i thought initially russ starting was a stop gap but you cant argue with the results. it shocked me when i saw it but they're 10-2 with russ starting. last 3 games sure not huge volume but hes only missed 3 shots from the field and 7-7 from the line. starting or not, in his last 11 games played russ has only had a negative +/- once.
out of the nuggets 3 best performing 5 man lineups this season, russ is in all 3. nuggets most common 5 man lineup is murray/braun/porter/gordon/jokic with a +6.4 net. you take out murray for westbrook and that number jumps to +28.5, gordon for westbrook +19.0, braun for westbrook +21.0.