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Ric Bucher: “What is that I smell? That is the scent of DESPERATION. Looking at it -- it’s star names, the press conference looks good, putting together the memes on social media looks good – Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, LeBron James – but how well is it going to work on the court as far as what they needed to solve? Yes, they needed another playmaker, and yes, Russell Westbrook is certainly going to bring energy, but I don’t know how this works. Haven’t we seen various iterations of Russ Westbrook with ball-dominant co-stars? Whether it’s Paul George in Oklahoma City or James Harden, LeBron James is kind of the same thing in a different way. It ‘looks’ good, but I really don’t see how it gets the Lakers any closer to a championship. They were the oldest team in the league last year, and in moving Kyle Kuzma in particular, you got older. Russ Westbrook is soon to be 33. I don’t know if there were any great solutions when it came to hopes that the Lakers could recapture their championship-caliber because it comes down to this: the health of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and if you don’t have those then it doesn’t matter who the third star is or what else you have, you are NOT playing for a championship. With LeBron at his age, and Anthony Davis with his history, you’re really just reshuffling the deck and saying ‘let’s see if something else will work.’ It looks good on the marquee, but from a basketball standpoint, I don’t know if it even looks good on paper, and I would not expect it’s going to look all that great on the court.” (Full Audio Above)
Listen to Fox Sports NBA insider Ric Bucher join The Jason Smith Show to discuss Thursday’s blockbuster NBA trade involving Russell Westbrook being shipped to the Lakers, as Bucher believes the trade makes Los Angeles a big winner in the headlines but not on the court.
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