Carmelo Anthony was once a star during his prime years in the league while with the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks. However, all stars must eventually learn that a time will come when they won’t be the core of the team anymore, at least production-wise. Guys like Melo and Rajon Rondo have learned to put the team first while also still being able to play with their own style.
That’s a useful skill and lesson that newcomer Russell Westbrook will have to learn. While he is not at that point in his career yet, Westbrook is no longer the top player on this team, at least he has shown that. He’ll have to learn to work with everyone he has around him for the good of the team.
“It’s different,” Melo said. “In OKC it was his show. He was the anchor [of] that. I think we did a great job of putting this group together so that everybody can kind of be their own anchor within what we’re trying to accomplish.”
That doesn’t mean that Russ will have to abandon everything he knows about playing or abandoning his style of play. What it does mean though is that he’ll have to learn to sacrifice at times, whether that be the minutes he plays or the number of shots he takes.
“We all know Bron, we all know AD but everybody else we have to anchors too in order for this to work. So Russ have to be who Russ is. Him coming here, him coming home and that’s always a different feeling. Maybe trying to figure it out. I don’t know.”
So far neither Russ nor the Lakers have figured it out this preseason. The team is off to a rough 0-5 start. Westbrook has only appeared in 3 of those games but has not been much of a factor while shooting the ball, but he has shown some promising play-making abilities.
No one expects the Lakers or Russ for that matter to have it all figured out just yet. There’s still time to improve and find the chemistry they’re lacking as a unit. Hopefully, they do and work toward securing a second title in the last 3 seasons.
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