I remember in the offseason creating a thread and pretty much telling Dame Lillard fans (their flavor of the month) to go to absolute basketball hell.

(for wanting to trade away literally our entire farm system; and all for a 31 year old PG with atrocious and I mean Evan Fournier x10 type of atrocious Defense).

R.J. Barrett.
Obi Toppin.
Immanuel Quickley.
Mitchell Robinson.
+ multiple draft picks.
+ his salary cap space.

We witnessed some of our fan base willing to trade away anything and everything for a "superstar PG".

And it made me sick and disgusted at the time.

A.) He's a 31 year old ballhog PG who plays atrocious Defense.

B.) No NBA prime superstars have ever ran to Portland in order to team up with "Damian Lillard" going on now 10 years later.

C.) He's been in the league since 2012-2013 and has "led" his Trailblazers (as a superstar PG) to not one, not two, not three, not four but 5 1st round exits/eliminations (with two 2nd round defeats).

I'm sorry but getting swept 1x (4-0) to Golden State during the Conference Finals does not make up for his teams being eliminated 5x during the 1st round (last year was a 1st round exit to NEW ORLEANS too).

But yet NY basketball heads were trying to convince us all that Dame Lillard was worth all of R.J./Obi/Mitch/IQ + draft picks and also + cap space too?

And this year?

Here in 2021?

Whas has their flavor of the offseason month led his team to (as a superstar PG worthy of our entire farm system)?

😅

▪︎ Dame Lillard = 28 games played (6 games missed).

▪︎ Portland = 8 games below 500% @ 13-21.

▪︎ 12th seed in the West.

▪︎ 6th worst record within the entire NBA (only ahead of New Orleans, OKC, Houston, Orlando and Detroit).

▪︎ 1.0 games away from Portland becoming the NBAs 4th worst team (only ahead of Houston/Orlando/Detroit).

Man of man am I glad to not see Portland fans enjoying Immanuel Quickley, R.J. Barrett, Obi Toppin, Mitchell Robinson + our future draft picks right about now.

Dame Lillard.
Myles Turner.
Brandon Ingram.
Russell Westbrook.

You don't trade for any of those players.

None of them would make us a better team with Championship windows.

You continue to build a team around Julius Randle and continue developing his young bulls in Deuce McBride, Immanuel Quickley, R.J. Barrett, Quentin Grimes, Obi Toppin and Mitchell Robinson (along with true NBA veterans with playoff experience in Kemba Walker and Derrick Rose) + using 1st round picks on draft prospects who will compliment this roster moving forward and into the future.

And that is how you build a Championship team with dreams of contending.

Not by trading the same (exact) kids who just led you to a 4th seed and a playoff birth for the 1st time since Carmelo Anthony of 2012-2013.

You build around and develop them into a team. You do not throw them away and/or quit on them.

Westbrook has averaged under 20 points for the season for the first time since his sophomore year in the NBA. On top of that, he is doing so on poor efficiency, shooting just 45% from the field and a disappointing 32% from three-point range. His turnover ratio is another issue, Russ is averaging 4.7 turnovers a game. 

All of this has been compounded by the fact that he has been a negative on the defensive end. His defensive box plus-minus is -0.7 and he has just 1.4 defensive win shares, by far the lowest return of his career. 

smackeddog wrote:The amount of attack Westbrook gets (especially this season) is beyond a joke, at least he’s proven the last few years, that he can tear it up in the second half of the season and drive his team into the playoffs. Meanwhile the golden child, Bradley Beal has zero impact on his teams and gets a complete pass. The lakers are struggling because they’re a poorly constructed, shallow team who’ve struggled with injuries. Daft to lay it all on Westbrook. Sure he has his flaws, but I just think the hate has gone overboard this year

Have you actually watch the Lakers this season.. He's averaging 4.7 T O, You think Randle is struggling this yr, you must haven't been following Westbrook, dude is have a "WTF are doing" type of yr, just like Randle.

knicks1248 wrote:

smackeddog wrote:The amount of attack Westbrook gets (especially this season) is beyond a joke, at least he’s proven the last few years, that he can tear it up in the second half of the season and drive his team into the playoffs. Meanwhile the golden child, Bradley Beal has zero impact on his teams and gets a complete pass. The lakers are struggling because they’re a poorly constructed, shallow team who’ve struggled with injuries. Daft to lay it all on Westbrook. Sure he has his flaws, but I just think the hate has gone overboard this year

Have you actually watch the Lakers this season.. He's averaging 4.7 T O, You think Randle is struggling this yr, you must haven't been following Westbrook, dude is have a "WTF are doing" type of yr, just like Randle.

knicks1248 wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

smackeddog wrote:The amount of attack Westbrook gets (especially this season) is beyond a joke, at least he’s proven the last few years, that he can tear it up in the second half of the season and drive his team into the playoffs. Meanwhile the golden child, Bradley Beal has zero impact on his teams and gets a complete pass. The lakers are struggling because they’re a poorly constructed, shallow team who’ve struggled with injuries. Daft to lay it all on Westbrook. Sure he has his flaws, but I just think the hate has gone overboard this year

Have you actually watch the Lakers this season.. He's averaging 4.7 T O, You think Randle is struggling this yr, you must haven't been following Westbrook, dude is have a "WTF are doing" type of yr, just like Randle.

I agree and I absolutely don't want Westbrook on the Knicks. The thing is, you never see Westbrook give up on plays. It's easier to live with the bad decision making when you play with that much effort. If Randle was as gung-ho on taking on the defensive challenge as he is on taking crazy isos, his play would also be a little easier to live with.

Randle Runs ISO's because those are the plays Thibs runs, he is guilty of holding the ball a little to long sometimes, but he also isn't the blame for his teammates not rotating correctly, and centers that sit in the paint all game long.

Just Imagine if Mitch and noel could hit 3's..The paint would be wide open for him to do what ever

Randle isos because it's an intrinsic part of his game. He iso'd in Kentucky, he iso'd in LA and he iso'd with NOP. Mike Miller called him out in it and now you're even starting to see Thibs yell at him to swing the ball. The only difference is that Jules is getting doubled more frequently and he hasn't figured out how to operate within the confines of the defense being thrown at him.

jrodmc wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

smackeddog wrote:The amount of attack Westbrook gets (especially this season) is beyond a joke, at least he’s proven the last few years, that he can tear it up in the second half of the season and drive his team into the playoffs. Meanwhile the golden child, Bradley Beal has zero impact on his teams and gets a complete pass. The lakers are struggling because they’re a poorly constructed, shallow team who’ve struggled with injuries. Daft to lay it all on Westbrook. Sure he has his flaws, but I just think the hate has gone overboard this year

Have you actually watch the Lakers this season.. He's averaging 4.7 T O, You think Randle is struggling this yr, you must haven't been following Westbrook, dude is have a "WTF are doing" type of yr, just like Randle.

I agree and I absolutely don't want Westbrook on the Knicks. The thing is, you never see Westbrook give up on plays. It's easier to live with the bad decision making when you play with that much effort. If Randle was as gung-ho on taking on the defensive challenge as he is on taking crazy isos, his play would also be a little easier to live with.

Westbrook doesn't give up on plays because his only play is to be too busy padding his stats every game. He would throw up into his own mouth if he even thought about setting an off ball screen, or actually moved without the ball when another rebound wasn't the goal. Which has been the rap on him since he got into the league.

And you want Randle to play defense, but "the thing" is Westbrook's effort? Have you ever watched Mr. Triple Double's "effort" on D? He makes Fournier look like the Glove.

You should have stopped at your first sentence.

jrodmc wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

smackeddog wrote:The amount of attack Westbrook gets (especially this season) is beyond a joke, at least he’s proven the last few years, that he can tear it up in the second half of the season and drive his team into the playoffs. Meanwhile the golden child, Bradley Beal has zero impact on his teams and gets a complete pass. The lakers are struggling because they’re a poorly constructed, shallow team who’ve struggled with injuries. Daft to lay it all on Westbrook. Sure he has his flaws, but I just think the hate has gone overboard this year

Have you actually watch the Lakers this season.. He's averaging 4.7 T O, You think Randle is struggling this yr, you must haven't been following Westbrook, dude is have a "WTF are doing" type of yr, just like Randle.

I agree and I absolutely don't want Westbrook on the Knicks. The thing is, you never see Westbrook give up on plays. It's easier to live with the bad decision making when you play with that much effort. If Randle was as gung-ho on taking on the defensive challenge as he is on taking crazy isos, his play would also be a little easier to live with.

Westbrook doesn't give up on plays because his only play is to be too busy padding his stats every game. He would throw up into his own mouth if he even thought about setting an off ball screen, or actually moved without the ball when another rebound wasn't the goal. Which has been the rap on him since he got into the league.

And you want Randle to play defense, but "the thing" is Westbrook's effort? Have you ever watched Mr. Triple Double's "effort" on D? He makes Fournier look like the Glove.

You should have stopped at your first sentence.

Yes, I want Randle to at least try to stop his man. I watch enough games to know 250 lbs PFs shouldn't die in screens. I watched way to many Wizards games last year not to acknowledge that Mr. Triple D willed his team to a playoff spot through injuries. Like I said, I don't want Westbrook on the Knicks. But I will never question that man"s effort on the court. I will question whatever effort you give on a daily basis if you think whatever Randle is doing this season compares.

You watched Wizards games? Wouldn't one be too many for a Knick fan? Just asking.

Never said whatever Randle is doing this season is comparable to anything. I'm in lots of threads ****ting on Randle's play this season compared to last season. I was making a point about WB's D, and you keep going on about "effort". Playing D is nothing but effort. It's been over a decade as a player with an endless motor on one end of the floor, and Westbrook still doesn't give a **** about D.

I swear the idiot shoots like he does so he can George McGinnis his rebound stats.

I'm in the DC market, If it's on, I'll watch it. I'll question Westbrook's IQ on defense all day. His positioning, his rotations etc. I wouldn't call him good. But he's moving out there and he's not routinely giving up on plays. I don't know if Randle is injures or what, but some of his rotations and help D have abysmal, even on an AAU level.