Photo: Harry How
Doug Gottlieb: “Russell can’t shoot and it seems to have gotten worse. Some of the misses are just BAD, which means a lot of it has got to be mental, not just physical. The weird thing about Westbrook that people don’t seem to understand is despite his ridiculous athleticism and the fact the guy does generally play hard, it’s been eight years and maybe even longer since he was a great defender on a regular basis. Can he make plays on defense? Yes. Is he tough? Sure, but he’s not one of the better on-ball defenders in the NBA no matter how athletic he is. Everybody points to the shooting but what really kills Russell Westbrook is he’s not a good finisher. He doesn’t finish at the rim well for somebody who can’t shoot and is a freak athlete. This is a ‘make or miss’ league and he’s missed a lot more than he’s made. This isn’t the first year, it’s not getting better, and it’s getting worse. If you look at the raw data on Westbrook it’s not good. His three-point percentage continues to sink. This season with the Lakers he’s shooting 30% from three. The thought is that as you lose your athleticism you become a better shooter but that hasn’t happened. The free-throw shooting has now become an issue when it wasn’t. When he was in Oklahoma City he was a GREAT free throw shooter. So you struggle to make layups and finish at the rim, you can’t shoot threes and he shoots too many of them, and he’s not a good free-throw shooter… You just can’t win big with Russell. As a human being he is a great dude, as a basketball player he plays hard, but he can’t shoot, he’s not the greatest shooter, he’s had four knee surgeries, he can’t make free throws, and he averages a lot of assists but he doesn’t really create shots for other people. I think there’s a possibility that LeBron is saying ‘Hey, I know he’s going to be traded, I don’t want to be the bad guy, so I’m not going to crush him.’ That’s LeBron, he wants to be liked by everybody.” (Full Segment Above)
Listen to Doug Gottlieb explain why he thinks Russell Westbrook has ultimately been a disappointment with the comatose Los Angeles Lakers, as Doug details why he believes the Lakers should consider trading the former All-Star who is having his worst statistical season in a decade.
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