Over the last few seasons, Russell Westbrook has been steadily declining. It’s sad to see one of the most enjoyable players go through this stage in his career, but it’s true.
Despite his struggles, he was still someone who could consistently finish around the rim in his career. But in the sole season that he has played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Russ has seemingly lost that ability as well.
Throughout the 2021-22 NBA season, he missed some very easy shots and, more importantly, layups. This obviously led to many fans destroying him on a nightly basis. Unfortunately, even that didn’t help Russ improve his game, and he continued to shoot poorly.
The situation apparently got so out of hand that, at one point, Westbrook decided to get his hand checked to figure out what was wrong with his shot. Lakers insider Jovan Buha revealed that and gave his insights on what went wrong for Russ last season in a recent podcast.
(Starts at 19:12)
“He’s someone that (who) played a specific style of basketball for 12-13 years very successfully, at a very high level. But he’s now at the stage of his career where he’s lost his athleticism. Last year was one of the first finishing seasons at the rim. That’s always been Russ’ strength – super athletic and can get to the rim and can finish with the best of them. That was not the case last year. He really struggled. I think it was LA Times that reported he had his hand checked out last year. Because he was missing so many layups and turnovers and the ball handling stuff. He had some legit issues with his shot, with his ball handling, with his finishing.”
As Buha mentioned, Russ really had one of his worst seasons at the rim. For a player who is usually dominant at that part, it was very surprising.
Maybe Russ has finally figured out what the issue was with his troubles. More importantly, he should be able to correct them if he wants to add any value to the Lakers next season.
