker room telling everyone “let’s just have fun out there”. Someone post the gif lmao
Lebron and AD really ruined their chances at another ring by wanting this guy.
I’m not one of those only ‘pro-Kobe Lebron-hater’ Lakers fans, but pushing for that deal probably killed any momentum or goodwill of getting that weird side of the fanbase on his side.
They gave us assets to get WB and then had to give up more assets to get rid of him. Lakers have been on the backfoot in terms of assets ever since, and if LeBron has had issues with the org for not being competitive enough, it goes back to pushing for that stupid WB deal.
Imagine if this bro had half a brain
The Knicks will take it from here
And then they traded for him
No fucking clue why lebron wanted westbrook after literally turning him useless that series.
Russ is a baller and no amount of psyop will ever convince me otherwise
29 points is nothing.
For the Knicks.