Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook spoke at length about his disconnect with former Lakers head coach Frank Vogel, who was fired by the organization on Monday following the conclusion of a disappointing season for the team.
“I think it’s unfortunate, to be honest, because I’ve never had an issue with any of my coaches before,” Westbrook said, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I’m not sure what his issue was with me or I’m not sure why, but I can’t really give you an answer to why we really never connected.”
Westbrook, who is likely to find himself on a new team this summer, expressed how he felt he was wronged during his entire Lakers tenure this season, blaming false news reports as a contributing factor to his struggles this season.
“The famous ‘source’ stories that came out about myself, whether it be between me and the staff, me and Frank, me and the fans, there’s just so many made-up stories that are not true,” Westbrook said. “It’s just always having to fight against that constantly. It’s just not [being] given a fair chance. It’s like, ‘OK, now I got to fight against this made-up story. Now I got to fight against this one. Now I go to fight against this one. Now I got to fight against this one.'”
Westbrook also shot down the notion that LeBron James and Anthony Davis “let Russ be Russ”, labeling their repeated comments of intending to do so as dishonest.
“Yeah, [they said it],” Westbrook said. “But that wasn’t true.”
“It’s a combination of where we are on the floor, positioning, fit and challenge, trial and error, being able to play on the floor with each other,” Westbrook said. “Finding ways to be able to utilize us to the best of our abilities. It’s that simple.”
James, Davis, and Westbrook played in only 21 games together this past season.
