“Jeanie Buss and the Rambis family aren’t missing layups or tossing it to the other team” - Vincent Goodwill believes Russell Westbrook is the facial villain for the Lakers’ overall underachievement
For the LA Lakers, this might be one of the worst underachieving teams in NBA history, and Russell Westbrook has been made the face of that.
Yahoo NBA staff writer Vincent Goodwill wrote an article diving into the Lakers' dysfunction. The story dives into Westbrook being made the face of the letdown season.
The Lakers (28-36) are in ninth place in the Western Conference. That means, if the postseason started today, they would have to win two play-in games to advance into the playoffs. Behind them are the New Orleans Pelicans (27-37), who are just one game behind.
If the Lakers' struggles continue and the Pelicans continue their run, the Lakers could find themselves almost out of the play-in. Los Angeles was 21-19 on Jan. 7 but has gone 7-17 since, without winning consecutive games in that stretch. New Orleans, which visited Memphis on Tuesday night, was 13-25 on Jan. 6 but has gone 14-12 since then.
A lot of the blame has been placed at the feet of Westbrook, which makes sense because he has had one of the worst seasons of his career. However, Goodwill argued that the floundering goes beyond Westbrook to the Lakers owner’s dysfunction. With someone needing to take the blame, Westbrook is an easy target. Goodwill wrote:
"The Lakers’ overall underachievement needs a facial villain, and Westbrook has always been happy to fill the role. James is playing at a high level, and Anthony Davis is unavailable due to constant injury.
"It’s hard to boo a coach who goes out of his way to remove his personality from the equation, and no matter how much the Lakers dysfunction is displayed for the world to see, Jeanie Buss and the Rambis family aren’t missing layups or tossing it to the other team.”
New for @YahooSports: Defiance has been the fuel for Russell Westbrook, and that bill is coming due at the worst possible time, with no mercy: yhoo.it/3vOs2F8
When Westbrook plays poorly and the Lakers lose, there is a clear connection between the two. However, a lot more goes into why a team loses, and it cannot all be blamed on one player.
How much is Russell Westbrook to blame for the Lakers season?
It’s hard to cover up that Russell Westbrook has just not been himself this season. He has his lowest scoring average and field goal percentage since his second year in the NBA. His 4.0 turnovers per game and shooting 28.2% from 3-point range are also not helping.
#LakeShowRussel Westbrook cannot buy a damn bucket 😭 #LakeShow https://t.co/DUwm2AO5lr
This can put a lot of the blame on Westbrook because he has just not perfumed for his hometown team. However, this roster is not set up for him to succeed. The team is old, which has made the regular season almost like a practice, playing for the playoffs that might never come now.
On top of that, Westbrook is a player who needs the ball all the time, not doing much off-ball, on defense or offense. The Lakers have LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who also need the ball in their hands and deserve it more than Westbrook.
Furthermore, Westbrook has never shown that he can space the floor with shooting and needs others to do that for him to open driving lanes. The Lakers have no spacers, making it even harder for Westbrook to do anything he is good at.
Westbrook has done very little to change his game to help the team succeed and has clashed with the coaching staff. However, everyone knew that Westbrook would be a bad fit for the Lakers – everyone seemingly but the Lakers.
How much of that blame can be placed on Westbrook, who just wanted to play closer to home? Some can, but definitely not all because there is a lot more dysfunction when one goes deeper into the Lakers organization.