Heat guard Victor Oladipo expects Russell Westbrook to go on revenge tour with Lakers
Heat guard Victor Oladipo appeared on The VC Show on Tuesday and told former NBA star Vince Carter that Russell Westbrook is ready for a revenge tour next season. Oladipo and Westbrook are training together in the offseason in Los Angeles and they’re eager to prove their worth.
“Right now, we on the same wavelength. And when I say that, you said it best. You have to sit down and talk to him to understand where he’s at, but he’s there. And he understands I am too.”
Oladipo and Westbrook played together on the Thunder in the 2016-17 season, when Westbrook won his NBA MVP award. Both players got along and their friendship remains strong after all these years. Oladipo averaged 12.4 points and 3.5 assists in 21.6 minutes over eight games the Heat and he’s after a bigger role that gives him more playing time.
Russell Westbrook struggled in LA
Westbrook averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists in 34.3 minutes over 78 games for the Lakers last season but they went just 31-47 when he played. The veteran guard was second in the league with 295 turnovers and 42nd in true shooting percentage (51.2 percent).
Westbrook didn’t fit next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis because he struggled to hit perimeter shots. He shot just 29.8 percent from beyond the arc and he had the sixth-worst effective field goal percentage in the NBA (47.6 percent).
Reports throughout the season said that the NBA’s all-time leader in triple-doubles didn’t like when his coaches called him out during film sessions. Jovan Buha said in The Athletic NBA Show on July 20 that Westbrook argued when his glaring mistakes were pointed out.
“From stuff I heard last season, like during film sessions, he would, you know, push back on stuff that was very obvious of like, ‘Hey, you missed this defensive rotation.’ He did not like being the center of attention in those film sessions,” Buha explained.
Westbrook will have to earn his spot with the Lakers and be more open to feedback about his game. Their new head coach Darvin Ham has been empowered to use Westbrook as he sees fit. Buha explained on August 3 that Ham “will have more power to bench Westbrook down the stretch of games,” and that power “could eventually extend to removing Westbrook from the starting lineup.”
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