Lost since his arrival at the Lakers and target (easy) of criticism, Russell Westbrook recently found fishing by agreeing to come off the bench as the sixth regular man of the Los Angeles team. A transition that bears fruit both individually and collectively, and which is welcomed by a certain Dwyane Wade.
We may tend to forget it knowing that we are talking about the greatest player in the history of the Miami Heat, but D-Wade ended his career in a role of luxury substitute. Flash actually came off the bench in his last two years in the NBA, first with the Cavaliers (yes yes it happened) and then in South Beach – in the franchise where he became a legend – to end his career in style. So if anyone knows what it’s like to become the sixth man after being an NBA superstar, it’s Wade.
For Russell Westbrook, the transition was much more turbulent. Brodie had a nightmarish season last year in the titular costume, his fit with LeBron James and Anthony Davis showing serious complementarity issues very quickly. Westbrook thus became the scapegoat for the Lakers’ shattered campaign in 2021-22 (33 wins – 49 losses, no Playoffs, no play-ins) and a similar scenario seemed to be written for Russ’ second season in his hometown of Los Angeles.
But from at the end of October, Westbrook took place in the second unit new coach Darvin Ham and since then it’s been much better for Brodie.
“At his age [34 ans, ndlr.]at this precise moment, and with this team [les Lakers, ndlr.] today, the best situation for Russ was to come off the bench to have that freedom to be Russ. So as not to have to think all the time about, ‘OK LeBron, OK I need to give the ball to AD, OK I need to shoot, OK I don’t want to shoot’. He doesn’t need to think so much anymore. Russ put himself in a better position coming off the bench.
These words from Dwyane Wade to Sports Illustrated sum up the new dynamic around Westbrook well. Words that are also confirmed in the figures:
- in the first three games of the season as a titu, Russ had hit rock bottom with stats of 10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists at 29% shooting success including… 8% at 3- points.
- since then, in his new role as sixth man, he has raised the bar by turning to 15.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 7.9 assists at almost 42% shooting (31.1% from 3-pointers) in 28 minutes of play.
More committed, more aggressive, more liberated, more… Simply Russ. And with that, the entire Lakers team has found a new balance, Los Angeles having won 9 of its last 15 games under the impetus also – of course – of a huge Anthony Davis.
Russ getting “MVP” chants from Lakers fans ???????? pic.twitter.com/SzGAMRXF3L
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 5, 2022
When you’ve been MVP, when you’ve had three triple-double seasons (four in all) and you have 14 NBA seasons under your belt, accepting the role of sixth man is never easy. Because we can take that as the symbol of a decline. But Russell Westbrook understood that on the contrary, it was a necessary step to prolong his career and somehow find a second youth.
We know many who never managed to make this transition and who finally had to leave the NBA prematurely, like Allen Iverson to name only him. Brodie seemed on a similar trajectory just a few weeks ago, but the narrative has now changed around the one who will reach the end of the contract in a few months.
“If I had wanted to play two or three more years, I would have loved to play in a similar role [de sixième homme, ndlr.]. I would have had three wonderful last years just enjoying this role. Coming off the bench to play 20-25 minutes…Russ made a very good decision to prolong his career.”
– Dwyane Wade
We don’t know what the future will hold for Russell Westbrook. What we do know, however, is that it is much less gloomy than it was two months ago…
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Source texte : Sports Illustrated
NEW: The reinvention of Russell Westbrook https://t.co/B9Q6Fa3RdI pic.twitter.com/Wjm7tYO7Wa
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) December 14, 2022
