The Los Angeles Lakers have struggled a lot this season. Coming out of the All-Star break, they are 27-31 and in ninth place in the Western Conference. The player held most responsible for the Lakers’ fights this season was Russell Westbrook. But as Stan Van Gundy points out, that criticism may not be justified.
Van Gundy brings the statistics to an opinion party. Westbrook actually has a lower turnover average this season than any other in the past eight years. His field goal percentage is right where his career numbers lie. His effective field goal percentage increased slightly while his three-point shot dropped a bit.
Essentially, the Lakers and their fans are getting what they should have expected. In August, the Lakers traded away Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Isaiah Jackson’s draft rights for Westbrook. The future Hall of Fame point guard averages over 18 points, seven rebounds and seven assists per game.
Russell Westbrook is having the season the Lakers should have expected. His FG% is exactly his career average and his actual FG% is a little higher than the average, while his 3% is a little shorter. His turnover is the lowest in the last 8 years and his average is still 18.3 / 7.8 / 7.5.
Still, Westbrook has been the manifesto of Los Angeles’ failures this season. Lakers head coach Frank Vogel has benched Westbrook on numerous occasions, especially in crunch time.
Russell Westbrook MagliaBut the writing has been on the wall for years. Westbrook is a high intensity aggressive player who has many flaws in the game of him. He plays at 100mph at all times. He is also used to having the ball in his hand most of the time. Los Angeles general manager Rob Pelinka and LeBron James should have foreseen this. It wasn’t the ideal fit.
James has been most successful in his career when surrounded by shooters. This is what they sent off to Westbrook. It’s not Russ’s fault, as Van Gundy reminds everyone.
