What more can be said about the 2021-2022 Lakers that hasn’t been said already? It was among the most disappointing in franchise history.
As the Lakers did their exit interviews after a horrid 33-49 season, the black sheep of the team, Russell Westbrook, shared his feelings on his past year in Los Angeles.
“Top to bottom …” Westbrook said. “I just felt like I was never given a fair chance to be who I needed to be to help this team.”
Russell Westbrook said “top to bottom” on coming to L.A.: I just felt like I was never given a fair chance to be who I needed to be to help this team.
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) April 11, 2022
When the nine-time All-Star arrived with the Lakers, many had questions, but most felt that the team would figure out a way to make it work.
Or at least make the postseason.
That never happened. And whether injuries, coaching or roster construction are to blame. It’s been clear that no one in the organization wants to shoulder blame or take accountability for the mess that was.
In fairness to Russell Westbrook, it wasn’t his fault that the team played so poorly all season. He probably shouldn’t even had been there to begin with. But the Lakers brought him on, and when he was out there he played hard and put up some of the Westbrook-like numbers we expect.
Russell Westbrook led the lakers in almost every stat this season
2nd in PTS (1441 points)
1st in AST (550)
1st in REB (580)
1st in STL (75)
1st in DEF REB (470)
2nd in OFF REB (110)
1st in FTs Made (266)
1st in DD (28)
1st in TD (10)And he was brought to be the 3rd option pic.twitter.com/P6DOZRo0ix
— hoopsdontstop 🗯 (@hoopsdontstop) April 9, 2022
When LeBron and AD were out (which was a lot) Russ picked up the scoring load. Obviously Westbrook doesn’t come out of this unscathed, there was plenty of bad on his side; and self-awareness continues to be a weakness for him.
However, the Lakers issues run much deeper than any coach or free agent pick-up can fix.
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