By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Russell Westbrook smiled from ear to ear as he sat in front of the microphone before his introductory news conference on Wednesday.
After a tumultuous end to his tumultuous season-and-a-half tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers, the new LA Clippers guard said he was happy to be on a team that wanted him, that he was happy to stay home with his family in Los Angeles — and that he would do whatever the Clippers needed from him to win, with the ultimate goal being a championship.
“For me, it’s just finding my way to be able to help other guys,” said the 34-year-old former NBA MVP, who is preparing to play for his fifth team in five years. “It’s something I truly embrace, and that’s what I will do — make sure I can make the game easy for all these guys that are here, find out their spots, what they like, what they don’t like. And that’s going to be a process for me, but I’m ready for the challenge and looking forward to it.”
That process will be relatively short. The Clippers have just 21 regular-season games remaining before the playoffs start, beginning with Friday’s home tilt against the Sacramento Kings which is expected to be Westbrook’s debut with the Clippers. How the nine-time All-Star is incorporated into a team that has won 10 of its last 14 games also will fall to Clippers coach Ty Lue, who, reciting a time-tested phrase, said he simply wants “Russ to be Russ.”
“If he’s doing too much or not enough, I’ll let him know,” Lue added. “But we want him to be the player that he is, the MVP, the Hall of Famer, everything he brings every single night. We want him to be that person, that player. And then we’ve just got to make sure that it’s in the confines of our team and what we’re trying to do teamwise.”
The Lakers recently traded Westbrook and a first-round pick to the Utah Jazz, marking an end to his up-and-down stint with the team. After the Jazz completed a buyout, Westbrook signed with the Clippers, who had both All-Star Paul George and fellow forward Marcus Morris Sr. openly call for Westbrook to join the team.
Being wanted, Westbrook said, was deeply meaningful, but Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank downplayed the idea that the Clippers’ acquisition was based largely on their own players — namely their stars — pushing for it.
“We always listen,” Frank said. “Everyone brings different perspectives. And I think with every decision you make, you listen to your partners. With Kawhi [Leonard] and [George], their opinion matters. Ty Lue’s opinion matters. The evaluator’s opinion matters. The front [office’s opinion matters]. So what you do is, you put it all together, and then, ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s my job to do what’s the best decision for the Clippers.”
“I think this process was really healthy in the sense that we had really up-front, honest dialogue — not just internally but also with Russ and his agent, Jeff Schwartz,” Frank added. “I thought it was a really clean process in that we talked through a lot of different possibilities to make sure that this could be a really good relationship. We value the voices, and I think it’s very important to have that open dialogue, and I’m happy with the outcome.”