Former NBA champ has unhinged opinion on which Lakers star to blame
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers won a championship two seasons ago and things have quickly unraveled since. Rob Pelinka and the front office made bad move after bad move and as a result, the team missed the playoffs entirely last season and got off to an extremely slow start this season.
The marquee bad move that the front office made was trading actual NBA assets (and a draft pick) for Russell Westbrook. Not only was Westbrook a horrible fit but his massive contract seriously restricted the team from getting additional help both last season and this season.
Now, a Westbrook trade seems like it will be the saving grace for the Lakers, even if Westbrook’s good showing off the bench provided some kind of hope. Not everyone is sold on the idea that Westbrook is the problem, though, as some people are taking his side.
Former and current players have always seemed to gravitate toward defending Russ because of his effort and the numbers that he puts up. One of those former players is former NBA Champion Stephen Jackson, who instead of blaming Westbrook, pointed the finger directly at Anthony Davis on the latest episode of the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast.
Anthony Davis’s health certainly is a question and is ultimately going to decide the ceiling of the team. But to try and pin this on him instead of Westbrook is an… interesting take, to say the least. I can promise you one thing: people aren’t blaming Russell Westbrook just so they don’t have to blame Anthony Davis. Davis is getting plenty of the blame as well.
Even with a great Anthony Davis, the Lakers won’t do much with Russell Westbrook on the roster.
There is a difference between being a talented NBA player and a winning NBA player. Westbrook is undoubtedly talented as he is able to have an impact in all areas of the game and put up great numbers. However, his style does not lend itself to winning basketball.
For Westbrook to be successful he has to be the best player on the team and have a high usage rate. The problem is that if he is the best player on the team then his team is probably not going to make it very far. Basketball is a team sport and Westbrook’s skill set is too individually focused.
Westbrook defenders can try to spin it in any way they want but the results don’t lie. No star in today’s league has gotten more help than Westbrook and has done less with it. He has played with three different MVPs and several other All-NBA talents.
Who else has a teammate list of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Paul George and Kevin Durant? Nobody. Just two years ago, those five players made up half of the top-10 in the entire NBA. What about another All-NBA teammate in Bradley Beal?
And despite that, Westbrook has only gotten out of the first round of the playoffs once since Durant left for the Golden State Warriors. Meanwhile, Anthony Davis was the best player in the Lakers’ 2020 championship run. Davis is talented and is a winning player, he just needs to stay healthy.
But to try and spin that as the problem with the Lakers? Now that is a pretty unhinged defense of Russell Westbrook. Just because he had one good game off the bench doesn’t mean all the Westbrook critics are suddenly wrong.