The Los Angeles Lakers need to win games and moving Russell Westbrook to the bench the rest of the season and staggering his minutes with James and Davis could make it easier to build a winning starting lineup and rotations.
One of the major reasons the Lakers have been unable to win many games this season has been their poor roster construction, which led head coach Frank Vogel to regularly deploy a collection of fundamentally flawed lineups. Rob Pelinka didn’t do Frank Vogel any favors when he gave him a James, Davis, Westbrook superstar big three. Russ hasn’t fit well and his presence makes it hard to surround LeBron and AD with shooting and defense.
The Lakers were desperate to find shooters and defenders to surround James and Davis but trading for Russell Westbrook, who is not a good shooter or defender, only exacerbated the situation and made it worse. Forget injuries to LeBron and AD. The reality is Lakers’ lineups with all three superstars LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook have played a total of 376 minutes this season with a negative net rating of -2.5.
The only strategy the Lakers haven’t tried is bringing Westbrook off the bench and staggering his minutes versus James and Davis to make it easer to surround them with shooters and defenders and let Russ feast against backups. The Lakers are desperate to win games and reverting to a starting lineup with just two superstars could be the catalyst to enable Frank Vogel to create more effective starting lineups and rotations and win more games.
Let’s take a look at how moving Russell Westbrook to the bench and staggering his minutes with LeBron and AD could help the Los Angeles Lakers win more games and maybe find success in the playoffs.
1. Lakers’ Starting Lineup Will Be Better Without Westbrook
Russell Westbrook starting not only takes possessions from LeBron James and Anthony Davis but Russ’ lack of gravity as a 3-point shooter makes it easy to pack the paint and prevent LeBron and AD from attacking the rim.
Even more distressing is the recent scuttlebutt we’re hearing behind the scenes that Westbrook has become almost defiant and pushed back “when coaches and teammates have tried to broach changes in his role or approach.” Word is both the Lakers and Westbrook are ready to move on next season, which raises the question of what the Lakers should do with Russ these last 20 games since the relationship may become adversarial.
Removing Russ from the starting lineup would give Lakers head coach Frank three instead of two starting positions to add the playmaking, shooting, and defense needed to complement superstars James and Davis. Building an elite starting lineup around three superstars is almost impossible as there is no way to ‘surround’ LeBron, AD, and Russ with playmakers, shooters, and defenders when you only have two starters available.
Frankly, the time’s come to stop treating Russ like he’s a legit third superstar on a championship caliber team. He’s now become the mistake the Lakers will likely have to sacrifice a couple of draft picks to fix this summer. Truth is Westbrook is just a poor fit as starter because what he brings to the table offensively or defensively does not complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis or make it easier for them excel at either end of the court.
Right now, the Lakers are losing the minutes when LeBron, AD, and Russ are on the court together. Benching Russ could be the solution to the Lakers winning the minutes the starters are on the floor together going forward.
2. Westbrook Will Be More Effective Player Coming Off Bench
While Westbrook will not be happy coming off the bench for the last 20 games of this season, it could be an chance for him to showcase his brand and what he’s capable of doing when not limited to being third option.
Russell Westbrook’s subpar season has clearly been =impacted by playing most of his minutes alongside LeBron James and/or Anthony Davis. He has a -4.0 Net Rating playing with James and a -2.3 Net Rating and with Davis. Russ has actually played better without LeBron James than with him this season, averaging 21.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 8.6 assists while shooting 44.8/345.7/72,2% in 35.5 minutes in 17 games without LeBron James.
Westbrook has struggled mightily when playing with LeBron and AD, often deferring to them rather than playing his normal super aggressive game. Bringing him off the bench will put Russ in situations where he can excel. Westbrook should realize his game is better suited to come off the bench, where he can once again be the alpha dog and his relentless attacking style will be able to take advantage of playing against a team’s backup players.
Now that the Lakers and Russ have mutually agreed to part ways at the end of this season, Russ needs to be sold on the idea this is the best way for him to show teams his subpar season is primarily due to his fit on the Lakers. He needs to understand that becoming a force off the bench without LeBron and AD could be the perfect opportunity to showcase his game over the next 20 games, the play-in tournament, and ultimately the NBA Playoffs.
Russ’ market value has taken a hard hit with the Lakers and a chance to be the Lakers’ alpha player who gets the touches and shots off the bench could benefit the Lakers need to win games and Russ to redeem his brand.
I find it interesting that the front office wants Russ to come off the bench but it’s Vogel who doesn’t want to make that move, primarily because he thinks Russ could be a big positive factor down the stretch and in the playoffs.
Is there anything to be gained by playing Russ off the bench? Were AD healthy and playing, I would say there’s a lot to gain by moving Russ to the bench, including an upgraded starting lineup with enough shooting and defense to complement LeBron and AD. So hard to fill all the holes when there are only 2 other starters.
Lot depends on Russ. He had a relatively ‘good’ game last night, although more turnovers than assists again. It’s still the chaos and lack of effort defensively at times that destroys chemistry when he misses layups and turns the ball over.
While it would have been better to have moved Russ to bench earlier, the Lakers should still make change now to give us an improved starting lineup with better defense and shooting to complement LeBron and AD and a full-throttle version of Russ coming off the bench surrounded by shooters feasting on reserves in the playoffs.
Lakers have 19 more games to go to figure out how to free up the starting lineup and setup Russ for success coming off the bench in the playoffs. That should be one of the regular season goals for the rest of the season.
Back in high school, there was a Sr. who got to start out of respect and the fact he was pretty beloved by the squad. He was quickly sat down after playing 5-6 minutes and more skilled players would have to quickly step up. Give Russ those 5-6 minutes and quickly sit him.
That’s a good idea, @therealhtj. I honestly think we are beginning to see the end of Russ’s career in the league at the end of his current contract unless he takes a significant pay cut. But, yeah, I like your idea, out of respect for his hall of fame career. Think of Melo as an example.
Was his name JaVale McGee?
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