Stephen A says he's "not impressed" by Russell Westbrook. Russ wife jumps in

[Conan]

See, on one hand you have an all time great.

On the other hand you have a professional buffoon paid millions to spout cliches and drivel on national air.

Tough decision as to who to side with here.

 

[DjMe]

This is a straight cop out by Westbrook and his wife. You are a professional athlete. Your job is to win games. To say winning championships doesn't matter or make your life better is fukkin BULLSHYT. You play to win. Of course being a good person is more important. Of course being able to provide generational wealth to your family who comes from poverty is more important. But to blow off winning championships saying it doesn't matter is a cop out.

Westbrook, Durant and some others need to be much more selective about what they respond to. Sometimes whats said is the actual truth. Just accept it and keep it moving.

Nah man, couldn't disagree with this take more.
It's not your place to say what KD or Kyrie or Westbrook or Ryan Leaf or anyone on earth should or shouldn't respond to, because the inverse of that philosophy is what the media uses to control the narratives and the people: basically, their truths are unimpeachable, and the parameters that they set around the discussion need to be adhered to. MEANING, the media (or in this case SAS) are able to criticize Russel Westbrook with impunity because he's an athlete and that's what he signed up for. But he didn't sign up for that. Damn, if these players banded together and started a website where they dished on these reporters, and all the fukkery they've been into with them. You know Bonny Bernstein? They call her Bonny Blowjob, or they used to, I'm older than a lot of you pups on here, but these journos been sucking and fukking to get a scoop, then turn around and say "welp, I can say whatever I want because these players agreed to this lifestyle." Turn this shyt around, I want Bron out here talking about how hes raw in Rachel Nichols at a moments notice with a DM, and "thats the life she chose so lets put it on blast."
The media is one head of the same hydra, the same people that own these teams, you know who they are. You should, at least, by now. Micheal Rappaport is one of them. Look how comfortable he is tearing KD apart, like it's nothing.
Look at DeShaun Watson. What do you think is really going on there? I mean for real?
Put 2 and 2 together and start seeing how these people move.
He's trying (or was trying) to do what Lebron did in the NBA. That's what no one's talking about anymore. He was about to change the calculus of NFL free agency, by saying "QB makes the NFL world go round, and I don't like what you've done for me in Houston, so trade me." He wanted to bring in his guy at coach, at GM, he was basically saying, "If you say QB has all this power, I'm going to use this power." It's a hop skip and a jump from there to an era of super teams.
It's always about money with these people-who-should-be-wearing-stars. What did Lebron do in the NBA? Really go burn one down and go for a walk and think about what he did. In a lot of ways, he ruined it. Not in a way that I think is bad, necessarily, but he exposed the flaw in player movement that was never accounted for before. He put the AGENCY in free agency. He colluded with his fellow employees and built a "super team." And what that did is immediately divide the NBA into class warfare. Now, you're either a super team that can win a championship, or youre NOT. And the only way to become a super team is to gut your roster, bottom out, acquire assets, and hope and pray for luck. That recipe? That's cancer to a casual fan watching TV. New Orleans v Memphis on a Tuesday night means nothing to the NBA anymore, or to TV partners, or to arena lease holders, or anyone else. They'll cover the valuations on all these, and negotiate new TV deals in such a way to make it look like these losses aren't as big as they are, but the quality of the NBA has cratered and you better fukking believe the lawyers and businessmen that own the teams and run the league know exactly why.
So Deshaun was about to pull this stunt on the NFL. Basically start branding franchises as "good" or "bad", and handpick like Klutch who he wanted. And the NFL collectively colluded to put an end to that shyt real quick. Trying to throw you off the scent too in the most blatantly obvious manner, with some circus clown lawyer FROM HOUSTON so it looks like its the Texans trying to tank his value, when really its the NFL owners trying to tank his ambition.
I was watching the Ohio State game in March Madness and I see a kid miss some game winning shots or whatever, and man, cut back to the studio and these guys are just relentlessly tearing this kid apart. "Bad shot" "Dumb shot" on and on. This kid... kid im telling you, KID, amateur athlete... is out there, quarantining during a pandemic, pulled out of school for a month, unpaid, so the NCAA can do what? Get their TV deal. And that's the fukking deal that they have with TV, so SAS and these clowns can spew hot takes and keep these uppity athletes marginalized and quieted. The machine exists to perpetuate the machine, and any subversive elements are stamped out and branded as untouchable.
Westbrook? Ornery and mean, underachiever. Kyrie? Crazy. KD? Emotionally unstable. Deshaun Watson? Pervert.
These are character assaults. That's all they are. There's nothing criminal here. It's just people hating on people for the sake of keeping people oppressed.
fukking line up for your shots, obey, say what gets you upvotes on reddit, do what youre told, dont step out of line.
How can anyone defend these satanic fukks? They're as old as civilization and still up to their same old tricks.
Wake the fukk up.

 

[CP3.]

Is he? I think what CP3 got over Russ is he’s more under control and has led his teams further on his own. Other than that....

You just gonna ignore he has better basketball IQ, is a better playmaker, is a better passer, is a better shooter, has better handles, is a better defender etc...

 

[Lucky_Lefty]

Nobody cares about stats if it isn’t conductive to winning.

Different sport but everyone who tells me how great Mike Trout is should stfu if we’re going by your measurements correct?

 

[Lucky_Lefty]

You just gonna ignore he has better basketball IQ, is a better playmaker, is a better passer, is a better shooter, has better handles, is a better defender etc...

All that and has the same number of rings Russy got (since rings are the main thing). And fewer WCF and Finals appearances than Russ

 

[Big Blue]

I have no problem with what Stephen A. Smith said. He's right and said it with no disrespect and didn't make it personal. He's doing his job.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Different sport but everyone who tells me how great Mike Trout is should stfu if we’re going by your measurements correct?

I should preference what I'm about to say by mentioning that NBA players can affect the game more than any other sport. It's hard for one baseball player to effect the game because are a lot of moving parts and circumstances that can happen out of their control.

With that being said, Mike Trout is a great baseball player who puts up numbers and the masses don't know nor care about because he's on a losing team.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

All that and has the same number of rings Russy got (since rings are the main thing). And fewer WCF and Finals appearances than Russ

Russ has two MVPs and multiple triple double seasons, yet couldn't make it out of the first round either times

You can have valid points pertaining to both players, which is why a ring and championship run would do wonders for both players and their reputation. You can add Harden PG to that list as well.

 

[Jesus Is Lord]

For one he can work on his jumper and free throw percentage to compensate for the decline in his athleticism. He has also help matters by not taking so many horrible ass shots work on his basketball IQ. Look at his deeper into his career percentages if you don’t believe me. They were horrible even with KD on the roster.

As I said before, he’s playing next to a “superstar” talent in Beal, so there’s no excuse why they should be 11 games under .500 and 4.5 back of the worst in the East. Even when he did have a decent team with PG in OKC, they still disappointed and unachieved which reflected badly on both of those guys as a player.

These discussions about Westbrook aren’t new and sorely related to his tenure in Washington.

Okay, he needs to shoot a better percentage, yes. That’s not changing his game.

He makes poor decisions at times and can be downright frustrating to watch. Yes.

He’s been playing the same even with KD on the squad and he’s seen great success in OKC when with KD, always a contender and even a finals appearance (wasn’t his fault they lost) and it wasn’t his fault they blew a 3-1 lead. He part of it though, but KD failed as a leader.

Russ started getting triple doubles when his teams were trash. Look at the years he averaged triple doubles and then look at his FULL roster. He HAS to put up these stats even for his team to contend. The same is happening with the Wiz, look at their roster, trash, and it’s NOT Russ’ fault that they are losing, he’s actually a huge reason why they are and the team has gotten better the better HE got, not Beal. It’s no coincidence that they were trash in the beginning of the season when Russ was struggling to find his groove within the team structure and system. When he found his groove, the Wiz started winning and that’s a fact.

So him changing his game isn’t the issue. But it’s easy to come down on Russ, but I don’t see anyone else doing what he has done. People talk like it’s easy.

I wanna see the same energy for Joker and Luka when their same triple double stats don’t equate rings. But we won’t.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Okay, he needs to shoot a better percentage, yes. That’s not changing his game.

He makes poor decisions at times. Yes.

He’s been playing the same even with KD on the squad and he’s seen great success in OKC when with KD, always a contender and even a finals appearance (wasn’t his fault they lost) and it wasn’t his fault they blew a 3-1 lead. He part of it though, but KD failed as a leader.

Russ started getting triple doubles when his teams were trash. Look at the years he averaged triple doubles and then look at his FULL roster. He HAS to put up these stats even for his team to contend. The same is happening with the Wiz, look at their roster, trash, and it’s NOT Russ’ fault that they are losing, he’s actually a huge reason why they are and the team has gotten better the better HE got, not Beal. It’s no coincidence that they were trash in the beginning of the season when Russ was struggling to find his groove within the team structure and system. When he found his groove, the Wiz started winning and that’s a fact.

So him changing his game isn’t the issue. But it’s easy to come down on Russ, but I don’t see anyone else doing what he has done. People talk like it’s easy.

I wanna see the same energy for Joker and Luka when their same triple double stats don’t equate rings. But we won’t.

Becoming a better shooter is a player changing and adding skills to their game

The knock on Ben Simmons is that he isn't nor attempts to be a jump shooter. If he does, then he's changing his game from what it currently is

You can your change to become a better shooter and scorer to compensate for the decline in athleticism. Also remember the fact that Russ has a history of knee issues to account for as well.

 

[Jesus Is Lord]

Becoming a better shooter is a player changing and adding skills to their game

The knock on Ben Simmons is that he isn't nor attempts to be a jump shooter. If he does, then he's changing his game from what it currently is

Bruh you said he “needs to change his game”, not shoot better.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Bruh you said he “needs to change his game”, not shoot better.

Shooting a better percentage is changing is game from what it is currently

It means that he's changed his game to become an actual jumpshooter instead of taking low percentage shots as he typically does.

 

[MVike28]

This thread is exactly why Stephen A does his little circus act



nba fans are insufferable

 

[Bboystyle]

Westbrook won at life, fukk the rest.

 

[Bolzmark]

Nah man, couldn't disagree with this take more.
It's not your place to say what KD or Kyrie or Westbrook or Ryan Leaf or anyone on earth should or shouldn't respond to, because the inverse of that philosophy is what the media uses to control the narratives and the people: basically, their truths are unimpeachable, and the parameters that they set around the discussion need to be adhered to. MEANING, the media (or in this case SAS) are able to criticize Russel Westbrook with impunity because he's an athlete and that's what he signed up for. But he didn't sign up for that. Damn, if these players banded together and started a website where they dished on these reporters, and all the fukkery they've been into with them. You know Bonny Bernstein? They call her Bonny Blowjob, or they used to, I'm older than a lot of you pups on here, but these journos been sucking and fukking to get a scoop, then turn around and say "welp, I can say whatever I want because these players agreed to this lifestyle." Turn this shyt around, I want Bron out here talking about how hes raw in Rachel Nichols at a moments notice with a DM, and "thats the life she chose so lets put it on blast."
The media is one head of the same hydra, the same people that own these teams, you know who they are. You should, at least, by now. Micheal Rappaport is one of them. Look how comfortable he is tearing KD apart, like it's nothing.
Look at DeShaun Watson. What do you think is really going on there? I mean for real?
Put 2 and 2 together and start seeing how these people move.
He's trying (or was trying) to do what Lebron did in the NBA. That's what no one's talking about anymore. He was about to change the calculus of NFL free agency, by saying "QB makes the NFL world go round, and I don't like what you've done for me in Houston, so trade me." He wanted to bring in his guy at coach, at GM, he was basically saying, "If you say QB has all this power, I'm going to use this power." It's a hop skip and a jump from there to an era of super teams.
It's always about money with these people-who-should-be-wearing-stars. What did Lebron do in the NBA? Really go burn one down and go for a walk and think about what he did. In a lot of ways, he ruined it. Not in a way that I think is bad, necessarily, but he exposed the flaw in player movement that was never accounted for before. He put the AGENCY in free agency. He colluded with his fellow employees and built a "super team." And what that did is immediately divide the NBA into class warfare. Now, you're either a super team that can win a championship, or youre NOT. And the only way to become a super team is to gut your roster, bottom out, acquire assets, and hope and pray for luck. That recipe? That's cancer to a casual fan watching TV. New Orleans v Memphis on a Tuesday night means nothing to the NBA anymore, or to TV partners, or to arena lease holders, or anyone else. They'll cover the valuations on all these, and negotiate new TV deals in such a way to make it look like these losses aren't as big as they are, but the quality of the NBA has cratered and you better fukking believe the lawyers and businessmen that own the teams and run the league know exactly why.
So Deshaun was about to pull this stunt on the NFL. Basically start branding franchises as "good" or "bad", and handpick like Klutch who he wanted. And the NFL collectively colluded to put an end to that shyt real quick. Trying to throw you off the scent too in the most blatantly obvious manner, with some circus clown lawyer FROM HOUSTON so it looks like its the Texans trying to tank his value, when really its the NFL owners trying to tank his ambition.
I was watching the Ohio State game in March Madness and I see a kid miss some game winning shots or whatever, and man, cut back to the studio and these guys are just relentlessly tearing this kid apart. "Bad shot" "Dumb shot" on and on. This kid... kid im telling you, KID, amateur athlete... is out there, quarantining during a pandemic, pulled out of school for a month, unpaid, so the NCAA can do what? Get their TV deal. And that's the fukking deal that they have with TV, so SAS and these clowns can spew hot takes and keep these uppity athletes marginalized and quieted. The machine exists to perpetuate the machine, and any subversive elements are stamped out and branded as untouchable.
Westbrook? Ornery and mean, underachiever. Kyrie? Crazy. KD? Emotionally unstable. Deshaun Watson? Pervert.
These are character assaults. That's all they are. There's nothing criminal here. It's just people hating on people for the sake of keeping people oppressed.
fukking line up for your shots, obey, say what gets you upvotes on reddit, do what youre told, dont step out of line.
How can anyone defend these satanic fukks? They're as old as civilization and still up to their same old tricks.
Wake the fukk up.

You said a LOT, but you totally missed my point. What I said is they need to learn they don’t need to respond to EVERYTHING, especially shyt that is actually true. SAS said HE was not impressed with Westbrook’s achievement the other night because he has already done similar things. What he wants from Westbrook is a championship. Now, sometimes the media is WAY out of line. Agreed. But yes when you sign up to be a professional athlete, you have to expect there will be commentary on your play from sports media, sometimes good, sometimes bad. It comes with the territory. Get over it. Funny, I never hear ANY complaining when these reporters are sucking off the athletes. At the end of the day, SAS is entitled to his opinion on whether or not Westbrook’s achievement impressed him. Are you saying he can’t express his opinion on that? Westbrook doesn’t need to respond to that. SAS is not impressed. SO THE FUKK WHAT. Why respond to his opinion with weak rhetoric, basically saying whether you win or not is immaterial? So as long as you’re a good person, whether you win doesn’t matter? As long as you’re rich, winning it all doesn’t matter? That’s bullish!t. Just let it go. He’s not impressed. So what. Plenty of others are. Not getting into the KD/Rappaport thing because that was a private conversation and Rappaport turned into a bytch and made it public.

You can be “woke” without ignoring basic common sense.