Damian Lillard on Club Shay Shay in 2022 talking about the media criticism of Russell Westbrook: “His career and legacy is undeniable. If I tried to go every game to get a triple-double for a whole season, I can’t do it.”
Dame is so cool.
Dame is one of the coldest guys in the league. Was always cold blooded, he even hit a buzzer beater logo shot in highschool. One of the best boxers in the league. Probably the best rapper in the league currently. Doesn’t show any emotion. He never badmouths ppl, and he’s kind of like Iverson where he’ll talk about his mediocre teammates like they’re all-nba which you have to love hearing from your leader. Gotta love Dame.
He knew Mr. Mean! Only Gary Payton came out of that with a mouth.
Most likeable player in the league. Even players say so
grown man btw
Not being able to call someone else cool is a sad way live man
He’s a alpha man
No problem with calling somebody cool. But this brotha said “so cool” next level glaze
Says the dude that has MJ in his profile banner
Dame recognize Game
The league will never be the same
put em both in the hall of fame
corny
Horny
Nice.
Future podcast name right there.
Dame is a class act. A lot players or people in general wouldn’t be giving props to another person who’s threw shade and disrespect them in past.
They never hated each other, it was just two extremely competitive people going at it
There’s a really good podcast with Jeff Teague where Dame talks about his first time playing against Russ and how much respect they have for each other. Here’s a quick summary
When was Russ throwing shade? All I remember is him talking shit on the court, I didn’t know it went beyond that.
While Russ was on the Thunder and his teammate at the time Paul George got snubbed for the all star game, Russ made comments in reference to Dame “having to complain about getting snubbed” to make his way in the game. And on the court Russ pretty much kicked the ball out of Dame’s hands.
Don’t remember this at all, I do remember “I been busting that ass for YEARS” at the ft line though
Yoooo I forgot about that😭
Which is a crazy comment because if you look at the numbers, Dame has beaten Russ more times than the other way around.
Tbf up to that exact point, Russells Thunder was only two losses down to Dames Blazers in those 7 years and Russ had outplayed Dame in most of them. They then proceeded to win that game and two more to sweep the season and put up the Thunder 1 game above the Blazers in their head-to-head matchups.
Then the playoffs happened and Dame waived Russ and PG away from the Thunder.
Didn’t know about that snubbed comment. Still fortunately nothing major.
The kick was a dick move though lmao
Yeah lol
What’s killing me here is that there’s actually pushback from people about Russ’s career because they can’t shake the last few years of his play. As if it diminishes the fact that this man was one of the best players to ever exist.
Like imagine putting a bunch of lowlight highlights of his mistakes. Why? Do they want him erased from the Top 75 or something?
I can’t imagine other players of his caliber getting this kind of treatment past retirement.
I think Dame and the other players see that too. It’s crazy.
There are 2 players with 25k points and 10k assists, Russ and LeBron.
There are three players who have averaged a triple double, Big O once, Joker twice, Russ 4 times.
All time leader in triple doubles, 14th all time in scoring, 5th all time in assists. All time leader in rebounds for a guard.
2017 MVP
2 time scoring champ, 3 time assist leader
9 time All-NBA, 9 time All-Star, Back to Back All Star MVP.
People who think this guy isn’t an absolute legendary NBA player, point guard, and doesn’t seem a shoe-in for first ballot HOF are just haters.
Saw someone say in a thread that his resume only belonged in the Hall of “very good” and I just laughed lmao
90%+ of nba fans don’t watch games; just TikTok edits and SAS rants. If your know info on Russell is that you might think he was just a decent player.
Also around the time KD left; KD said “me and Russ can’t win” and the media spun it as “Russ is trash man and I need out” and since then have had the biggest hate boner for Russ.
I don’t even watch that many games and certainly not of Russ’ teams but I saw him enough to know, (and the numbers) dude is untouchable. He is certainly top 5 PGs of all time and I have no issue or argument with him being put anywhere in 1-5. Steph may be the top dude on his team and has the rings to back him, but no player under 6’6 has ever shouldered the load like Russ. And I’m a dubs fan born, raised, and living in the Bay.
I swear some people act like there is nothing between “Mount Rushmore talent” and “mid ass scrub”. Dude is clearly a flawed player, but he is still an incredible talent who was better than 99.5% of all the other PGs who have played in the NBA. Plus, he was entertaining as fuck to watch play. I really don’t understand why some people seem to have a visceral hatred of the dude.
it’s harsh but an idiot can hopefully be forgiven for the narratives— if we can admit to our mistakes. > ‘third option on a team that never had a chip. ‘brooks not even a river or a stream.’ (horrendous take / chips aren’t all that matter.) > ‘they weren’t even the best team in OK/TX, at any point.’ by definition of results they were, and beat god’s blight to basketball- the spurs. ‘then why did dirk get a ring in ‘11 and the very next year they couldn’t even beat that same heatles.’ (forgive me for my grievances basketball gods i’ll hold my feet to the fire.) > westbrook has an mvp- ‘yea after everyone else left and he got volume.’ i’m gunna do 41 hail marys and then suicides til i vomit to atone. (so like 3)
You can throw Olympic and World Cup gold medals in there too
The only thing I would really pushback on is the whole triple double thing. The rebounds were simply completely fed to him, he had like 80% uncontested rebounds in his first triple double season (the Thunder organization as a whole were all in on trying to give them to him). Getting 10 points in this league is essentially a piece of cake, and if you’re just given the rebounds, all that’s left is getting the 10 assists (which is no easy feat! I’m not diminishing this part of the achievement at all), so essentially every player that managed to average 10 assists would be able to average a triple double if they had their team feed them the rebounds (Steven Adams was literally just punching the ball towards him so that he would get the rebounds).
My point is that I wished people would be less vocal about the triple double stuff, because to me it is the least impressive thing he has done in an otherwise very impressive career.
He averaged a triple double playing for the Washington wizards, you think they fed him rebounds too?
This whole comment is lame as fuck “easy to get 10 points”. I hope you’re trolling.
1st ballot HOFer
Almost impossible to argue unless he’s in an insanely stacked class
Guys like Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Grant Hill, etc. have gotten in first ballot. Those guys don’t have half the resume that Westbrook has.
The top 10 players of the 2010’s are all top 30 basketball players of all time.
him and cp3 are the same class since they retired the same season. that l leaves one slot for the year to spare, so you’d need two hall of famers who are better than russ and you’d have to decide CP3 gets in the hall before russ does. i can’t think of anyone who’s going to retire this offseason who’d change the equation and no one currently eligible for the hall of fame is better than russ. unless LeBron says lol jk fuck philly i’m retiring and KD quits basketball to pursue twitter full time before next season starts i don’t see any realistic world where russ isn’t slam dunk first ballot
You don’t think being a star player on a team that won multiple championships while also being the inspiration for a generation of international players with Gasol and Parker is enough to match Russ? They have different resumes, not less than half
No. Being one of the elite players in the NBA for a literal decade is a better career than postseason success on top of being a good player for your career.
That’s an opinion not a fact. Being a key member of a great dynasty and being essential and loved on multiple championship runs while being an all star for a decade sounds better than 25/10/10 on a team that’s capped at first round exits. Look where being an elite player who isn’t a great defender and can’t shoot got him
Opinion, not fact
Same thing happening right now with football (soccer) regarding Ronaldo.. people think he was just an average scrub because they started watching the sport last few years
I dont know what happened that recency bias has sports fans in a chokehold but its happening everywhere, it’s insane
I also feel like this recent generation has memed the hell out of Ronaldo. Kids today associate Ronaldo more with Speed than they do his Madrid days.
Meh, Russ was never the winner cr7 was. He doesn’t elevate his teammates. He seeks his stats and he can only play man defense
There’s always a loud minority on the internet
Sports fans will sports fan
They are a subset of sports fans/people in general. The clowns you don’t take seriously.
Lots of players get this at the end. Dwight Howard did for sure (and then things corrected too far in the other direction imo…but whatev). Especially when players have an extended twilight to their careers you get a generation of kids who never saw their prime. Shit Chris Paul just kind of went through it in a different way. Dirk got some of it. Duncan got a bunch of it, as if his whole career was his last few years and he wasnt just a super dominant player in the late 90s through late 2000s.
This shit has been happening forever. It corrects after they have been retired a few years and their whole career can be reflected as a whole.
Yeah, I disliked Russ his entire career. But he’s fucking talented as hell and one of the great stars of our era. Insane people underrating him.
That’s what happens when you go a decade without any playoff success and constantly make boneheaded plays, great 82 game player tho
Top 1% commenter 🤓
Redditors criticizing people for being on Reddit is wild, how is this ever a valid comeback?
People have always been criticized for being terminally online
Nothing wrong with being on reddit but if you’re a top 1% commenter then you need to go outside.
glad you agree with me
He played that shit you pretend to be an expert at
That shit sounded way harder in your head before you typed it out
Nah man it just beats what you crap out all hours of the day
Westbrook played harder than any player I’ve ever seen. Doing what he did at 6’ 3 or 4”, whatever, was crazy.
He was the most all gas no breaks NBA player I’ve seen or can think of, for better or worse!
Especially if you filter out plays where he’s off the ball on offense or defense.
Man thank you. The whole “Russ played harder than anybody” is a fake narrative by people who only ball watch
No, its not. You just didnt watch his career.
I watched his entire career both regular and postseason. Off the ball he watched more than he participated. It’s why when he made it his mission to not let Rubio drop 30 again Rubio still had the offense humming and was getting assists and hockey assists, because Russ was face guarding him too much. Heck there are even stats that back it up
Doing it every night and lasting as long as he did. His major injuries were contact injuries as well, not wear and tear injuries
Going mach 90 into traffic and throwing a contested layups isnt playing hard (hes literally below average the rim)
If he played “hard” he would have all defense selections to his name with his athletic gifts.
Hall of fame player, just to me one of the most frustrating to ever watch because he could’ve been so much greater if he changed his playstyle early in his career.
Dame is such a good dude. Hope he comes back healthy and angry.
He won’t. But yeah, good dude for sure.
i hope Scottie becomes a shitty podcaster and y’all can’t stand him anymore 😤
What lol
second class franchises gotta stick together man, don’t wish ill on our boy
Someone said that he’s not going to return the same from injuries, but wished him well. How is that wishing ill lol?
Then you turn around and just say some weird shit lmao
Me? Are you replying to the wrong person? I didn’t wish ill on anyone haha
Damn. Dame keepin it a buck.
Say that again
Some of it is just a disconnect between people understanding how the NBA is, how long it’s existed and what numbers actually mean.
The following things can all be true at the same time:
Russ is a 1st ballot Hall of Famer.
Russ is not a top 10 all time PG
Russ has amazing statistics
Russ makes terrible decisions
I think that people tend to forget just how good top 10 at any particular position is over the years of the NBA. Russ is likely in that 9 to 12 range for PGs and that shouldn’t be considered a slight on his play.
Magic, Steph, Oscar, Isiah, and Chris Paul are the only PGs who seem to be considered unanimously better. I’d probably add Nash and SGA. I’m not really sure how to compare Russ to someone like Jerry West or Bob Cousy (different eras, positional roles, etc.).
So that seems like he’s in the 8-10 range to me, unless I’m forgetting someone.
John Stockton and Jason Kidd are the other 2 PGs who show up in that area.
Russ is better than John Stockton.
Scoring wise? Yes. Other aspects of the game? No.
Stockton was a team player, all 19 of his years in the league? Playoffs.
He is simply better
I think as has been stated in other comments, Russ had all the physical tools to be one the best ever. People underestimate his play because of that. It’s what makes his career so annoying, and it’s what makes people put other players with less crazy looking primes over him in all time rankings. Especially as a point guard, it’s such a weird group. Steph, Magic, Isaiah, Big O. That’s four very different players tied to the same position all time
My big dumb conspiracy is that the Internet was designed to encourage a shift from more moderated thinking to absolutist/reactionary thinking because reactionary thinkers are generally dumb and more easily controlled.
So I agree with you! And think it’s a little funny that every other response I see is about the top 10 PG list…
Nah man the old Internet was nothing like this. Capitalism corrupted it like it does everything
Well, first I meant the modern/evolved Internet so I’m not really disagreeing with you. Maybe I should have said social media.
But second, no, I can’t not push back on that myth. The early nerds who built and shaped the Internet naively and ultimately very stupidly assumed that an anarcho/libertarian structure would lead to Utopian wonders, but forgot that every user is human and prone to human faults and foibles (including themselves). I was dialing into the Net on a DOS based IBM in the mid 90s and it was already a cesspool, it’s just gotten exponentially worse because of scale. Flame wars are a LOT older than Reddit. Capitalism corrupted it FURTHER and probably irrevocably but it was already a poison tree because, instead of envisioning and working towards the best way to incorporate and safeguard the Net into existing society, they childishly wanted no rules and ice cream for breakfast so they fought hard to leave vast, fertile, completely unguarded freah soil for the capitalists to poison. The Net today is a direct evolution and result of the decisions of its founders. They said no rules and cracked the One Wish Willow and here we are.
So in conclusion, Russell Westbrook is an incredible, wildly entertaining first-ballot HOFer who also had major flaws in his game.
Not true. Reddit user lazyboybball69 told me it was all stat padding and anyone could do it.
Russ didn’t get the criticism really till he got to LA. Even before if he got criticized he had the media backing him. It wasn’t till he got to LA is when he started to get dragged. People say it’s LeBron or the LA the media.
I disagree, people always criticized Russ. Magic Johnson said that he had displayed the worst point guard play in a finals that he had ever seen back in 2012.
Before KD yes people use to roast on Russ. I remember that game where Magic said this is the worsr PG play i ever seen. To me though post KD is when everyone sided with Russ.
Harden is the one who really seemed to shrink from the moment in 2012 finals, although he got a pass since he was the least experienced and was playing the 6th man role.
Harden was getting a lot of passes it was crazy like now it’s undeniably but he was getting so many passes
This is absolutely not true, I’ve been fighting trolls online to defend Russ for like 15 years lmao
Russ started getting a lot of extra heat around 2018 because he kept losing in the first round without KD. Then the pressure was on in 2019 when he had to face his rival Dame. Media heads said Russ has to win this one since he kept losing and since he’s considered better than Dame and had the better team. Dame proceeded to destroy OKC and Russ got killed for it. That was the reason OKC was broken up and was the start of Russ’ downfall.
Can’t wait to watch one of my favs back on the court this season
This Russ retirement is so interesting to me because while statistically he’s an all time player, the horrible plays he’d make constantly sorta damages that all time career. Obviously Russ should be in the HoF but honestly I think I’m taking Dame over Russ every time. Where Russ ranks in the all time PG list will be a fun argument for years to come. Does he rank better than CP3? Or Dame? Personally I’d say no but of course with a resume like Russ has, arguments can be made.
Magic > Curry > Paul > Nash > IT > Russ
Dame isn’t in the conversation since greatness is talent + accolades & he has maybe 1 First Team All NBA?
*Somebody mentioned that I forgot Oscar, it’s easy to overlook 60’s guys sometimes, personally I’d put him right in front of Nash. Kidd would be on the end
Where does Stockton go
Also J Kidd and Big O.
Every other guard there was an MVP and/or best player on a championship team so behind all of them
Paul was neither of those
You’re correct, I should’ve said MVP caliber
Stockton is above Paul, right? I don’t see an argument against that.
Paul was a better scorer, defender & playmaker imo, and was objectively more impactful relative to his era, peaking top 3 at the minimum.
Led the league in EPM five times and placed 2nd three additional times, obscenely valuable player
Wow, very interesting take. Thanks for elaborating!
Except Paul
IT??? Please say you mean Zeke not IT
Curry better than Magic I don’t care
Better is a different conversation; greater than a 9x First Team, 4x MVP, 3x FMVP is unserious
NGL I think 4x MVP has more to do with how they voted for MVP in those eras rather than him genuinely being deserving. Also Curry most definitely got robbed of at least one more Finals MVP
I also think this is unquantifiable but Curry really changed how the modern game is played and I think that should count towards his legacy
Magic (and Larry) arguably CREATED the modern game though
Sad it didn’t work out, but so glad I was able to root for Dame on my team for a few years
So so unlucky with the injuries to Giannis and Dame 2 years in a row right at the playoffs. Dame was ready to show his worth with that performance in game 1 vs Pacers.
When I was growing up there was not a single player more exciting to me than Russel Westbrook. His intensity, his explosiveness toward the rim, and his tenacity were captivating. He’s a model for putting everything out on the court. More kids should look up to players who consistently try like Westbrook. Was his decision-making always the best in crunch time? No. But in his prime OKC years, you knew he would be giving it his all.
Because he wouldn’t ask the other 4 teammates to box out and funnel all rebounding opportunities to him so he could pad his rebounding stats.
Easily first ballot
Dame is definitely not going to be one of those former player talking heads who just hate on the next generation of players.
If it was so easy for a guard to get a triple double every game, they would have done it. But they can’t ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I love dame so much lol
Russ has very few, if any, enemies in the league. It’s all respect, even if they may not want him on their teams, but he’s always been a max effort guy and a good teammate as far as I know.
Westbrook is great man. If I want a box office player that plays hard every night I would take him #1. Obviously when it comes to winning basketball he wouldn’t even be on my list but still a hall of famer for sure.
I think that sums him up pretty well for a lot of people. Great guy to have in the league, fun to watch from a distance, but you don’t really want him on your team if you’re serious about trying to win a championship
Dame as real as they come
True, but, like Russ, he should’ve been trying to win, not trying to get triple doubles.
Well you don’t have to actually get 82 triple doubles dame, you just have to average them. Theoretically I wonder what the least amount of triple doubles it would be to average one. Could maybe be zero with high variance outcomes
I love that pretty much all the big name pgs from that era pretty much just show flowers for each other. And it’s not like they didn’t try to go at each other, they just respect each others games so much.
is there PR campaign going on?
The Westbrook deniers gotta chill right now. I’m a certified Westbrook hater, but right now ain’t the time. Respect for the game says you let the glazers have a few days after the retirement, let them do a victory lap and what not.
It’s like real life beef. You don’t show up on a man’s birthday tryna start shit. Time and place.
Should tell your teammates to get out of the way so you can stat pad like he did
Humble goat! He knows he peaked just as high as Russ but is too humble to admit it. There’s a reason dame’s peak 3-year regularized adjusted plus minus was higher than Russ’s! Nerds run basketball stay mad grampas 🤞
Peaked higher (totally not biased)
still not a hall of famer!