That Whole Paul George Guarantee To The Lakers? Yeah, He Thought The Lakers Were A Waste Of Time
[USA Today] – “That’s where my heart was. But this year, being in Oklahoma, I felt really good about the situation, I felt really good going forward, and I didn’t want to waste nobody’s time and take a meeting. And now I’m straddling the fence, putting more stress and more pressure on the situation. I felt good about it. I felt great where we were at, so I decided to do it early, to get it over with, and start to build.”
So, remember that whole Paul George was going to the Lakers thing no matter what this offseason? Obviously that didn’t happen as he was one of the first free agents to announce his signing, but he didn’t even want to meet with the Lakers. He knew it would be a waste of time as he told Sam Amick from USA Today.
It’s a bit surprising, because he was well-documented about wanting to go home and play for Los Angeles. However, he had a really good interview here and openly talked about getting to learn Russell Westbrook and how he felt home in Oklahoma. ORRRRRRRR he didn’t want to play with LeBron and the circus that is now the Los Angeles Lakers. Either one.
To me this interview said a bit more about Westbrook. He does have a bit of a bad rap to fans as people perceive him as some bad guy and some terrible teammate. Enes Kanter already talked about how he called Russ the best teammate he ever played with this offseason and now you have George talking about how much he wanted to play with Russ – as evident by his new long term contract. I love Westbrook’s self-awareness in the interview too saying:
“Tell them the truth,” Westbrook hollered at George. “Tell them I’m a bad teammate. That’s what they want to hear.”
I just picture Russ behind the scenes with a shit-eating grin yelling that. It’s perfect for him, who as I said does have that reputation among fans of being this bad teammate. As for George though, he seems to be content there. It’s a bit interesting that he didn’t even want a meeting with the Lakers to hear their plan for him and how they planned on building, but either way Russ did a hell of a job keeping a top-25 player on his roster.
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The Thunder should be improved this year with the return of Andre Roberson who is a difference-maker on the defensive side of the ball. They also have a year under their belt playing together and have the 3 to build around in Russ, George and Steven Adams. I like the acquisitions they’ve made this summer for high-reward sake in Nerlens Noel and Denis Schroder as well. They aren’t going to likely beat the Warriors, but they are a step closer.