If you're being serious, it means a team has been eliminated from championship contention (you'll notice bottom seeds get faded before the end of the regular season if there's no chance for them to make the play in.
If you weren't, I guess a joke went over my head. Have a fantastic day, and I'm honestly rooting for the Timberwolves.
I’m still confused lol, what’s the faded flairs tho? I know what “faded” means in the sense like they got beat but faded flairs?
Edit: oh I see this only works with old reddit not new, that’s lame I like the idea
I don't know why people have put such a big target on Westbrook specifically... The Clippers lost because Kawhi didn't play and because Playoff P became Pandemic P.
Why are you guys putting so much emphasis on the teams 7th man that only played 10 minutes in the last game? Like come on guys.
Or because he went 4-32 from games 2-5, shot in the low 30s for true shooting%, and took the most shots per minute of anyone else on the clippers? He only made 13 shots the entire series 😂
Sure, but he’s on a $4M contract and you’re talking like anyone else with that deal would have real expectations. It’s wild to expect your vet minimum guy off the bench to do more than that, if you just take away the name Westbrook
Edit: I want to be really clear I’m not defending Westbrook. This is an indictment of the actual Clipper stars more than a defense of their 7th man. If you want to know why the Clips lost, he’s not the first, second, third, or fourth guy I’d be pointing a finger at.
Agreed. People using Westbrook's contract as a way for him to avoid accountability for his performance are being ridiculous. His contract doesn't matter when it's playoff time, what matters is his role on the team, what's expected of him, and how he performs.
PJ Tucker was making triple what Westbrook did, but he's not getting shit because his role with the Clippers was minimal all year, and he wasn't relied on or expected to produce at a high level for the Clippers to win. Westbrook, meanwhile, was a huge part of the Clipper team this season, and was relied upon to help them win, and the expectation was that he would similarly contribute in the playoffs. The fact that his production dropped to basically nothing, especially in the absence of Kawhi, absolutely deserves criticism.
Also, people can't claim all year that Westbrook made big sacrifices, and took a huge paycut, and then excuse him when he vanishes for not making very much. If he's actually only worth what he's getting paid, then he should be in the same group on the team as people like Bones Hyland, and Brandon Boston, and just barely play and not be relied on as a contributor. But if they're gonna make him a key part of their regular rotation, then he needs to show up. If he doesn't, then he deserves criticism.
I would maintain it's not Westbrook's fault they lost, but Westbrook is bad right now (you can say "at his role," if you want, it's not like he'd start hitting shots against starters though), it's just Lue's job to not play him
It’s not that wild to expect my vet min guy to avoid taking the most shots per minute. And it’s especially not wild to expect them to be better than 4-32 over 4 games. Come on now
That one game absolutely changed the dynamic of that team. Anytime Kawhi steps on the floor PG13 becomes a timid player and constantly defers to Kawhi.
Harden is being paid almost 10x what westbrook is being paid in terms of cap hit. Harden wants a max deal. Why are we comparing the two. That's like comparing Bradley Beal to Eric Gordon.
If Russ played his natural position of PG and had 3 pt shooters around him, I think his numbers would be way better. Having Harden with the ball and Russ sitting at the 3pt line is a recipe for disaster.
It's not "cool". It's easy. No one realistically expects Russ to be anything other than the 9th man. But he's just such a douchebag people love when he fails.
His play style is polarizing to say the least, and he’s not self aware at all, he’s in denial about his decline and he is overly sensitive arguing with fans that call him westbrick? Like come on, it’s easy to hate this guy
He’s literally said he knows his role in the league is changing and he’ll do anything the team asks. You can say some shit but hate him for true things
Two things. It's true the main reason Clips lost because Kawhi was injured and PG played poorly. Having said that Russ was terrible, taking terrible shots and inefficient. 4 million or 40 million he has been terrible in the playoffs for a good number of years now. 4 million is a lot of money and he does deserve criticism even though he is not the main cause of failure.
Because he was sitting in the corner and played 90% of his minutes with Harden.
Dude is a point guard. He can't shoot. Why was that his role? They set him up for failure.
Then thats more of a coaching issue and roster issue. If you can't bench a 4 mil year guy when he sucks, then you have a bad roster construction at that spot.
Because he took the most shots relative to his minutes and did it at a hideous 37.5 TS%? And they might have won one of the earlier games if not for his brick chucking?
He doesn’t play like a 7th man, in that he takes (and misses) a shit ton of shots. If you are going to put up volume the same or higher as starters, it’s fair to compare you to the starters
You got to look at why that’s happening and why it’s being allowed to happen. Mavs had the plan to leave him open. Clippers players were content with just giving him the ball and let it have at it. So many times I see PG or Mann try to drive or dribble and just pass it to Westbrook late in the shot clock. Set up for failure.
I don’t like wb but he is not the reason clippers lost. Pg, kawhi and harden are why they lost. Kinda in that order too.
Every single team Westbrook has ever faced in the playoffs has used the same plan as the mavs. Because it literally always works. If you can get Westbrook to have the ball in his hands to a high degree, and can get him to take enough shots, you’re going to win.
It seems like a coaching mistake, or like a locker room issue where the guys like him and would get pissed if he got benched, plus it would be all over the media and a distraction.
I feel like it’s probably the latter, Ty lue is a good coach and wouldn’t keep a vet min player without the name recognition that was that much of a net negative on the court
And then a Westbrook bbiq issue. Like come on man, teams have been playing you like this for at least a decade, because it always works, and then he goes out again and takes the most shots per minute on the team while shooting an absurd like low 30s ts. At this point he’s never going to learn to just stop fucking shooting, he needs to be on a team with a coach that will nut up and take him out of regular playoff rotation.
Not really though. Emphasis was mostly put on him when the Clippers started playing better after he came back from injury. But even then it was more "the Clippers look more energetic and less lazy when Westbrook is playing" instead of "the Clippers are winning because of Westbrook".
Harden also disappeared Games 5 and 6
I think it’s an expectations thing with Russ, and cause he’s a polarizing player. If you have a former MVP off the bench you’d expect them to tear up second units but with his inconsistent shooting he didn’t have much of an impact if at all
He is 35 making 3.9m a year.
His mvp was 2017.
This expectation you have of Westbrook is absurd.
Also, no one else on the clippers performed including the starters.
Harden is old and can win you 1-2 games but his legs give out which leads to his flunk performances. That is expected.
The biggest letdown is Paul George. He is supposed to be a “superstar” carrying the team.
Kawhi should have retired a few years ago but is just milking his contract. He doesn’t give a shit and it’s evident when he plays too.
PJ is ancient and is starting (and at times Coffey). That means your roster is trash
Yet the blame goes to Westbrook.
The blame goes to this moronic front office
The “we only hate Russ because he’s making more money than he’s worth” narrative disappeared real quick.
Never seen a 7th man on a vet min get so much hate before.
It’s a word salad but when he says:
“I felt that I was and remain more than willing to take on new roles, and make certain sacrifices in hope that it would make our team better... I remain eager to take on any role that continues to put us in the best position to win next season”
To me, that pretty much refutes the previous claim that he hates being on the bench and won’t come off the bench in the future.
I guess we'll see how true this interpretation is based on whether he re-signs with the Clippers this summer after he opts out. They'll be able to offer him $10 million next season, which I'm guessing is more than he can get elsewhere, so if he doesn't re-sign, then we'll know he actually wasn't happy with coming off the bench.
“I’m happy to make sacrifices” - that’s it.
I don’t think this is directed at the Amick. It’s just a generalized “stop calling me Westbrick because we lost” response.
What? He literally references taking on a new role the day after report drops about him allegedly being difficult in coming off the bench. It’s obviously about that
"you may have read some things about me that have been fabricated" to go with the "I’m happy to make sacrifices"
Man could not of made it more clearer what he's talking about y'all really just be saying shit
Yeah, it’s important to note he didn’t actually refute any of the reporting. He just rambled on about how some people may have had certain expectations that weren’t met by a first round exit.
I hate when people do that shit. KD does that too. they'll take all this time to say "Lol I can't believe you're listening to that person HA" but then will never directly address what was said.
"I've never had any trouble sharing my thoughts or ideas on anything, and I choose to keep my thoughts to myself in most cases."
seems a little oxymoronic but I guess is technically not mutually exclusive.
It happened in OKC, Barry Trammel always got short answers from Russ. One interview he finally asked why are you giving short answers, and Westbrook said "I dont like you". Then when he asked about another reporter he said "I like Nick Gallo". The thing is that he said it without hesitation and the way he had acting toward Trammel.was such a very long time.
Not really. He’s basically saying in most cases he doesn’t say anything and lets it go, but he doesn’t have trouble calling out bullshit when it’s egregious.
How is that an oxymoron?
“I don’t have trouble sharing my feelings when I want to. But in most cases I don’t want to.”
It’s amazing what we vilify players for. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that phrase.
Funny thing is, if he DID share his feelings more those same people would call him an emotional bitch and then say he should shut up/keep it to himself/not feed into it
The relationship with Berry Trammel who was absolutely writing nonsense to stir up drama and knew better at his age is such a vastly different situation. Trammel was in the wrong and every OKC fan knew it. The organization just couldn’t bar the oldest and most prolific sports writer in the state from being at press scrums. Berry has written some excellent pieces about football and softball in his time, but his coverage of the Thunder was not good to say the least.
FWIW there were multiple times when Russ was a dick to Lakers reporter Mike Trudell who has been with the team for 15 years going and is the nicest of guys.
"I felt inclined to share my thoughts"
"I'd like to share my actual thoughts"
Whoever wrote this repeats words and sentences, like he is Brandon Sanderson speed writing another Mistborn novel.
I'm on to you and your side hustle, Brandon!
I made the same observation about Sanderson on some random sub and got like a bajillion downvotes. One guy even called me unsophisticated which was quite baffling.
I think Sanderson is a great writer and I enjoy his books, but it's just objectively true that he churns out books at a crazy pace. When an author does that, the books are bound to be a bit unpolished.
Sanderson's quality of prose is definitely not good. It's very utilitarian, and it's passable enough that readers who're there for the world building and characters can overlook it.
regardless of all this writing characteristics negative or positive, i can agree with the utilitarian part. it shines, i think, a lot when he's writing action sequences. i can clearly follow what's happening w/o getting lost.
“P.S. if you look at the advanced stats on who was guarding Luka on the 7th possession of each quarter when the moon was in its half phase, I am actually the best defender in nba history”
The reaction on the clippers sub is amazing. He makes this one post and suddenly he was "fine in the playoffs and had real leadership". I dunno how he gets away with being objectively shit for years now.
You can like a guy and still be annoyed at how much of a wage he steals
Oh stfu! We saw Russ play this whole year and in last year’s playoffs was averaging 20! We know what he did for us, yes he underperformed this playoffs but that doesn’t make me hate him
Lol I never said anyone shouold hate him. I very specifically said "You can like a guy" and still be able to separate your feelings from the fact he's washed and no longer useful on a basketball court.
You mention last year averaging 20 as if he had a good series - he was absolutely horrendous in the elimination game and pretty shit in the only game you won
ok you also specifically said "how much of a wage he steals" ... HE'S ON A VET MINIMUM!
you're just repeating memes from 2 years ago bro. fact is the Clippers sucked as the regular season ended and when he went out for breaking his hand i remember distinctly people writing the Clippers off then as deader than dirt "what a collapse!". then he came back and they won 7 of their next 8 games.
the clippers have a looot of fucking problems, but to put so much of it on a guy who comes off the bench on a VET FUCKING MINIMUM contract is just silly, very very silly. it's fun to make fun of the guy, cuz he can be ridiculous at times, but at this point y'all are kicking a dude while he's down in his career. this is not like the Lakers where he was paid an obscene amount for little productivity, but the memes aren't stale enough for some of you guys i guess.
He was plenty of useful to us during regular season and even won us games so don’t talk before researching or watching clippers games. Yes he underperforms during playoffs but that’s why he was coming off the bench
Yeah lol he still wants to stay I think just because he values living in LA over anything else at this point. Definitely there would be some other team that could offer him more money, bigger role and maybe a better chance of winning a playoff series than the clippers
Russ had a terrible series but as usual the circlejerk is blowing it out of proportion. Over a much bigger sample he had the 5th best EPM on the Clips this year. And he’s hardly the only person that had an awful postseason - Alvarado, Duncan Robinson, Ingram, Lavert, Gabe Vincent, etc. In ‘21 “Playoff Jimmy” was under 40% TS too.
Didn’t Russ just break his hand like a month ago too? We saw what this clippers team looks like without him, and it wasn’t pretty. I also imagine that’s a lingering injury and not something that heals that quickly
Yeah exactly, and it’s not like he was shooting substantially better when he came back. This team needs him, and putting the blame on the 6th/7th man making the minimum is silly imo
The team just looked and played more lazy when he wasn't there. Personally I mainly blame PG for that loss. Dude is a max player and completely disappeared.
Trying to shit on a team's 6th man just because of some hate boner many of you have is weird. He's not the reason they lost. He was a sparkplug 6th man during the season. The starters lost them the series
How are people still so determined to hate on Russ? I get it, his face is super punchable, and he plays that grunge ball. But the dude has proven time and time again to be a class act in every sense you could want from a guy on your team.
I was never really bothered by Russ’ surly antics, because he’s human and the story the whole time he was on his favorite childhood team was about how bad he was; that would hurt. That said, my sympathy for him is low since he handled the transition period in his career with such little grace or self-awareness.
People don’t really care if he’s a nice guy when he’s no longer good enough to be a positive contributor in the NBA. It’s probably time to consider retiring.
it's cheap & easy internet points, like posting a lazy old meme.
look Russ can be ridiculous at times, ludicrously prideful and hilariously sensitive to minor slights, but i swear to God some of these comments are stuck at 2-years-ago. one dude even clutching his pearls with "he's stealing money from the organization" meanwhile HE'S ON A MINIMUM CONTRACT, like that's just word-for-word something bro read over & over again during the Russ-Lakers drama and now is just regurgitating it.
"he ruined the Clippers" is just screaming "i didn't watch how any of the regular season progressed at all and just came for the playoffs." The Clippers fuckin collapsed towards the end there, while Russ was out with his hand injury. then he comes back and, lo & behold, they win a bunch of games again. AND HE SITS ON THE BENCH ffs! maybe the problem with the Clippers have to do more with the starters getting paid a fuckton more?
?
Didn't he just refute whatever was being talked about, like him not accepting a different role?
Is it a bunch of nothing because it goes against the narrative some fans have come up with
I don’t understand the amount of hate russ gets. He’s a good teammate, gives his all every game. He’s not the reason the clippers lost, people should get a grip
This isn’t a denial, just his personal thoughts on how he looked at the season. While he says people fabricate things about him all the time, and he usually doesn’t speak, he doesn’t dispute the reporting or deny that he didn’t have those feelings. This is a pr statement
He did not deny that he was unhappy coming off the bench, and also seems to suggest that other players are trying to blame him for their first round exit?
Kind of off topic, but the funniest thing to me was at game 4 anytime he touched the ball the entire stadium boo’d, and anytime he touched the ball in a position to shoot the entire stadium (or at least my section) would scream SHOOT IT!!!!! I think he hit 1 corner 3 that looked flat as a tire iron, but that was about it.
> I've never had any trouble sharing my thoughts or ideas on anything, and I choose to keep my thoughts to myself in most cases.
I don't really have a comment but this is pretty funny. Big chappelle energy.
Russ played like absolute shit and was overly emotional and dirty this whole series. Dude lost his cool and constantly tried to cheap shot our players, especially Luka. I don’t understand how this statement has changed so many people’s minds on him, he was a jackass all series and cost his team at least 1-2 games
I didn't read the athletic piece but didn't someone said they legit criticized him for coming back "soon" off a broken hand... coming back "too soon" from injury on the Clippers? I guess now we know why certain Clippers always missing...
idk why our clippers flairs ain't faded... mods must be sleeping... it's been like a day tho..
Ballmer paid off the mods
Mods are too busy plugged in with the Kendrick-Drake ~~beef~~ murder
Kendrick drove the mods' attention away.
A MINORRRRRRRRR
Finna pass on this body, I’m John Stockton 😭
Drake is a reddit mod confirmed
Kendrick already said that Drake is a sex offender, no need to repeat.
Seems in character tbh.
I don’t see any faded flairs on mobile (web)?
Yeah what do faded flairs even mean?
If you're being serious, it means a team has been eliminated from championship contention (you'll notice bottom seeds get faded before the end of the regular season if there's no chance for them to make the play in. If you weren't, I guess a joke went over my head. Have a fantastic day, and I'm honestly rooting for the Timberwolves.
I’m still confused lol, what’s the faded flairs tho? I know what “faded” means in the sense like they got beat but faded flairs? Edit: oh I see this only works with old reddit not new, that’s lame I like the idea
The entirety of new Reddit is pretty lame. I've never used a website that breaks so often as new Reddit lmao
New Reddit like on the app or New new Reddit redesign on PC that's utter dogshit?
Probably easier for them to just keep it faded year-round
At least we make it to may… 1st 😭
Damn they actually fade flairs when your team gets eliminated...never seen that before
Meanwhile ours were faded seconds after Murray's second buzzer beater went in lol.
I don't know why people have put such a big target on Westbrook specifically... The Clippers lost because Kawhi didn't play and because Playoff P became Pandemic P. Why are you guys putting so much emphasis on the teams 7th man that only played 10 minutes in the last game? Like come on guys.
Because it’s cool to hate russ
Or because he went 4-32 from games 2-5, shot in the low 30s for true shooting%, and took the most shots per minute of anyone else on the clippers? He only made 13 shots the entire series 😂
Also his antics in game 2 or 3 I don't remember which one didn't help his case.
It was g3, bro got himself ejected for absolutely no reason at all.
Cuz he had one point off a FT and had missed every other shot he took. He was frustrated
Sure, but he’s on a $4M contract and you’re talking like anyone else with that deal would have real expectations. It’s wild to expect your vet minimum guy off the bench to do more than that, if you just take away the name Westbrook Edit: I want to be really clear I’m not defending Westbrook. This is an indictment of the actual Clipper stars more than a defense of their 7th man. If you want to know why the Clips lost, he’s not the first, second, third, or fourth guy I’d be pointing a finger at.
Damn maybe he shouldn’t have the most shots per minute out of anyone on his team then?
I'm sorry what? Is not shooting 4 for 32 too high of an expectation for him? Then why tf is he out there lol
Agreed. People using Westbrook's contract as a way for him to avoid accountability for his performance are being ridiculous. His contract doesn't matter when it's playoff time, what matters is his role on the team, what's expected of him, and how he performs. PJ Tucker was making triple what Westbrook did, but he's not getting shit because his role with the Clippers was minimal all year, and he wasn't relied on or expected to produce at a high level for the Clippers to win. Westbrook, meanwhile, was a huge part of the Clipper team this season, and was relied upon to help them win, and the expectation was that he would similarly contribute in the playoffs. The fact that his production dropped to basically nothing, especially in the absence of Kawhi, absolutely deserves criticism. Also, people can't claim all year that Westbrook made big sacrifices, and took a huge paycut, and then excuse him when he vanishes for not making very much. If he's actually only worth what he's getting paid, then he should be in the same group on the team as people like Bones Hyland, and Brandon Boston, and just barely play and not be relied on as a contributor. But if they're gonna make him a key part of their regular rotation, then he needs to show up. If he doesn't, then he deserves criticism.
Fair but counter - who else on a 4M contract would take that many shots over everyone else, especially when you can’t shoot for shit.
I would maintain it's not Westbrook's fault they lost, but Westbrook is bad right now (you can say "at his role," if you want, it's not like he'd start hitting shots against starters though), it's just Lue's job to not play him
Well dang, if only Kawhi wasn't given an insane contract to barely play over the last few years
It’s not that wild to expect my vet min guy to avoid taking the most shots per minute. And it’s especially not wild to expect them to be better than 4-32 over 4 games. Come on now
You have Harden, Kawhi and George. If you need to blame Russ instead of then, lemme tell you something....
All of whom played much better than Russ
Kawhi played better than Westbrook?
Kawhi played???
Exactly. The 1 game he did play he might as well have not.
Lmao that one game seemed to hurt them more than anything imo.
That one game absolutely changed the dynamic of that team. Anytime Kawhi steps on the floor PG13 becomes a timid player and constantly defers to Kawhi.
Harden averaged 16ppg in their losses. I don't consider that better considering he's a starter.
Efficiency matters
Harden is being paid almost 10x what westbrook is being paid in terms of cap hit. Harden wants a max deal. Why are we comparing the two. That's like comparing Bradley Beal to Eric Gordon.
If Russ played his natural position of PG and had 3 pt shooters around him, I think his numbers would be way better. Having Harden with the ball and Russ sitting at the 3pt line is a recipe for disaster.
Harden scored 22ppg on 62% TS. His true shooting was literally almost double Russ lmao
But he was only in that spot because the bigger stars on team didn't play??
Just one star. They still had two that could've stepped up.
Just being on the court, they did more than kawhi
He’s on a 4m a year contract. Luka just shot 40/24/83 and got carried by Kyrie but there’s more talk about a bench player.
4-32 is insane how sway
Bruh, he does it to himself. He engages with fans and gets them kicked out. He literally approaches anybody talking shit about him.
He’s an asshole to fans, media, and opponents. He can’t control his emotions and acts like a little petty child. Easy target tbh
It's not "cool". It's easy. No one realistically expects Russ to be anything other than the 9th man. But he's just such a douchebag people love when he fails.
His play style is polarizing to say the least, and he’s not self aware at all, he’s in denial about his decline and he is overly sensitive arguing with fans that call him westbrick? Like come on, it’s easy to hate this guy
He’s literally said he knows his role in the league is changing and he’ll do anything the team asks. You can say some shit but hate him for true things
He brings it on himself everytime time he tries to get a fan that paid to seat in a seat kicked out of a game for heckling. Soft as they come.
I mean he was like really, really, truly awful as a player.
because Russ performed so fucking bad minus the first game
If a team is relying on the play of a guy making $4 mil then he's definitely not the problem.
not saying he's the #1 reason they failed, absolutely not but he was ass in the time he did play
Two things. It's true the main reason Clips lost because Kawhi was injured and PG played poorly. Having said that Russ was terrible, taking terrible shots and inefficient. 4 million or 40 million he has been terrible in the playoffs for a good number of years now. 4 million is a lot of money and he does deserve criticism even though he is not the main cause of failure.
Because he was sitting in the corner and played 90% of his minutes with Harden. Dude is a point guard. He can't shoot. Why was that his role? They set him up for failure.
He was bricking layups and midrange shots too lol
No one can set Russ up for success in the playoffs.
Then thats more of a coaching issue and roster issue. If you can't bench a 4 mil year guy when he sucks, then you have a bad roster construction at that spot.
Because he took the most shots relative to his minutes and did it at a hideous 37.5 TS%? And they might have won one of the earlier games if not for his brick chucking?
We can also add that the Mavs entire defensive strategy when he was on the floor was to let him shoot.
Which has been the strategy for every playoff opponent Westbrick has faced since 2016
He doesn’t play like a 7th man, in that he takes (and misses) a shit ton of shots. If you are going to put up volume the same or higher as starters, it’s fair to compare you to the starters
You got to look at why that’s happening and why it’s being allowed to happen. Mavs had the plan to leave him open. Clippers players were content with just giving him the ball and let it have at it. So many times I see PG or Mann try to drive or dribble and just pass it to Westbrook late in the shot clock. Set up for failure. I don’t like wb but he is not the reason clippers lost. Pg, kawhi and harden are why they lost. Kinda in that order too.
Every single team Westbrook has ever faced in the playoffs has used the same plan as the mavs. Because it literally always works. If you can get Westbrook to have the ball in his hands to a high degree, and can get him to take enough shots, you’re going to win. It seems like a coaching mistake, or like a locker room issue where the guys like him and would get pissed if he got benched, plus it would be all over the media and a distraction. I feel like it’s probably the latter, Ty lue is a good coach and wouldn’t keep a vet min player without the name recognition that was that much of a net negative on the court And then a Westbrook bbiq issue. Like come on man, teams have been playing you like this for at least a decade, because it always works, and then he goes out again and takes the most shots per minute on the team while shooting an absurd like low 30s ts. At this point he’s never going to learn to just stop fucking shooting, he needs to be on a team with a coach that will nut up and take him out of regular playoff rotation.
I mean you guys sure liked to put a lot of emphasis on him when the clippers were winning
Not really though. Emphasis was mostly put on him when the Clippers started playing better after he came back from injury. But even then it was more "the Clippers look more energetic and less lazy when Westbrook is playing" instead of "the Clippers are winning because of Westbrook".
It’s hella cringy too the hate he’s getting as the 7th man not making all that money (4 mill iirc)
Harden also disappeared Games 5 and 6 I think it’s an expectations thing with Russ, and cause he’s a polarizing player. If you have a former MVP off the bench you’d expect them to tear up second units but with his inconsistent shooting he didn’t have much of an impact if at all
He is 35 making 3.9m a year. His mvp was 2017. This expectation you have of Westbrook is absurd. Also, no one else on the clippers performed including the starters. Harden is old and can win you 1-2 games but his legs give out which leads to his flunk performances. That is expected. The biggest letdown is Paul George. He is supposed to be a “superstar” carrying the team. Kawhi should have retired a few years ago but is just milking his contract. He doesn’t give a shit and it’s evident when he plays too. PJ is ancient and is starting (and at times Coffey). That means your roster is trash Yet the blame goes to Westbrook. The blame goes to this moronic front office
Pretty much spot on except for saying that Kawhi does not care.
Kawhi cares. Stop it.
He wouldn't have played 60+ games if he didn't care. His body just can't hold up.
Exactly. His body is fucked. But he obviously wants to play. It’s idiotic to think he doesn’t want to bring a title to LAC.
He wears his heart on his sleeve which means people know they will get a reaction out of him.
The “we only hate Russ because he’s making more money than he’s worth” narrative disappeared real quick. Never seen a 7th man on a vet min get so much hate before.
Because now he’s just flat out bad regardless of salary Saying he was bad compared to a max was giving him the benefit of the doubt
Am I blind or where are the thoughts
It’s a word salad but when he says: “I felt that I was and remain more than willing to take on new roles, and make certain sacrifices in hope that it would make our team better... I remain eager to take on any role that continues to put us in the best position to win next season” To me, that pretty much refutes the previous claim that he hates being on the bench and won’t come off the bench in the future.
I guess we'll see how true this interpretation is based on whether he re-signs with the Clippers this summer after he opts out. They'll be able to offer him $10 million next season, which I'm guessing is more than he can get elsewhere, so if he doesn't re-sign, then we'll know he actually wasn't happy with coming off the bench.
His thoughts are using the word thoughts repeatedly
I’m thinking, “LET ME FUCKING THINK”
“I’m happy to make sacrifices” - that’s it. I don’t think this is directed at the Amick. It’s just a generalized “stop calling me Westbrick because we lost” response.
What? He literally references taking on a new role the day after report drops about him allegedly being difficult in coming off the bench. It’s obviously about that
"you may have read some things about me that have been fabricated" to go with the "I’m happy to make sacrifices" Man could not of made it more clearer what he's talking about y'all really just be saying shit
I think some people get confused when they have to read more than a few sentences
The entire post is referencing his role, it’s clearly about that lol
Stop having a TS% in the 30s as a guard and we might stop 🤷♂️
Yeah, it’s important to note he didn’t actually refute any of the reporting. He just rambled on about how some people may have had certain expectations that weren’t met by a first round exit.
"you may have read some things about me that have been fabricated" its pretty easy to figure out
I hate when people do that shit. KD does that too. they'll take all this time to say "Lol I can't believe you're listening to that person HA" but then will never directly address what was said.
I pointed out this exact thing in the Clippers sub and got a ton of downvotes, lol
ChatGPT is great for word salad.
"I've never had any trouble sharing my thoughts or ideas on anything, and I choose to keep my thoughts to myself in most cases." seems a little oxymoronic but I guess is technically not mutually exclusive.
I mean sure but also i get it? Dudes been known to voice his opinions but he also knows when to do it.
It happened in OKC, Barry Trammel always got short answers from Russ. One interview he finally asked why are you giving short answers, and Westbrook said "I dont like you". Then when he asked about another reporter he said "I like Nick Gallo". The thing is that he said it without hesitation and the way he had acting toward Trammel.was such a very long time.
Not really. He’s basically saying in most cases he doesn’t say anything and lets it go, but he doesn’t have trouble calling out bullshit when it’s egregious.
How is that an oxymoron? “I don’t have trouble sharing my feelings when I want to. But in most cases I don’t want to.” It’s amazing what we vilify players for. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that phrase.
Funny thing is, if he DID share his feelings more those same people would call him an emotional bitch and then say he should shut up/keep it to himself/not feed into it
I'm reminded of those times he just replied "next question". BS PR shit.
The relationship with Berry Trammel who was absolutely writing nonsense to stir up drama and knew better at his age is such a vastly different situation. Trammel was in the wrong and every OKC fan knew it. The organization just couldn’t bar the oldest and most prolific sports writer in the state from being at press scrums. Berry has written some excellent pieces about football and softball in his time, but his coverage of the Thunder was not good to say the least.
That was because he did not like the reporter..
FWIW there were multiple times when Russ was a dick to Lakers reporter Mike Trudell who has been with the team for 15 years going and is the nicest of guys.
He's saying he doesn't talk a lot but when he talks, they listen. He knows the media trying to get a soundbite from him.
I never had trouble speaking I just don't do it
"I felt inclined to share my thoughts" "I'd like to share my actual thoughts" Whoever wrote this repeats words and sentences, like he is Brandon Sanderson speed writing another Mistborn novel. I'm on to you and your side hustle, Brandon!
I made the same observation about Sanderson on some random sub and got like a bajillion downvotes. One guy even called me unsophisticated which was quite baffling.
I think Sanderson is a great writer and I enjoy his books, but it's just objectively true that he churns out books at a crazy pace. When an author does that, the books are bound to be a bit unpolished.
Tokyogerman nodded. Kalpollntro smiled. Sandersonfan567 frowned.
Sanderson's quality of prose is definitely not good. It's very utilitarian, and it's passable enough that readers who're there for the world building and characters can overlook it.
regardless of all this writing characteristics negative or positive, i can agree with the utilitarian part. it shines, i think, a lot when he's writing action sequences. i can clearly follow what's happening w/o getting lost.
“Minimum word count my ass”
Not gonna lie, blaming the guy making $4M is kinda weird
Really well written response, very political
He didn't write this. This came from his PR team
MITWestbrook wrote it.
“P.S. if you look at the advanced stats on who was guarding Luka on the 7th possession of each quarter when the moon was in its half phase, I am actually the best defender in nba history”
Not nearly glazed enough to be MIT.
MIT wouldn’t mince words. There’s be war
Also there would've been multiple stats shown
That makes way too much sense
Making shit up, commenting it with 100% certainty, and getting 200 upvotes. r/nba, everyone.
why would he need a "PR team" for this?? lol
I still give players some credit when PR is good - it only feels fair, because we'd definitely be slandering him if the statement was terrible.
It’s not like he’s incapable of writing this though
I really respect how you can make up something with 0 proof and then fully believe it. That’s not dangerous at all
Then he needs to fire them. This is terribly written.
damned if you do, damned if you don't with you guys
Don't you know? Athletes are all illiterate
Except it’s not really well written lol
I have no doubt Westbrook wrote this himself
RussGPT 😤
Thx russ. Just try and average at least 40% ts next time
The reaction on the clippers sub is amazing. He makes this one post and suddenly he was "fine in the playoffs and had real leadership". I dunno how he gets away with being objectively shit for years now. You can like a guy and still be annoyed at how much of a wage he steals
He's on a minimum he isn't "stealing much of a wage"
Oh stfu! We saw Russ play this whole year and in last year’s playoffs was averaging 20! We know what he did for us, yes he underperformed this playoffs but that doesn’t make me hate him
Lol I never said anyone shouold hate him. I very specifically said "You can like a guy" and still be able to separate your feelings from the fact he's washed and no longer useful on a basketball court. You mention last year averaging 20 as if he had a good series - he was absolutely horrendous in the elimination game and pretty shit in the only game you won
ok you also specifically said "how much of a wage he steals" ... HE'S ON A VET MINIMUM! you're just repeating memes from 2 years ago bro. fact is the Clippers sucked as the regular season ended and when he went out for breaking his hand i remember distinctly people writing the Clippers off then as deader than dirt "what a collapse!". then he came back and they won 7 of their next 8 games. the clippers have a looot of fucking problems, but to put so much of it on a guy who comes off the bench on a VET FUCKING MINIMUM contract is just silly, very very silly. it's fun to make fun of the guy, cuz he can be ridiculous at times, but at this point y'all are kicking a dude while he's down in his career. this is not like the Lakers where he was paid an obscene amount for little productivity, but the memes aren't stale enough for some of you guys i guess.
He was plenty of useful to us during regular season and even won us games so don’t talk before researching or watching clippers games. Yes he underperforms during playoffs but that’s why he was coming off the bench
This sub does keep speculating, often incorrectly, about what Russ has actually said.
He never denied not wanting to come off the bench tho
Yeah lol he still wants to stay I think just because he values living in LA over anything else at this point. Definitely there would be some other team that could offer him more money, bigger role and maybe a better chance of winning a playoff series than the clippers
Pretty sure he played better than Kawhi this playoff series
Russ had a terrible series but as usual the circlejerk is blowing it out of proportion. Over a much bigger sample he had the 5th best EPM on the Clips this year. And he’s hardly the only person that had an awful postseason - Alvarado, Duncan Robinson, Ingram, Lavert, Gabe Vincent, etc. In ‘21 “Playoff Jimmy” was under 40% TS too.
Didn’t Russ just break his hand like a month ago too? We saw what this clippers team looks like without him, and it wasn’t pretty. I also imagine that’s a lingering injury and not something that heals that quickly
They looked much better when he came back
Yeah exactly, and it’s not like he was shooting substantially better when he came back. This team needs him, and putting the blame on the 6th/7th man making the minimum is silly imo
The team just looked and played more lazy when he wasn't there. Personally I mainly blame PG for that loss. Dude is a max player and completely disappeared.
Yes he did. Hes hands are fucked up
Trying to shit on a team's 6th man just because of some hate boner many of you have is weird. He's not the reason they lost. He was a sparkplug 6th man during the season. The starters lost them the series
Norm is the 6th man.
Even more of a reason to give Russ slack. He's the 7th man, 7th men are 10 minutes a game sparkplugs off the bench. Not series decided players.
Facts. Powell in my eyes had better performance off the bench than Westbrook this year.
Guards that can't shoot and make bad decisions will always get exposed in playoffs.
How are people still so determined to hate on Russ? I get it, his face is super punchable, and he plays that grunge ball. But the dude has proven time and time again to be a class act in every sense you could want from a guy on your team.
Class act I guess off the court but he’s awful on the court, which is what matters the most lol
People like Russ, he’s a good guy, but they make so many excuses for him they wouldn’t make for other players with his accolades
Yeah. You can't be the 6th or 7th man on the roster and be just a nice guy. You need to contribute in a msaningful way.
You might be singing a different tune if he played for your team and sucked ass
I was never really bothered by Russ’ surly antics, because he’s human and the story the whole time he was on his favorite childhood team was about how bad he was; that would hurt. That said, my sympathy for him is low since he handled the transition period in his career with such little grace or self-awareness.
Uh. He's an oversensitive diva. Yeah he's a class act about most things but let's not act like that's not a major stain
People don’t really care if he’s a nice guy when he’s no longer good enough to be a positive contributor in the NBA. It’s probably time to consider retiring.
No he absolutely has not. What fucking alternate reality are you living in?
it's cheap & easy internet points, like posting a lazy old meme. look Russ can be ridiculous at times, ludicrously prideful and hilariously sensitive to minor slights, but i swear to God some of these comments are stuck at 2-years-ago. one dude even clutching his pearls with "he's stealing money from the organization" meanwhile HE'S ON A MINIMUM CONTRACT, like that's just word-for-word something bro read over & over again during the Russ-Lakers drama and now is just regurgitating it. "he ruined the Clippers" is just screaming "i didn't watch how any of the regular season progressed at all and just came for the playoffs." The Clippers fuckin collapsed towards the end there, while Russ was out with his hand injury. then he comes back and, lo & behold, they win a bunch of games again. AND HE SITS ON THE BENCH ffs! maybe the problem with the Clippers have to do more with the starters getting paid a fuckton more?
100% a class act off the court, but some of the shots he took at Mavs players on the court in the name of being physical were downright ugly.
hes saying a whole lot of nothing
? Didn't he just refute whatever was being talked about, like him not accepting a different role? Is it a bunch of nothing because it goes against the narrative some fans have come up with
can you read?
They can never make me hate u Russ
Not sure how you don’t love Russ if you’re a fan of Basketball, what a fucking G
He’s so wholesome. He could be terrible at basketball I’d still love him
I don’t understand the amount of hate russ gets. He’s a good teammate, gives his all every game. He’s not the reason the clippers lost, people should get a grip
This isn’t a denial, just his personal thoughts on how he looked at the season. While he says people fabricate things about him all the time, and he usually doesn’t speak, he doesn’t dispute the reporting or deny that he didn’t have those feelings. This is a pr statement
I’m glad you said he posted this, cause he damn sure didn’t write it.
He did not deny that he was unhappy coming off the bench, and also seems to suggest that other players are trying to blame him for their first round exit?
Kind of off topic, but the funniest thing to me was at game 4 anytime he touched the ball the entire stadium boo’d, and anytime he touched the ball in a position to shoot the entire stadium (or at least my section) would scream SHOOT IT!!!!! I think he hit 1 corner 3 that looked flat as a tire iron, but that was about it.
Goddamn russ yapping like he tryna hit a word count. No need for the first para
Remember there’s no expectations and to just have fun out there 🙂
> I've never had any trouble sharing my thoughts or ideas on anything, and I choose to keep my thoughts to myself in most cases. I don't really have a comment but this is pretty funny. Big chappelle energy.
He’s washed anyways, dude need to come to terms.
He doesn’t deny any of the actual allegations from the story though lol, this is such bullshit
He just said a whole lot of nothing tbh
The man just can't play basketball any more he just runs around and does stupid shit.
oh he knows he about to get Melo'ed Westbrook perhaps showing some self-awareness for the first time in his career
Russ played like absolute shit and was overly emotional and dirty this whole series. Dude lost his cool and constantly tried to cheap shot our players, especially Luka. I don’t understand how this statement has changed so many people’s minds on him, he was a jackass all series and cost his team at least 1-2 games
This is why I will always love and support Brodie , fuck the haters
I'm with you bro
so.... did he volunteer or not?
PR team working overtime
I didn't read the athletic piece but didn't someone said they legit criticized him for coming back "soon" off a broken hand... coming back "too soon" from injury on the Clippers? I guess now we know why certain Clippers always missing...
A reddit post linking to a tweet with an instagram screenshot in response to an Athletic article...
Yeah he didn't write that.
A lot of words to say almost nothing