Russell Westbrook has, without a doubt, struggled during his time with the Los Angeles Lakers. He has found it tough to fit in as a No. 3 option behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis due to his inefficient and ball-dominant play style.
However, the Los Angeles Lakers may have found a way to use Russell Westbrook effectively. Westbrook has been coming off the bench for the team, and he recently helped the team get their first win of the season against the Denver Nuggets.
Recently, NBA analyst Ramona Shelburne stated her belief that Russell Westbrook will have “saved his career” if he manages to continue playing well off of the bench, noting that there will be a specific role for him “in the league.” There have been some suggestions that this may be Russell Westbrook’s last year in the NBA if he can’t accept a smaller role, but it is clear that the point guard is doing whatever needs to be done to win.
"If he can play like this off the bench, he's saved his career… There's a role for him [on the Lakers] and there's a role for him in the league."@ramonashelburne on Russell Westbrook's new role as a bench playerpic.twitter.com/BmpdqO3sU4
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 31, 2022
“If he can play like this off the bench, he’s saved his career… There’s a role for him [on the Lakers] and there’s a role for him in the league.”
There’s no doubt that Russell Westbrook has been solid coming off the bench for the Los Angeles Lakers thus far in the season. There is no doubt that this puts him in a comfort zone, and perhaps we’ll see him continue to thrive in his new role.
Russell Westbrook Coming Off The Bench Helps Both Him And LeBron James
Russell Westbrook coming off the bench has benefits for both him and LeBron James. Darvin Ham previously explained that some players do better with the ball in their hands and that staggering Russell Westbrook and LeBron James can create balance on the team.
“Some guys play better off the ball, some guys play better with the ball in their hands, and through no fault of their own, that’s just how they’re built, you know?” Ham said. “You’re not gonna have LeBron James play without the ball in his hands for, you know, 80, 85 percent of his minutes that he’s on the floor, you know? At some point, you’ve got to allow him to orchestrate. Same thing with Russ. And so to create some type of balance, we wanted to look at this, the setup of this type of rotation and see if it works for us. The door’s not closed on Russ starting, and the door’s not closed on (whether) this works, you know. We got to explore it even further.”
Since LeBron James and Russell Westbrook are both dominant ball handlers, it makes sense to play them a good number of minutes apart from one another, as they’ll each get their turn to make plays with the basketball.
Moving Russell Westbrook to the bench has clearly been a good move for both Russell Westbrook and the Los Angeles Lakers. Hopefully, they continue to get wins and get back to the playoffs this year.
