It’s hard to find anyone who took as much criticism during the first round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs than Russell Westbrook. Beyond his beef with Thunder reporter Berry Tramel, Westbrook struggled mightily in the Thunder’s gentleman’s sweep at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers. All of his worst tendencies were at the forefront, and in five games, the former MVP averaged 22.8 points, 10.6 assists, 9 rebounds, and 4.6 turnovers in 36 minutes a night.
The biggest issue came with his performance from the field. Everyone knows Westbrook is a less than stellar shooter, but his 36 percent clip from the field while making 32.4 percent of his threes was brutal for the Thunder. Getting that from anyone in a team’s rotation is going to hurt, but getting that from one of your superstars is a death knell.
Westbrook met with the media on Thursday for his exit interview, and at one point was asked about being a lightning rod for criticism over the course of his career. While responding to this, Westbrook alluded to his performance from the field and said it is his intention to refine his jumper this offseason.
Via ESPN:
“There used to be conversations if I was a ball hog, but now I lead the league in assists for the past three years or whatever it is, that’s getting squashed out,” he said. “So now the conversation is about shooting. Next year I’m going to become a better shooter. After that it’ll be probably, f—, my left foot is bigger than my right one. Who knows.
“So that’s why, back to your point, I don’t really care what people say, what they think about me, because it doesn’t really matter. I know what I’m able to do and know what I’m able to do at a high level every night, and nobody else can do what I can do on a night-in, night-out basis, and I truly believe that. If they could, I’m pretty sure they would. But I know for a fact that nobody can.”
For his career, Westbrook is a 43.4 percent shooter from the field and a 30.8 percent shooter from three, neither of which are exactly stellar numbers. He was a fairly reliable free throw shooter until recently — there’s a pretty interesting reason as to why that happened — so perhaps there’s a path forward through which he becomes passable while letting it fly. This has been one of Westbrook’s main critiques throughout his career, and perhaps the Thunder flaming out of the playoffs this time around will be the thing that sparks him becoming a more reliable shooter.
