Russell Westbrook and the Lakers have been off to a rocky start, but the Lakers have to use Westbrook as a center. #NBA #Westbrook #Lakers
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Hear me out. Can Russ rebound? Yeah, he's usually amongst the leaders in the league in rebounding. Can Russ shoot? Nope, but who cares right? Everyone... But the most important, Russ is setting those big body screens...yeah that's why he's a center.
I'm being serious. First of all, the Lakers actually won yesterday. Needed a lot from Carmelo, only won by 1, it was not convincing, but there was a stretch where Lakers basketball looked good with Russ, he was lobbing, passing, hitting dimes and then there was this play with Westbrook was the screen and roller for LeBron and it was nice.
Russ was still 5-15 from the field, but only -2 this time. *(Nice)* I guess. A lot of Westbrook's offense came from the pick and roll as the ball handler, which is something I've been waiting for, to see if Russ, AD, Howard, DJ, could get picks and rolls working, and he did.
Out of his 13 assists, 4 went AD, 4 went to DJ. 2 Lobs and multiple interior passes. In fact, only 2 assists led to 3s.
The season is on 100, and I've been giving y'all content so subscribe if you liking it so far. And let's aim for the amount of assists Russ has, 8087.
The spacing is still bad... and honestly he's forcing these passes through the smallest of openings, but to continue doing that would not be enough offense, especially if you're relying on Carmelo to be 6-8 from 3 every night. But you know what (*Melo action).* The Lakers made 15 threes, only took 22. To be truly effective, Russ will have to create 3 point opportunities. LeBron's hitting 3s at a higher rate.
However, this one play in crunch time looked lethal. LeBron has the ball in his hands and calls for Russ to set the screen. The first attempt of the screen doesn't really do anything, so they run it again. This time Westbrook catches LeBron's defender and so Ja Morant has to cover LeBron which is pretty much a no no. Russ rolls and the Grizzlies come to trap. This is Russ's comfort zone, going downhill to the paint with space. LeBron dumps it off and all Russ has to do is make two reads. Who's helping and are they committing or stunting. He sees AD's defender, Steven Adams, step up quite a bit, committing to stopping Russ and Russ makes the pass to AD. Help couldn't catch up to Russ from behind, Carmelo's defender did a fake and was stunting back, it was the right read. This one play takes advantage of the Laker's big three strengths. LeBron's size as a ball handler to be a mismatch and playmaker, Westbrook's speed and playmaking, and AD's quickness and versatility to space the floor or be a big man.
It's hard for defenses to prevent the switch, prevent LeBron from going downhill, and prevent the open roll for Russ. It's a pick your poison.
Westbrook's screen causes a mismatch for LeBron. Sure Russ didn't bring a center mismatch, but he caused a mismatch with his pick. He's getting assists off of interior passing and out of the post like a big. Not really driving and kicking. Honestly, Westbrook is legit a small ball center with handle and playmaking.
The more the Lakers use him like one and as an off-ball cutter, the better. And if he gets in rhythm, he actually makes shots.
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