Russell Westbrook Is Finally Good But The Lakers Don't Care

Russell Westbrook is good now, but the Lakers don’t care. ✅ Get up to 40% off Ridge with my link: https://ridge.com/mj2k from now until December 22nd! #Lakers #nba Russ is shooting better from 3 than LeBron since coming off the bench…wait what? Russ was a mess. Blown defenses, several turnovers, a lot of airballs, missed layups, and everyone let him know, the crowd, analysts, me. Even the first 3 games this season was bad. But it feels like we’ve come a long way from this… Since Russ moved to the bench, he’s averaging 15.7 points, 8.1 assists on 41.5% from the field. Honestly it doesn’t look much different than last year’s 18.5 points, 7.1 assists on 44.4% from the field. Now, Russ is on 9 of the top 10* performing 5 player lineups for the Lakers. But it’s been relatively quiet apart from the little Westbrook being Michael Jordan off the bench in the Lakers first win. The only reason why this is relevant is that the Lakers have been 7-2 in their past 9 games with very little credit going to Russ. **I haven’t seen ESPN showering his praises versus last years making a video every other day about his downfall.** Just yesterday against the Bucks, Russ had 5 assists in under 3 minutes in the first quarter, giving AD the ball deep in the paint. And instead of making it about him and Holiday on this post up, he makes a beautiful cross court pass to Reeves. And the Lakers go from being down 4 to being up 3. Watching the games, you can visibly notice the Lakers gain momentum when he steps on the court. Advanced stats back it up. He’s #8 in the league in Pace since coming off the bench at 106.22. But in the 1st quarter his pace is 109.4! Last year he was a respectable 34th at 102.57, but that was his lowest since 2018. Russ is a better player when he can run like a kid on caffeine. And it’s a dramatically different look from a LeBron offense that is pretty stagnant cause LeBron isn’t moving the ball. He gets a lot of heat for his shot selection but when on the court Russ primarily sets up teammates. He assists on 38.7% of Lakers Field goals while on the floor. That puts him 8th in the league, up there with names like Jokic and Morant. Y’all might say that’s just Russ passing for the assist. Not surprisingly, Russ is at his best when he’s on the floor with dudes who space the floor and play hard. In an extremely small sample size, the 4 man lineup of Russ, Reaves, Thomas Bryant, and Wenyen Gabriel (guy who tries), has a ridiculous net rating of +52.8. Reeves out here quietly putting together a 50/40/90 season and a lot of that has to do with Russ and the baddies…= **But the Lakers biggest issue is the weird fit between the big 3 or mainly LeBron and Russ.** It’s not possible to play all 3 in crunch time, which is why Russ’s numbers fall off a cliff in the 4th. His pace slows from 107.9 to 100.4 and his defensive rating goes from 111 to 133.6. But all these stats might explain what’s going on the court, but why did Russ all of a sudden start to play better? **Remember when Russ got “hurt” cause he was coming off the bench.** While Darvin might have benched Russ, he has given Russ more touches, allowed Westbrook to run the offense especially in minutes without LeBron. In fact, LeBron and Russ together is a no no. They are a -6.1 and the crazy thing is, it might not be Russ’s fault this time. LeBron has at several times this season jacked up bad shots and failed to play defense. That 17 point lead that the Lakers blew against the Pacers. Yeah, LeBron took several bad shots and didn’t even get back on defense as the Pacers scored 10 straight. I do believe that Darvin Ham really got through Russ and explained to him that starting isn’t everything. Ever since he’s been coming off the bench, Russ’s confidence has skyrocketed. It really does look like Russ is sacrificing some of his old way of playing the game.