Where do Russell Westbrook and the Lakers go from here?

To his credit, Russell Westbrook is saying all the right things, but actions will speak louder than words as his Lakers tenure continues.

Sometimes, coming up for content ideas on a podcast feed with two shows per day can be daunting. This week, whether pertaining to the Los Angeles Lakers or the NBA in general, was not one of those weeks.

Well, it’s certainly been one of those weeks, but, oh never mind.

This week on “The Hook,” Aaron Larsuel and I had quite a bit on our plate. Literally right before we started recording, the New York Knicks were fined for not making Julius Randle available for post-game media — for a week. Then, he also told me he had a theory for why Daryl Morey still hasn’t traded Ben Simmons, and why the standoff might last beyond this season. Harrison Faigen also slacked me maybe the worst article in the history of the written word so we just had to talk about that.

Oh and, you know, there was everything that’s happened in the last week with the Lakers, so I of course had to force Aaron to keep telling me how delicious Hennessy is.

Other than that, though, quiet week to be honest.

On the Westbrook front, both and Aaron and I agree in thinking that Vogel benching him wasn’t, as he said after the game, an attempt to get players in who he thought would win him a basketball game, but instead of message to Russ and the rest of the Lakers that the general malaise they were playing with cannot continue. We discussed whether using Russ in that manner is fair, and I recalled a former Lakers coach doing so with another star in decline.

To wrap up the show, I asked Aaron how organizations he’s been in over his career handle leaks, and how obvious they appear to those working with the leakers. This was fascinating.

You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin recaps the previous day’s news and gets you ready for the day ahead in LakerLand, every weekday morning on the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast feed.