Speculation around the added motivation for Clippers point guard Russell Westbrook heading into the big NBA matchup on Wednesday night against the Lakers has Westbrook amped up for some revenge against his old team. With good reason: The Lakers have, in ways both subtle and unsubtle, made Westbrook the fall guy for the team’s struggles the past two seasons.
In Clipperland, though, the returns on Westbrook have been nothing but positive. Westbrook has averaged 15.2 points with 7.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 18 games with the Clippers, returning to a role as a starter after coming off the bench this season for the Lakers before he was dealt away at the trade deadline and released by the Jazz.
His shooting has been a positive—only slightly below the league average on 3-pointers (32.3%) and very efficient from the floor in general (48.4%).
Sources with the Clippers have had very good reviews on Westbrook’s time there. “Model citizen, really,” one source told Heavy Sports. “He helps with younger players, he is good in the locker room, everyone likes him. He is comfortable and it is showing.”
“I have never known him to be a locker room problem or anything like that,” one league executive said. “Whatever you might not like about his game, he is always where you want him to be off the court.”
One key for Westbrook lately has been given more freedom to operate with the Clippers than he had with the other L.A. team. That’s been noticed.
“They are letting Russ be Russ, that is something a lot of us have been saying for a while,” one Western Conference assistant coach said. “The Lakers brought him in and tried to make him a different player, tried to force him to be something he is not. And that led to a lot of the problems they had with each other. But the Lakers left him hung out to dry there.
“It wasn’t the coaches, it was more the front office. Frank (Vogel) tried to make it work, Darvin (Ham) tried to get him to come off the bench. And when there was just not a fit there, you started hearing things come out of the organization, negative things about Russell, how he conducted himself and all. That stuff, you should not buy that stuff. The thing is, when Russ has had problems with other teams, it is on-court stuff. Not the locker room, not off the court. So some of the negativity coming out about him with the Lakers, that never really rang true because that’s not who the guy is.”
Russell Westbrook said the Clippers believing in him since day one allows him to go out and turn in performances like the one he had tonight.
Love this from Russ:
Warriors Concerned About Bench Chemistry
The big concern about the Warriors as we head into the last week of the NBA regular season is not so much the absence of Andrew Wiggins in the starting lineup—the team knows what it has with Wiggins, and the starting group of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney all know how to play together.
There was never much issue within the Warriors with Wiggins taking time off to deal with a family matter, which has kept him out since just before the All-Star break. He should return, perhaps as early as the end of this week.
The problem that worries the Warriors, according to sources, is the lack of cohesion in the bench unit. Because of injuries and Wiggins’ absence, the starting five of Golden State has played together just 23 times this season, and only once since January 19.
The Warriors rank 22nd in bench plus/minus this year, at minus-0.8. They were second in that category last season. The team’s well-known struggles on the road are fueled in part by the bench, which registers a minus-2.5 plus/minus on the road, 26th in the NBA.
“That has been a problem for them all season, really, and they’re worried about it,” one Western Conference executive told Heavy Sports. “The players are worried about it, the coaches are worried about it, the front office was. That was why they went and got (Gary) Payton (at the trade deadline). They have talent on the bench when you have (Donte) DiVincenzo and Jordan Poole, (Jonathan) Kuminga and JaMychal Green, plus Payton.
“But what they don’t have is chemistry and they don’t have their roles set up. That was so important last year, they had Otto Porter and (Nejmanja) Bjelica, and they had Poole and Payton. They knew what they’d get with each of those guys and they could throw out Moses Moody or Kuminga if they needed. Now you have guys and you just don’t know what they’re going to give you. That is what they are worried about most there.”
UConn Soph a Big Draft Winner
One of the big winners from the UConn Huskies winning the NCAA national championship after defeating San Diego State, 76-59, one Monday is likely to be guard Jordan Hawkins.
Entering the season, Hawkins was considered a so-so athlete who looked like a fringe first-round pick with averages of 16.8 points and 38.8% from the 3-point line this year. But he was red-hot from the arc during the tournament, averaging 50% shooting on seven 3-point tries per game.
“Very pure shooter,” one league executive told Heavy Sports. “He has worked his way into the Top 20 and could wind up in the lottery with good pre-draft (workouts). There are some things you can ding him on but he has a really good shot, he can defend and he is a bit like a skinny version of Desmond Bane or Gary Trent (Jr.), something like Jordan Clarkson but a better shooter. Definitely want him to add weight (Hawkins weighs 185 pounds at 6-foot-5) but he can handle himself as he is.”
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Model-Citizen Clipper Russell Westbrook Was ‘Hung Out to Dry’ by Lakers: Coach