One of Russell Westbrook‘s priorities with the Lakers will be to help unleash Anthony Davis, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. After their first practice together on Tuesday, Westbrook called Davis “the ultimate weapon” because of his unique skills for a big man.
“He’s one of a kind,” Westbrook said. “There’s nobody like him who can do everything he’s able to do at his size. And my job is to make sure I continue to push him each day, each practice, each game, so he can be at the top of his game each and every night.”
Davis said he welcomes having someone who will drive him to be his best. He has been an All-Star the past eight years, but he’s coming off an injury-plagued season that saw him post career-low numbers with 7.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game while shooting career-worst percentages from the field and the free-throw line.
“I like teammates who are going to push me,” Davis said. “Encouragement — I don’t need encouragement. I want to be pushed. I want guys to tell me when I’m messing up. Me and Russ had numerous conversations in this first practice alone about things we can do together as a duo when we’re both on the floor.”
There’s more on the Lakers:
- Coach Frank Vogel was impressed by how fast Westbrook still is at age 32, per Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. Vogel called his new point guard “a blur out there” and said he plans to take advantage of it with an up-tempo approach. “When the ball’s outleted to (LeBron James), Russ has gotta fly; when the ball’s outleted to Russ, Bron’s gonna fly,” Vogel said. “And that’s the best way to complement those guys.”
- James was instrumental in assembling the Lakers’ new roster, and Vogel believes he will adjust his game to make it successful, according to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. L.A. concentrated on veteran talent during the offseason, putting together a roster that’s very accomplished but is also the oldest in the league. “All these other stars that he’s played with, he’s adapted his game, done whatever’s necessary to win and put himself in position for the ultimate goal,” Vogel said. “The willingness to do it is one thing, but when you have his skill set and his mind, he literally can do it all. So I’m very confident that that’s going to work itself out.”
- The Lakers plan to be fully vaccinated by the start of the season, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “It was never a team discussion,” James said at media day, “but I think at the end of the day you’re figuring out ways to always be available and protect one another.”
The chances of Lebron actually being vaccinated are slim to none.
I’m pretty sure he is. Say what you want about LeBron but there’s no doubt he’s a very intelligent man.
Off the court he’s an ambitious and driven businessman. He lives in L.A. and a lot of establishments already have Covid vaccines requirements in place. L.A. county is also voting on putting a countywide vaccine mandate in place. If passed (and it most likely will) all the clubs, bars and restaurants LeBron frequents to maintain his public image and meet business contacts would require him to show vaccination status.
Very intelligent is a subjective description there. If you’re talking about genius-level intelligence, LeBron doesn’t even come close to that, even remotely. Compared to the uneducated masses of the world, then someone like LeBron might have an IQ somewhere in the 115-120 range which is certainly above average. If I were to describe someone as being “a very intelligent man” then it would be more like 130-140 IQ, which I’m quite certain he’s not.
What has LeBron shown you to make you “quite certain” of just what his range of IQ isn’t, because he seems, to me, to be a “very intelligent man”, too. To go from near homelessness as a single-parent child to being a borderline billionaire, I’m not seeing the lack of high-intelligence you mention. Has he made money off of his athletic ability? Sure! But many professional athletes have off-the-charts athletic ability, but most don’t approach billionaire financial status.
How has LeBron done it, with your perceived lack of high IQ?
Enlighten, please.
When you have the kind of money LeBron has and the kind of smart people surrounding him, it’s virtually impossible not to make more money in this country. The 1% (or in LeBron’s case .001%) have so many advantages at their disposal, none of which we have. Even only modestly growing that type of fortune would be seen as a failure by some.
Not saying LeBron isn’t smart, just that we don’t know if he actually is; at the very least, the people he works with are very competent. And, of course, there are different measures of intelligence. Plenty of booksmart people are dumb when it comes to living life.
We, meaning us people, do not get to vote. The LA County Board of Supervisors already mandated vine the 7th that in order to enter Staples one would have to either have been vaxxed or show a negative covid test.
I don’t disagree he’s smart, but he’s also sneaky/hypocritical/arrogant. If COVID rules have taught me anything it is that the ruling class/rich/elite all have different rules that the rest of us have to live by. Lebron,
vaccinated or not, is still going to do what he wants and nobody is going to stop him (just like the ruling class and celebs are going to do).
& does that bother you? Really???
Why would it matter if you think LeBron is sneaky or hypocritical? Is this impacting his play on the court? Why waste one’s time caring about what the ruling class and celebs do or think? They are entitled to live their lives just like we are
Love watching LBJ every night. Everyone know how great he is but when he’s on your squad and watching nightly everything about him truly is a treat as a fan. Much like it was a Kobe
I agree. I’ve been going to Laker games since the early 70’s. He is in the conversation with Magic, Michael and Kobe. IMO the thing that puts him at #4 is the other three would run over their moms for a championship, LeBron not so much. That and James is not money from the charity stripe. Generational talents do not fine by that often. To see Magic, Kobe, LeBron (and Gretzky) up close has been a gift. People can find reasons to hate on James outside of basketball but anyone who has an issue with how he goes about his job of basketball is just looking to look stupid.
lakers are cavs 2018 2.0.
Beyond ridiculous comment. 2018 Cavs had nothing close to AD/Westbrook as their 2nd and 3rd best players
They also went somewhere that season the other team in la will never make in their history
The Kawhi pg13 clippers are the same old clippers they have ever been , the 2018 cavs didn’t finish but went further then the clippers ever have or ever will go !
Wow nothing like Cavs 2018 what a clown statement LOL
Which of these underrated Lakers would you rather have on your team, Kendrick Nunn, Rick Fox, Cedric Ceballos, Kyle Kuzma, Norm Nixon or AC Green?
Tough question since 4 of those players won a championship with the Lakers and another hasn’t played a game with the team yet. Cedric played here during some lean years but I did see him put up 50 at the Forum.
Norm Nixon 4 sure
But Fox was damn underrated as well
I totally agree
Oddly AC Greene has the best advanced stats per basketball reference.
AC Green was famous for being underrated in his time… then was quickly forgotten. Maybe that is what the “underrated” label means in essence.