Russell Westbrook has been enjoying the game of basketball since joining the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this season. He seemingly lost his joy in playing when he was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
There are many theories behind why Westbrook failed to succeed with the Purple and Gold. An NBA assistant coach recently provided probably one of the best answers to it.
“The Lakers brought him in and tried to make him a different player, tried to force him to be something he is not. And that led to a lot of the problems they had with each other. But the Lakers left him hung out to dry there,” the coach told Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports. “It wasn’t the coaches, it was more the front office. Frank tried to make it work, Darvin tried to get him to come off the bench. And when there was just not a fit there, you started hearing things come out of the organization, negative things about Russell, how he conducted himself and all.
“That stuff, you should not buy that stuff. The thing is, when Russ has had problems with other teams, it is on-court stuff. Not the locker room, not off the court. So some of the negativity coming out about him with the Lakers, that never really rang true because that’s not who the guy is.”
In simple terms, not only did the Lakers fail to play Westbrook to his strength, but they also didn’t protect him from the outside noise.
Westbrook is usually one of the most vocal players on the court. But that is until the organization backs him up. Instead of protecting Westbrook from the outside hate, the Lakers made him a scapegoat for all their issues during his stint with the team.
NBA Scout Slammed The Lakers For Misusing Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook has averaged 15.1 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 7.6 APG in 19 games for the Clippers so far. After seeing Russ flourish with them, many have started to criticize the Lakers for his mishandling openly.
One anonymous NBA scout slammed the Lakers for trying to use Westbrook as a 3-and-D player. The scout used a great analogy to strengthen his point.
“Asking Russ to be a 3-and-D guy is like asking Wilt [Chamberlain] to be a point guard.”
The late NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain was great at many things, but being a point guard wasn’t one of them.
Similarly, Westbrook can do a lot of things on the court, but playing as a three-point specialist while handling the defensive duties is not a good fit for him. After all, Westbrook shoots just 30.5% from deep for his career.
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