I'm not entirely sure you read my response to you.
I am not caping for Russ. I'm saying Russ > Beverly, which is opposite of the argument you put forth. Russ overall has been a better player than Beverly, including all the boneheaded plays Russ makes.
Beverly is 6/3/4 on a putrid 39%. He's averaging less than a steal a game, which is supposed to be why we have him. On ball defense is good.
Russ is 15/8/6 on an also putrid 40%. He is averaging a steal a game, in 0.8 more minutes than Beverly. On ball defense is decent.
Let's look at some numbers, excluding everything involving LeBron.
Since Davis got hurt, and Bryant became the starter, Russ/Bryant on the floor connected for 32 of Bryant's 176 points, or 15 out of Russ' 74 assists over that span. That's 20% on both metrics-- total Laker offense and Russ's total assists.
A fifth of our production is the Westbrook/Bryant connect.
You lose Westbrook, you have to find that connection from somewhere:
- Dennis is a scoring guard. He can pass, but his first instinct is to shoot, which will relegate our starting center to a rebounder, instead of a scorer.
- Reaves is a great passer, but he's not getting 74 assists over an 11 game span, even with more minutes. He averages 2 a game on similar minutes to Russ.
- Beverly is a willing passer, but not a smart one that's going to find the C when he's open. He almost always looks towards the perimeter on his fake/dribble/drive.
- Walker is something of a hot dog. He's almost always looking to get his, similar to Cavs Kyrie Irving. Dude gets tunnel vision something fierce, and I've seen him wave off an easy lob to LeBron to attempt a layup himself.
>Westbrook and Bryant work perfectly together, and none of our other guards work like that
>Bron is the only other willing passer that has this connection with our starting Center
>Moving Russ requires us to acquire shooters, and any shooter we bring in (Hield, Bojan, etc) isn't passing to Bryant either
Looking at that production, there is no way you give up Russ to keep Beverly. I understood your original argument was to give more minutes to Dennis in a scenario that we part with Russ, but Dennis is streaky too, and he's always been streaky. We would miss those 8 assists off the bench, and 15 points per game, whereas we can stomach the loss of Bev's on ball defense and 6 points.
Everything you said about Russ is true of Beverly-- nobody guards either of them on the perimeter, which allows the paint to be clogged. Having both on the floor at the same time is something we routinely employ, stupidly enough. They are for all intents and purposes the same player from an opposing game plan standpoint, only Russ produces more, which makes him the more valuable asset
to keep.
Do I think we should get rid of Russ and find shooters? Look, at first the answer was fukk yes. But now, I'm conflicted. He's bought into his role, and is producing. If I can keep Westbrook AND get shooters, I don't see why we don't do that.
At the end of the day, will I lose sleep if we trade Russ and get depth for his 47 mil? Absolutely not. I appreciate him turning things around, but I want the Lakers to win, and if losing him is addition by subtraction, then so be it.
I've come around on an argument I've been having with my barber about trading Davis. I can see why y'all want these dudes gone.
