Russell Westbrook has had a lot of criticism come his way over the last year or so about almost every facet of his game. Whether fair or foul, he was primarily held responsible for the disastrous 2021-22 campaign that the Lakers had, and every flaw in his game, no matter how little, was brought to the forefront.
He was widely criticized for his poor shooting, although he was shooting the ball at basically the same efficiency he had been for his whole career, and his playmaking also came under question because of the turnovers. This was just who Westbrook had always been, however, so expecting something different from him when he came to LA was a bit unfair. An area where he did come up short, as compared to years prior, was his defense, but Russ doesn’t believe that to be the case.
Russell Westbrook Fires Back At Haters Who Claim He Doesn’t Defend
Westbrook, just like the rest of the Lakers last season, was terrible on defense. He didn’t put a whole lot of effort into that end and was heavily criticized for it, but he recently claimed that it is a made-up narrative that he doesn’t defend.
When asked about committing more energy to defense, Westbrook sneered: “I don’t really know where that notion comes from that I don’t defend. I’ve noticed that it’s a made-up narrative that people like to cling to.”
It is very easy to understand where the notion that he doesn’t defend came from, as we all got to see him give little to no effort on that end last season. Westbrook could be forgiven for not playing a lot of defense when he was carrying teams on his back as he did after Kevin Durant left the Thunder or to a lesser extent in his only season with the Wizards, but he didn’t have to do that with the Lakers, so there is no excuse here.
New head coach Darvin Ham has also stressed how defense is where he wants Westbrook to focus on, but he hasn’t done a great job on that end in the preseason either. We’ll see if there is any improvement once the season starts, as that is when it really matters.
While he pushed back here on the notion that he doesn’t defend, Westbrook also claimed he is a good shooter. He stated he is very confident in himself and his ability to shoot while adding that the quality of shots he takes is what is important.
