Here is the breakdown of the good, bad, and the ugly with Russell Westbrook and the Lakers. Follow Nonstop Sports • Instagram - / nonstop • Twitter - / nonstop • TikTok - / nonstop Imagery supplied by Getty Images
Lakers rely too much on adding star players instead of keeping the players they have and developing them. Almost every player that leaves the lakers plays better
If we traded for buddy heild and kept curuso and sign monk and nunn and maybe signed another young athletic big man with the way lebron is playing we would be the 2-3 seed in the west
Hell know I don't care how bad the Lakers are RN do you see what buddy heild is doing this year and plus he's still inconsistent as ever. Lakers made the right choice at the end of the day we just got to play better
As a Lakers fan, i knew this wouldn't work lol. I wanted them to trade for buddy. He's nowhere near the level of Westbrook and Demar but he was the best fit with Bron and AD. We also would've been able to keep KCP and Caruso. Two of our best defenders.
I remember when a bunch of Lakers fans and people in the media declared them champions of the off-season for getting Westbrook and I laughed my ass off
Ok after watching this, we need more videos like this breaking down basketball. Seriously, this was a heck of an objective breakdown and makes me enjoy and appreciate the game even more.
Yeah I’ve really noticed that. Same thing with the rebound.. he’ll leave his man wide ass open and hustle to the rim thinking their about to shoot just to get the rebound
@@_will795 Russ needs to go for the boards, who else gon get them? Davis not tryna play centre and Dwight and Johnson aren’t a solid pick to hold down the paint
What annoys me most is that he tries to get every easy rebound he can get. While guys like Dwight are boxing out offensive rebounders which is the real dirty work, Russ just grabs the rebound. He never boxes out his opponents. There have been a few times when he couldn't stop opponents from getting the offensive rebound all because he's looking up to get the ball without looking at his surroundings and boxing them out.
Gotta blame the front office for this. Russ is bad but at the end of the day most people that actually watch the games seriously knew that he would not be a good fit for the Lakers.
Westbrook averaged 27ppg 7reb 7ass not even that long ago he’s not bad. The lakers have guys that need the ball in their hands to make plays. They don’t have any shooters besides monk
@@Lebrongotgame23 Top 10 Point Guard maybe…and that’s a BIG maybe. Top 10 player all-time? Hell would freeze over before he’s even considered that. Not even Top 20 if I’m being brutally honest.
We saw the Rockets get completely derailed by trading CP3 for Russ, effectively ending that Rockets contender status, and the Lakers easily beat the Rockets 4 - 1, partly because of Russ, and yet they thought this is who they needed to contend again?
Remember Russ just came of an injury in lakers vs rocket (still would have loss if he was healthy) and Russ on the rockets was the most efficient Russ ever was
Russ’s shortcomings can basically be summed up by his utter lack of basketball IQ even at his veteran age and his horrible decision making at the end of games. His career winning % when he gets a triple-double is actually quite good so people are wrong to “overrate” them. But…. He simply costs his teams too many games in the final minutes because he has no ability to adjust situationally. He’s the definition of a hundred million dollar athlete with a ten cent brain. He simply has to change the way he plays at the end of games if he wants to change the narrative of his legacy.
@@MikeBeltMikeBelt Most definitely. In the playoffs the game slows down and the mid-range shots become more valuable while he’s still trying to run a mile a minute and throw the ball off the backboard into the 8th row. Hope he can improve his playoff resume before his career is over.
no. the problem with russ is he's been in decline for 3 years and he was added to a team that had been in decline further exacerbated by eliminating all their decent role players. russ is also most incompatible with the lakers 3rd best current player in one Dwight Howard (yes its come to that) so Howard basically doesn't play. combine that with injuries to ad and kendrick nunn who i believe would have been huge for this team and you have a disaster. Westbrooks per this year says he is now not a starter anymore when 3 years ago he was a superstar.
The reason people call the triple doubles overrated is because a large portion of them come against bottom feeder teams or teams with losing records. He still deserves props for actually doing it, but at the same time, the context of his numbers show a much different picture.
I agree with Dantley for Spencer Haywood as the worst Lakers trade all time. Besides Kuzma,KCP and Trezz not doing to hot for the Wizards one already traded.
Rob pelinka deserves all the blame it makes no sense how you sign players who playstyles don't match. Lebron wanted Russ as well idk why when he needed shooters and someone to take the ball out of his hands.
What I've been saying for a long time now is that not only was Kevin Durant the one that carried the Thunder; but that Westbricks numbers are deceiving, especially when his teammates give him rebounds and yelling at players who don't shoot when he passes the ball. Look, when you watch RW play with the Lakers, and if he has all this ability, while being the triple double king, them there's no other explanation. Either he's totally not giving a damn, or he's just purely overated. You decide.
Westbrook's poor efficiency in the playoffs has cost the Thunder so many chances of getting to the finals and possibly winning a chip, his field goal percentage has hovered between 42-38% and the 3pt shooting is much worse.
@@mbayadji No denying his value and ability to drag a lottery team to a 47 wins but he once you ask him to be a part of a title contender is when his value decreases substantially and his flaws show up more.
Westbrook is what proved that not all rebounds and assists are created equally. Watch any game and you’ll see Westbrook leave a man wide open in order to be in position to get a rebound. And his assists are a product of only passing when he believes his teammate is about to shoot. And if they don’t, he demands the ball back. He plays exactly how every kid does in 2K.
Better off how? He can't win alone, but he can't fit in with other good players because he has no situational awareness (not to mention situational effort).
Nah Derozan wasn’t going to take a massive pay cut and the lakers weren’t going to pay the max. He says he coulda been on the lakers only to make them feel bad, but it was never really a Reality
Duuuudes do a video about North Korean basketball rules!, I just learned about them and they are pretty good, I would say even better than the official ones
Imma major Russ fan but everything you said is facts I always hated when Russ never cuts or fight over screen I hope this new coach can do something to give him that motor
The 90s they should've kept Eddie Jones. He deserve to be a champ in L.A. It's sad he left and Kobe and Shaq started winning championships. They needed Jones vs Detroit in 06
The Westbrook trade instantly made me knew the lakers were doom. Only thing that made me doubt myself was Lebron possibly being able to change Westbrick. Westbrook easily the most overrated and stat padding MVP after a feel good season. The man’s game never improve instead he degraded ( mid range gone from earlier years and three point shot still MIA).
It's kind of weird Lebron's role in getting Russ to the Lakers was completely ignored. Guy is complaining now that the Lakers aren't trading away more future picks to snag someone at the trade deadline, but he's partly the reason they're already in this hole to begin with. Not trying to hate on him, but the Lakers know he's going to leave the moment his son gets in the league, so why trade away even more of your future & sink the franchise further in the hole? Feel like they gave him what he wanted already.
I think with the Lakers the more concerning problem is they do not have much trade value with such an old roster. And these stars are always injured, fading energy, concentration is a big issue, lack teamwork, and eat away at the salary cap.apart from Davies there isn’t another bankable star to build the roster around for the next few years. Won’t be surprised if they finish bottom of the standings next year.
Still kinda funny to see fast player play in a team which runs like old people, its hard to adjust because the team dont put effort to try nd adjusting to him too, also don’t forget that even though AD is a great player he always get injured when u need him so basically the hole lakers need a new build up 🤣
Westbrooks time with the lakers is summed up as a player who could score decently but had no defense he is like a uneven 2k my career is able to dunk is mid at shooting and has no defensive attributes I really hope he can learn how to be better defensively and win a championship
i just wish he would evolve as a player and realize his talent isn’t at scoring especially outside of his prime if he just stopped caring about stats he would be very beneficial. if he thought of himself and a defender/slasher he would be so much better
Westbrook is a stats player. Looks great on paper, but results lack in any meaningful success. The Lakers could have gotten Kyle Lowry, retained Caruso and maybe even gotten DeMar Derozen. Imagine a starting Five of LBJ, AD, Demar, Lowry, Caruso? That would have been a scary Lakers team.
Why dont they let the players play together for a little bit first to even see if it's a good fit? If the league did this, all talent would be more equal. Oh well, just a stoned thought
No, no, no, you can't say Russ' triple double didn't mean anything in Washington, look at the winning percentage on games where he got a triple double. It's over 75%. I somewhat agree with your video, but keep your facts straight, bud. And if anything is holding the Laker down, it's AD getting injured 4 to 5 times a season.
Westbrook's rebounding numbers don't compare to the Big "O". Back in those days players actually were fundamentally sound. They boxed out for rebounds making it harder to get rebounds. You had to fight through players to get boards.
Man lakers definitely should’ve went for Kyle Lowry and demar I heard they actually had a shot before they went for Russ man that would’ve been so much better for us in the immediate future
Poor basketball IQ but he is a former great big man and had his moments. Nothing but love for his personality in press conferences too. He kept it real.
No one on the lakers plays defense besides AD and he’s hurt all the time. Bron has played the lowest level of defense I’ve seen from any all time great the past few seasons. He doesn’t get back on defense, gives up on plays after turnovers, and takes tons of plays off. His offensive contribution shouldn’t allow him to not play any defense, but yeah blame Russ only
"any of the past all time greats"... Aside the fact that Magic and Bird aren't exactly ATG defenders. Did you see Kobe post 2011? Or MJ on the wizards? Try to pull up a clip of an all time great past 15-17 years. At least James is still one of the best help side defenders in the league at year 19. Use a more consistent measuring stick.
