Russell Westbrick Discussion: Clipper Gonna Clip

This was what I was hoping we would see when he first got here. Better late than never. I'm liking this version of Russ.

 

I argued for a while that the Russ from Washington who averaged 25/14/14 to finish the last 30 games of that season was the best player we could get in any trade with the assets we had and if he could get back to that we should keep him and let him expire.

That version was only 16ish months ago? It was always strange he fell off a cliff so aggressively. For a year he looked below average to play terrible. He lost the aggression, motor and tenacity that made him great. It would be a great story if he got back to that level via the bench role that angs opened up his play these last two games - because we look considerably better with this version of Russ.

But like everyone else, I’m not holding my breath.

 

So..... Slick was right?

:RW Barfbag:

 

I do think some of it had to be mental and everything snowballed on him.

I also think maybe he’s just connected with Ham at this point and really is trying to buy in to what he’s saying.

Whatever it is, I hope he can keep it going.

 

this is the role many of us were hoping for after the bad start to last year. not sure why it took a full camp and 4 losses to finally take a look at it, but i'm glad we did.

also, i think if he keeps playing well enough to finish, he'll embrace the bench role. ginobili used to play off the bench and finish in SA, and it worked. i'm less optimistic about that here, but...one step at a time.

i'm just glad he didn't pout about it like he did at times last year.

 

He definitely still has the athleticism and re-awakening skills to play decent to good man defense and to get to the rim for layups. Plus has done some surprising good with his strength D ing up on bigger wings like Kahwi in bursts.

 

There was a game last year - it was at home against Atlanta. At the time, the Hawks had the worst defense in the league.

Russ came out and cooked and everybody got excited. Then, the rest of the season happened. LOL.

Glad he finally contributed to winning a game against a good.team. Need I remind al the fans, he's making $47 million a year and he's coming off the bench.

Another LOL.

Label me skeptical.

 

Good game Russ, but I’m holding my optimism until I see him string together several games like last night.

 

Should have tried this off the bench role last year. Hope he sees the early success of it and embraces it the whole season.

 

Nice to see him play well and be happy out there. Russ is a good dude.

 

Beverley looks worse than Russ did starting next to Lebron IMO. That being said..I guess Darvin has decided that Lebron is going to be LeBron, so staggering Russ with James, is the best option to get both of them going early. Russ is far from washed IMO, he just has to be used properly. His work with the youngsters over the summer, should start paying off as we go along. The young bucks respond to his energy, AD is still the key to this trio working out though, he seems to be comfortable with either James or Westbrook running the offense, just as long as they look to get him the ball. The next 4 games will be interesting.

 

If he's willing to do this and play this role, I don't trade him. Period.

We are a better team with him unleashed than without. He'll have his boneheaded moments, but leading the charge on the bench squad? He'll be among the best the league has to offer. The fact that it's possible for him to nearly get a triple double in limited minutes off the bench is pretty huge.

Love that he has been engaged on defense as well. Good for Russ.

 

yeah, if he embraces the bench role and produces, i see no reason to move him unless somebody knocks me over with an offer.

obviously, we need more than a 2-game sample, but early results are encouraging.