Grading Russell Westbrook's roller coaster Nuggets debut leading unproven bench

There has been much ado about Russell Westbrook signing with the Denver Nuggets over the offseason and getting another chance to help a contending team. Westbrook, the former league MVP has bounced around in recent years and struggled to carve out an impactful role on a winning team in a reduced role.

Now in his 17th year, he’s leading a Nuggets bench that now prominently features Julian Strawther, Peyton Watson, and Dario Saric. Russ was brought in to be a veteran leader, to run the offense and create plays for the second unit, and to provide much-needed energy and athleticism; these are all things that Russ should be able to bring, even at his advanced age.

Nuggets get the full Westbrook experience in game one

Westbrook made his Nuggets debut on Thursday night as the team suffered an ugly home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 102-87. There were highs and lows for Russ in his first action but overall, this roller coaster ride had a lot more drops than rises.

First the positives; Russ brought his patented pace and energy into the game immediately. He had an impressive block from behind on one end and made a nice move to the basket for a strong finish at different points in the first half. He also had a few nice assists and made a few solid connections with Jokic.

At one point in the fourth quarter, he grabbed a defensive rebound and flew coast to coast, firing a gorgeous assist to Jamal Murray for a corner three. It was everything that Nuggets fans have been hoping for.

More lows than highs for Russ in debut

But sadly, those moments were few and far between. Overall, it was just about everything we’d seen at every other stop. Westbrook brought pace, but to the point, he seemed out of control at times, making reckless decisions on both ends of the floor.

Most frustratingly, Westbrook reverted to forcing shots and was looking for his own offense more than he was trying to create. This is especially a problem because he wasn’t forcing the issue going to the basket and generating free throws, he was firing up jump shots, and to little avail.

All told, Westbrook played 21 minutes off the Denver bench. He finished with 6 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. If you didn’t watch the game, that probably doesn’t sound too bad. However, Russ also shot 2/10 from the field, 1/6 from three, 1/4 from the free throw line, and he turned the ball over twice.

To make matters worse, he was a team-worst -24 in plus/minus, meaning the Nuggets lost by more than a point per minute while Russ was on the court. A lot of that isn’t his fault, as the bench was bad in general and his teammates missed a lot of shots. They weren’t giving him a ton of help on defense and Malone played him in some interesting lineups.

But a lot of this also was on Russ; he was loose with the ball, settled for way too many jump shots, and wasn’t nearly locked in enough defensively. If he is going to lead an improved Nuggets bench, he will have to play a lot better and a lot smarter going forward.

Overall Grade: D+