Draymond Green and Baron Davis explain why Russell Westbrook's resurgence fits perfectly with Nikola Jokic in Denver, praising his rebounding and backdoor cuts. They argue coaching stability matters most: Mike Brown in Denver and Steve Kerr in Golden State have built winning systems through small tactical adjustments that unlock their rosters.
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So let's go around the league a little bit. We gonna move around the association a bit. Russ is playing great in Denver, man. He's 15-5 as a starter. Two of those losses came versus elite teams without Joker. What do you think about Russ's, your Bruin, resurgence this year? And really just with the opportunity he's been given, because the reality is he's always played this great when he's had that, been in that position with that opportunity. But what do you think about just the way he's bouncing back this year?
One, resiliency. When you think of Russ, you just think of resiliency. Always, he will figure it out. Once he figures it out, he know, once he's able to play Russell Westbrook basketball within the confines of the team, he's always positive. It's always a positive outcome.
Yeah.
And so having somebody like Joker is the perfect match for him, right? 'Cause he loves dishing and rewarding the big guy. And he's never had a center that plays point guard that allows him to do what he's great at.
That's right.
Backdoor cuts. Get on the offensive glass, right? All the little, all those little things from a point guard perspective put so much pressure on the defense.
That's fact.
Right? 'Cause like imagine you playing Joker out on the 5, Shaq, he shoot a 3, he can just shoot a 3 just to shoot one. It's Russ down there, right? He is a bona fide rebounder, right? And he's a force in the inside. So when you look at backdoor layups, passing, cutting, coming off a pick and roll, getting in the middle of the lane. Even if Russ is missing, you got Joker there tipping it in. So, you know, and playing above, playing above the glass. So I think that for Russ, perfect fit, right? For Denver, they found their elevated version of Bruce Brown.
Yeah.
Right? And that's what, and that's what they missed. I said that. I said that's what they missed last year. They don't have that dog that can just go and, you know, make some shit happen. You know, outside of Joker, outside of Draymond Green, they don't have that idol per— they don't have that idol person and playmaker. Now you got that with Russ and he connected with Joker, man, they gonna be serious in the playoffs. I know that. Yeah.
Yeah, no, they are for sure. I don't think anybody gonna wanna see them during the playoffs with the way Russ playing.
The difference in the coach, right? Mike Brown, excellent guy, great coach, but usually in times like these you see teams respond.
Yeah.
Right, to new coaches. Just talk about being in the league and seeing that, you know, also not having that, right? Having that stability, what that means as well.
Yeah, nah, for sure. It's crazy because I always tell people like, I am, I've been very fortunate in my career to be here for 13 years because I am a, like, I am not one that's keen to change. Like, I do not like change at all. I keep my stuff the same. And—
Right.
And so to not have to go through that throughout the course of my career where guys, you got some guys that, got a coach every other year or two. I feel like I would struggle with that a lot. You know, even if it's team to team every other year, like I struggle with that because I just don't adjust to change well. And so—
Right.
To have like, this is the thing that you do the most. This is the thing in your life that you end up having to put, spend so much energy and focus on that to have to make that adjustment every year would drive me crazy. And so I'm very fortunate that I haven't had to deal with that. But when you look around the league, the teams that have the consistency are usually the teams that do best. And the bad organizations that's switching coaches every year, every other year, that it usually don't work, you know? And the proof in the pudding is right there in your face. And so, You know, if you even look at teams around the NFL that has had success, Steelers coach, same for many years. Andy Reid in Kansas City, been there for many years. Bill Belichick was with the Patriots for many years. You know, when you look at the coaches that have done well, they've been there for many years. And so as players, we need that consistency. Like, you don't wanna be adjusted to a different playbook, a different set of coaches. A different philosophy every other year or two. And so I think, you know, when you, for the guys in SAC, it's kind of like that happy medium. Whereas you got a different coach, but Doug has been there. And if I'm not mistaken, Doug was there even before Mike Brown got there on the coaching staff that was there prior to Mike Brown getting there, if I'm not mistaken.
And so— I do believe that.
You know, that is still a level of consistency for them. It's a consistent voice that those guys have heard for years. And it's not like it's just some huge change, foreign change that a voice that they haven't been hearing for many years. And so it makes a huge difference, man, having that consistency. And like I said, I speak about that from experience. I haven't had to deal with much change. I've changed coaches one time in my 13 years.
Yeah, that makes sense. And then talk about like those minor adjustments, 'cause in that change it was,— a couple adjustments, and now, you know, people give credit to Mike, uh, Mark Jackson about the foundation he laid. But when the coaching changeover happened, that's when the Warriors took off. And, you know, talk about minor tweaks, right? How that— how you can fix that Rubik's Cube and get all the colors working and the patterns right, you have something special. And I think, you know, I want you to talk about that as far as coaching, 'cause, you know, being with Kerr, winning championships, you know, your loyalty, right? And just having that brain trust with that dude as well.
For sure. So even if you look at like some of the minor changes that'll happen, and we've been speaking about the Kings, so in their, in their space. Like I said, starting Malik Monk, getting Keon Ellis more minutes, putting more trust in here, giving him more confidence, more consistent minutes that he's getting, right? Like that's one of the big changes for them, moving Monk into the starting lineup. That's one of the big changes for them. For us, when we switched coaches, we were, you know, we had went to the playoffs 2 years in a row and some of the tweaks that Steve brought in, like Mark Jackson did do a great job of laying the foundation, But just when Steve came in, the offensive changes that he made was everything for us. Like our defense was really, really great and they had got that to an incredible place. But the offensive changes that Steve brought in, the ball movement and player movement and, you know, our offense was a lot more stagnant before Steve came. And so I think just him making those changes, that changed everything because it unlocked a lot of stuff for us.
Right.
It unlocked, the floor for us. And so, you know, you have philosophical changes like that, you know, where Steve come in with some, some principles of the triangle but not quite running the triangle, you know. And I think, uh, you know, so that was kind of our changes. And, and then obviously when Steve came in, I also became a starter, you know. So that was a huge change.
It unlocked your potential.
It unlocked my potential, and it also unlocked just different things about our offense. Like, I played different than D. Lee, you know what I'm saying? So it just unlocked some different things in our offense, um, that really allowed us to take off.
