'For the sake of Westbrook and the team, he needs to be gone,' writes BillPlaschke. 'But for now, he’s not going anywhere.'
It was, instead, another day in Russell Westbrook Hell.“Whether they want me here or not doesn’t really matter, honestly,” he said.“For any player on our team, you have to always be evaluating the roster … if we have to continue to upgrade our roster throughout the season, we will,” said Rob Pelinka, but later added, “Russell Westbrook is a great part of our team.
So Westbrook is here, but sort of, kind of, but not really. And the Lakers are trying to be complimentary — “He’s been awesome, everything I’ve asked of him, he’s done,” said new coach Darvin Ham — but how long is that going to last? Maybe until the final seconds of the season opener when he clanks one?
He was asked, “How comfortable are you that you can be yourself, the way that you know it, in sort of a team that has other stars and in this system? Or does ‘Russ being Russ’ mean something maybe new this year?”“Be yourself and play the way that you are comfortable and want to play in this system?”Lakers preview: Five questions to consider as training camp opens
“I mean, you all have jobs — sometimes people at our jobs don’t like us or don’t want us there, as you guys can probably attest to on any level job across the world,” he said. “As a professional and as a working man, I have to do my job and do it the best way I know how to be able to support and take care of my family and that’s what I will do.”
So Pelinka will continue to search. In the meantime, there is some hope that the respected Ham can help transform Westbrook into the kind of unselfish and defensive-minded player that will truly make the Lakers want him again. Ham has apparently already reached Westbrook in ways that former coach Frank Vogel could not.
“Going into this season, just God willing, being able to be healthy and finding ways to be successful … is definitely a conversation,” he said.
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