“Just work on the little details” Gilbert Arenas CALLS OUT Russell Westbrook to adapt new skills due to declining athleticism
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Russell Westbrook has been one of the most explosive point guards that the NBA welcomed into its family. Now, he ranks among the top 75th players ever to play a game in the league. As great and inspiring as his performances were, Brodie has faced a lot of criticism ever since leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2019. Russ peaked until his Washington Wizards days but depreciated once he left.
Now that he plays with the Los Angeles Lakers, he struggled to find his footing for the entirety of the 2021-22 season. LA already had a seemingly stacked roster with great veteran leaders but tragedy struck when nobody knew how to play with a reduced role. This is why Russell Westbrook went from averaging a triple-double to putting up 18 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game. Based on his performances, experts observed that he may have somewhat lost his groove, aka. athleticism.
Legendary player Gilbert Arenas shared his outlook on this situation when he appeared on DJ Vlad’s podcast. He said, “Jordan was too, LeBron was too… eventually when their athleticism starts to wind down that’s when they start working on skill. Like when Jordan started working on his ‘back to the basket’ type of movement, it’s because his athleticism started going down. Same thing with LeBron.”
He continued, “That all Westbrook has to do. Just work on the little details. Because you know,… once he gets to going to stop to pull up for a jumper, that’s probably not in his repertoire… the shooters, they’ve mastered that since they were little. So, when you think about all these fast guys in the NBA, they don’t shoot very well.” Arenas perfectly understood Russell Westbrook’s situation. Russ has always been an attack first individual rather than using other skills.
Russell Westbrook turns around a new leaf as Sixth Man of the Lakers
Coming into the current season, Russell Westbrook was heavily criticised for his worth on the Lakers roster. He struggled playing as a starter and barely averaged over double digits. Darvin Ham made the decision to bring him off the bench. The change was almost immediate in Russell’s performance as he boosted his averages to 16.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game.
The Lakers took a step in the right direction adding Westbrook to the bench lineup. He adds more depth and leadership the second group of players in rotation. What is better is that his presence as Sixth Man does not require 37 year old LeBron James to play more minutes than he already does. The Lakers are currently hanging by a thread with a record of 3-10. Anthony Davis has also gained momentum and consistency on the court after two seasons of turmoil.
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Rakibul John Rodgers
(1258 Articles Published)