The Los Angeles Lakers opened the off-season with fanfare.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Lakers agreed with the industry Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell and the 22-22th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, who used to draft Isaiah Jackson of Kentucky to the Washington Wizards for Russell. Westbrook and two long-running second-round picks.
The exchange can be officially announced on August 6.
The Washington Wizards have accepted industry russell Westbrook, the 2024 second-round pick, the 2028 Los Angeles Lakers second-round pick for Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell and the No. 22 tonight, according to @TheAthletic. @ Stadium sources.
The headline of the story is, of course, Westbrook.
An exclusive MVP with nine All-Star selections and nine All-NBA selections under his belt, Westbrook has long been one of the league’s most elusive players. historical campaign. With 22. 2 points, 11. 7 assists and 11. 5 rebounds consistent with the game, Westbrook averaged a triple-double for the third time in 4 seasons and was a driving force in Washington’s return to the playoffs.
The NBA is an all-star-led league, and Westbrook brings even more star strength to a Lakers team built around two superstars for LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but the compatibility between them is precisely transparent.
We’ll get to that a little bit. first. . .
There are several tactics that Westbrook will make his presence felt on the Lakers, the first in transition.
The Lakers now have two of the league’s most sensitive scorers on the open court. In 2020-2021, Westbrook averaged 5. 6 points consistent with the game in transition, which put him tied with De’Aaron Fox and LeBron for third in the league (Giannis only). Antetokounmpo and Jaylen Brown averaged above three. ) Westbrook hasn’t been very effective, with a rating in the 20th percentile consistent with an average of 0. 94 problems consistent with possession, however, few players are as relentless as he is when it comes to attacking. groups out of marks, failures and turnovers. He’s confused from one side of the area to the other and he’s still a wonderful athlete, even at 32.
With Westbrook and LeBron being threatened to take over, it’s easy to believe the Lakers will fly up and down the area next season.
Westbrook’s ability to transmit may also be in the partial field.
Westbrook hasn’t made it to the basket as much with the Wizards as he did with the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder, consistent with perhaps a sign that he’s starting to slow down, though alone, however, he still averages 17. 8 game-consistent shots, seventh in the league. That would have taken the Lakers a long way, as Dennis Schröder averaged a game-consistent 13. 3 points, a team record.
Again, Westbrook wasn’t as effective as a scorer in his forays to the basket, however he generated plenty of offense for his teammates on one’s travels.
According to PBP Stats, Damian Lillard (246) helped by more than 3 than Westbrook (241) last season.
Westbrook has also played with several wonderful men throughout his career, from sports runners like Serge Ibaka in Oklahoma City and Clint Capela in Houston to more classic big men like Robin Lopez in Washington. his suitability with Davis, which is as flexible as possible.
Westbrook is a wonderful author for himself and others, he deserves to make life less difficult for LeBron in particular, as he arguably wouldn’t have to create that much offensively. It can be a wonderful improvement on Schröder in this regard.
Also, the Lakers can be better in minutes when LeBron is in the box if head coach Frank Vogel chooses to stagger his and Westbrook’s minutes. According to NBA. com, the Lakers went from averaging 112. 4 consistent problems with a hundred possessions to 105. 8 with LeBron. on the bench last season, with the difference between them ranked 14th and 28th in offensive efficiency.
If Westbrook can stay with the Lakers in the first few minutes, he can give LeBron a well-deserved break from the normal season and keep him calm for the playoffs. And if LeBron and/or Davis miss a prolonged era due to injury, Westbrook deserves to do so. to be able to keep them afloat, giving them a safety net they didn’t have last season.
How Westbrook completes LeBron and Davis when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands is more confusing, more main points underneath, but the 3 are going to be depressing to face. and overwhelm its warring parties with its size, strength and athleticism. The addition of Westbrook only makes them harder to manage on those fronts.
Spacing will be the fear of this team.
LeBron and Davis have been more productive when surrounded by shooters, and now they’ll share the inning with one of the worst shooters in the NBA.
This is not an exaggeration. According to Stathead, a total of 469 players have attempted at least 1,000 3 problems in their NBA careers. Of those players, only 16 traded at a lower rate than Westbrook (30. 5%). He’s also not an effective midrange shooter. According to NBA. com, Westbrook attempted the second-most shots from the mid-range last season, but knocked them down at 38. 1%.
Due to his limitations as a shooter, it can be assumed that he will take care of LeBron and Davis challenging Westbrook to settle for the bikers.
Ironically, this is a strategy the Lakers are familiar with. In their second-round clash with the Rockets in the 2019 NBA playoffs, the Lakers defended Westbrook with his waist and didn’t hesitate to give him room to make life as complicated as possible. for James Harden.
It also works the other way around. Westbrook is more productive when he has area to work, but neither LeBron nor Davis are exactly floor shooters, even though the Lakers were going to raise some loose shooters (Carmelo Anthony, Trevor Ariza, Wayne Ellington, Malik Monk), space can be reduced for Westbrook when he supplies the box with both.
Reducing the size with LeBron up front and Davis in the middle would help some of those space issues: The Lakers probably can’t have a non-shooter in the area for long minutes, especially in the playoffs, however, it would be necessary to drag them down. a position. (“How long will Davis spend in the middle?”it seems like a question we’ve asked him in each and every season of his career. )Is this something they are willing to do to fit Westbrook while chasing another ?
Westbrook will have to make some adjustments himself. In fact, he wouldn’t possibly take care of the ball as much in Los Angeles as he does in Oklahoma City, Houston and Washington, so he would possibly have to do more small things, like constant screens, attack the offensive glass and keep the defense clean. There’s a global where Westbrook becomes a scorer similar to Dwyane Wade alongside LeBron and Davis, a secondary player who’s a relentless killer, but that’s not a role we’ve noticed.
That’s what makes this industrial attempt so interesting: Los Angeles has had a below-average half-court infraction in each of the last two seasons and has added someone who can mess things up even more when the game slows down, which can be just a that is to say. , an obvious problem. for them in the playoffs. If anyone can find a way to make it work, it’s LeBron, but he’d think the Lakers would do everything they can to make things less difficult for him at the age of 37, not more complicated.
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