On Sunday afternoon, LA Clippers’ Beat Writer Law Murray implied on Twitter that if people believe Russell Westbrook volunteered to be bench, that was “on them”. On Friday, it was reported that Russell Westbrook volunteered himself to come off the Los Angeles Clippers bench. But many had doubts about if that were true.
In this episode, die hard LA Clippers fan and Host Darian Vaziri talks about the tweet and the outrage it sparked on social media, along with what he believes the truth to be. He also talks about what he noticed from the Clippers’ Centers re-watching the game. In the end, he looks ahead to this week’s games.
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32 Comments
There is no way Russ asked for this. I thought it was false the moment I heard it and it was basically confirmed during that Rockets game. I've been a Harden/KD fan my entire nba fandom so I know you and other Russ fans love how he plays (intensity, flashiness) but at the end of the day, every team he plays on sees how it not only "not works" but it significantly takes away from the team.
At the end of the day you have two options with him:
1. Allow him to run the show –> ceiling is around 1/2nd round of the playoffs. The mistakes and inability to shoot are SIGNIFICANTLY more glaring and frustrating to everyone.
2. Put him in the role now –> play him 18-25 min depending on his efficiency, let him play how he naturally does, because there is no other way he can tbh. This is why he only played 18 min in the rockets game imo. TLue and staff saw he had a night where was 2/9, w/ terrible 3's, and decision making. Took him out. BUT, his bad game had NO significant impact on if you guys won/loss the game. He has a bad game? Cool, the intensity at least helped, lower his minutes, still have a chance to win. He has a good game? Awesome, thanks russ for the pick me up, heres another 3-5 mins. Still, doesn't have THAT much of an impact.
The best role for him, is to be an "x" factor (Average hypothetical #'s):
Russ playing ~>35 mins:
Plays good = +5
Plays bad = -15
Russ playing ~<20 mins :
Plays good = +6
Plays bad = -10
It might be a small difference. But when you get the same advantage (# wise) with someone playing lower minutes vs higher minutes, while simultaneously limiting errors and other's play. It's the obvious decision.
The clippers was fine before harden
It's not about Russ though.
This is about which player best elevates The Clippers as a whole?
I think that player is clearly and obviously Russell Westbrook while starting Harden in my view mostly elevates James Harden….
He's very good and playing with great players like Kawhi and PG will be very good for him, like it was for Russ, but does James Harden elevate The Clippers as a whole?
I'm just not sure.
What i would be looking for is overall impact.
What is the team's net margin of victory against weaker opponents and can the stars be resting mid 4th qtr in most of those contests or will they have to extend the stars to beat the lesser teams?
Playing at a slower pace will keep lesser teams in games longer and a for a poor defensive rebounding team that can be a huge problem.
I hope i'm wrong on this.
It's such a small sample size with Harden starting and Russ coming off the bench.
Just heard pg on his pod say russ volunteered.
To keep it short you’re wrong. Westbrook don’t give a damn
Let's not say the truth is Russ got benched if we don't know that to be the truth.
We can say we "suspect" it's the truth but i "suspect" Russ did not want to be blamed for the fit not working and felt he could at least try to do something to help create some chemistry on the court for James, who he is close to.
Even the advanced analytics support Russ as a starter with The Clippers, so he had a strong case if he pushed back but wouldn't that have made him look bad?
He was in a lose/lose situation once the team got off to such a slow start with all 4 starting…..
Let's see what happens!
Starting line up changed. Pg at the 2. T Mann at the 3.
No back up at the 3. At the moment.
I really hope Russ was among those who asked for Harden to come to the Clippers. He was a fool when he wanted to join the Lakers, but we can all understand why he did it. It should've served him as a lesson. But if he asked for Harden, then he's an idiot and absolutely deserves what is happening to him now. I love Russ, I guess that's I prefer to see him as an idiot than a victim.
Oooh the dramaaaa😂😂.. Hey Darian!
The goal is a Championship. Doesn’t matter if you gotta come off the bench or not. I think it’s funny how harden hit a 3 to win the game. Now he’s the best player on the team lol come on man. Anyways. Just win games. Bro real talk. Bones better than half the players on some teams. And we haven’t even been playin bones.
Maybe he played 17 mins because he literally blew the lead every time he got in the game by jacking up all them missed 3s. He is not better then harden so y’all can kill that bs
Russ is the scapegoat again. Brought him in to start last year, he balls out becomes team leader and this is what you do? And of course if it's not management screwing up it's our own beat righters starting gossip like little kids. I know the real fans hate this ish.
Who cares if Russ being benched leads to Clippers wins? It's obvious all 4 stars could not play together at the same time, it just didn't work out. Something had to give. I like Russ but nobody is above the team itself. I'm desperate for wins/a championship lol. I will welcome whatever gets us as close to that as possible, even if it means upsetting the Russ stans lol.
The big reason why they traded for james harden is because they dont trust westbrook. Its clear to me that we needed a center who rebounds and who box out unlike zubac and we still traded for james harden
Trade PG and Zoo for a All star Big!
Harden wins no media coverage lol
I don’t think this is what’s going on. I think he genuinely wanted the best for the team
This franchise deserves all The failure they’ve been experiencing. Ballmer doesn’t deserve a ring if he picked for this trade I said it a million times
The russ story being fabricated makes alot of sense! Look theres no way around it Harden is better but we still neef russ hope stays engaged because he can do great things for the 2nd unit
You're doing great! I hope someone in your life that cares about you, parents etc lets you know that they're proud of you. I'm proud of you and I'm not even related lol.
Man me and all the homies hate Norman Powell lowkey 😂😂😂 I feel so bad for Russ. ENERGY GOD is losing his spirit.
Who do you think they will package for a trade if the clips are wanting bigger wings that defend? Even lower tier guys like finney smith, do you think it’d be mann? Or bones?
This team is not built to win a championship, harden relies to heavily on fts and come playoffs youll see him bitching about getting not getting calls and giving up on his team once again
How about him helping the community out and placing a clipper logo onto a court in his name?
We really doubting Russ watch him prove y’all wrong
Steve gave up our beloved Batum, RoCo, KMJ and Morris, plus picks and swaps, you think such an investment is not going to be benched. Heck, Steve even called the owner of the 76ers himself to get Harden, so this notion Harden is going to the bench over Russ was crazy talk, Clips got Russ off waivers and a vet min, nothing was given up, if anything they saved Russ from being out the league after the Lakers machine was destroying him.
From what I learned from what russ-clippers situation is to always get that bag no matter what.
Your friends and staff might like you. But the front office and higher-ups We'll turn their back on you as fast as they can.
Darian, I'm enjoying your channel, but you're just rumour spinning now. Russ and Harden have been friends since childhood. Serge Ibaka and KD on Serge's channel had also confirmed that during OKC days Russ and Harden were always together. Russ and Harden even in their latest recent interviews at Harden's trade had said that they both communicate all the time and that their relationship is bigger than basketball. The media and the NBA had been lining up to push Harden out of the NBA. Russ is a guy about sacrifice and team first. Harden is his friend. With the Clips Russ is in a good place. What would you do for your friend if the world is out for their heads? A beat writer is still… just a beat writer. Show me the proof rather than just rumour.
I also noticed that after harden made the game winning 4pt play Russ is the last one to getup while others are quickly celebrating. But I do believe that Russ is the one to ask that he will come off the bench maybe Russ though it's ok to come of the bench but he though that he will still have 25 mins in average he will just not start he just didn't anticipate that he will only be playing 17 minutes and maybe that surprise him so his body language on that game he looks a little sad even though the Clippers won maybe he felt betrayed
…pouring out some of my Coors Light for B o n e s ….
Don’t be blinded by these wins over trash teams (Spurs). You’re not going to win down the road when Harden puts so much stress on Paul and Kawhi to suck up his flaws defensively. Hardens damage willl really show up around February.
Now they're going to better with Harden as they get more comfortable with each other