Last season, the media arm of Klutch Sports, led by Shannon Sharpe and Nick Wright convinced a lot of people that Russell Westbrook was one of the worst players in the Association and that he alone was the sole cause of the basketball maelstrom that was the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers. They conveniently ignore the fact the roster was aged, displayed at best an indifference to defense, did not shoot well, and ran no real offensive system, which was the real root causes of why the team was so awful. …
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The Lakers must really hate Russell Westbrook
Granted he did himself no favors at all with his play, particularly in the first few months of the season; ceasing the diagnosis of what went wrong in Los Angeles last season by heaping all the blame on Russell Westbrook, at that point is both ham-handed and myopic. It is more nuanced than that because frankly last season Russell Westbrook was never put in a position to succeed. Taking things back to before he ever donned a Lakers gamer in an NBA game, anyone with basketball brain 1 could have…
Read MoreLakers and Jazz finalizing deal for Patrick Beverley
Patrick Beverley, the guy you want to have on your team, appears to be on the move again. The veteran guard who was part of the haul the Jazz got back in the Rudy Gobert trade, is returning to his old stumping grounds, but to the opposite locker room. According to reporting from Adrian Wojnarowski the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers are finalizing a deal that would bring Beverley to the purple and gold in exchange for Talen Horton – Tucker and Stanley Johnson. Last season Beverley averaged 9.2…
Read MoreThey are already gearing up the Westbrook blame
Barring miraculous, sweeping changes to their roster, all indications are that the Los Angeles Lakers will once again be the worst pro basketball team in LA. Unlike last season the gas bags in the sports media have not to wait until the year tipped off to find a scapegoat, they are already planting those seeds in the hopes they will blossom into a Westbrook-Ham blame tree. When this season takes its inevitable nosedive, the sports media and Laker ”fans” new favorite whipping man Russell Westbrook and new head coach Darvin…
Read MoreLakers will need better offer to get Kyrie
The Kevin Durant trade request has branched off into the reinvigoration of the Russell Westbrook trade speculation, with the Nets emerging as the likely trade partner and Kyrie Irving the Lakers target. The Lakers desire to move Westbrook ( who, for a variety of reasons, they never should have acquired in the first place) is not only the worse kept secret in the NBA , but quite possibly in all of pro sports. This fact should put the Lakers on the wrong side of the leverage equation in any trade…
Read MoreRussell Westbrook opts in on $47 million player option
In a move that surprised no one, the favorite whipping boy of Laker nation ,as well as the LeRichard riders in the media, Russell Westbrook opted in the $47 million player option. Westbrook was acquired last season in a deal that confounded those with a modicum of basketball knowledge , who questioned the fit and how the skillset of the three Laker star would mesh. The most optimistic ( or delusional) Lakers fans and media arm of clutch sports had the the team, at minimum in the Western Conference Finals.…
Read MoreStephen A. Smith says Lakers should trade Lebron James
Perpetual windbag, master of cohost subterfuge ( and canoodling) and incessant dour criticizer of black athletes, Stephen A. Smith recently commented on the Lakers and what they should do to improve. Smith thinks that trading Lebron James is the path to that end. Here is what he had to say: “I think the Los Angeles Lakers should strongly consider trading LeBron James. It’s what I believe. Now, a lot of people are going to lose their minds because the brother is 37, in his 19th year and he just averaged…
Read MoreCampazzo suspended, Ellington fined
Wednesday the NBA announced a suspension for Nuggest guard Facubdo Campazzo and a fine for Lakers guard Wayne Ellington for a dustup and Ellington’s later comments on social media. Here is footage of the incident: This was the $20,000 tweet from Ellington after the game : The most confounding aspect of that dustup was that Ellington had nothing to with the play; it Mac McClung who contested the shot and there was not excessive contact, not anything dirty about McClung’s play, so it is not clear was caused Campazzo to…
Read MoreThe Lakers cannot even fire a coach the right way
The worse kept secret in the NBA was the job security, or lack thereof , of Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel. Considering the expectations, assigned by some of the more optimistic or delusional Laker or LeBron fans, the 2021-22 season was an abject failure and a disappointment of the highest order. Say what you will about the 2013 Lakers, at least that team made the playoffs ( unfortunately it cost the basketball world the last vestiges of the real Kobe Bryant on NBA hardwoods). Anytime a high profile organization fails ,but especially…
Read MoreRussell Westbrook is not the main reason the Lakers stink
Criticizing Russell Westbrook is en vogue right now. Turn to nearly any national sports show and at some point and listeners will be subjected to Westbrook slander of varying degrees. The problem is not with the critical light shone upon Westbrook, per so, but the issue is the false narrative that the spets media is attempting to spin that Russell Westbrook is the anchor that is dragging the Lakers to the bottom of the Western Conference. Any and every Westbrook miscue is magnified to the highest degree, while the gaffes…
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