Oklahoma City Thunder: 3 signs Russell Westbrook is changing his game
3.Off-ball shooting
Did the nerdy analytic argument not work for you? You don’t have take my word that this change is happening. Instead, listen to Westbrook’s general manager, as relayed by Erik Horne of The Oklahoman.
Presti when asked how Westbrook can improve, says RW is focused on becoming a better 3-point shooter, sees the work he puts in late night in gym. "One thing I can tell you about Westbrook: He’s driven. He’s not going to kick his feet up and expect things to be different."
— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) May 2, 2018
It appears as though Westbrook is spending his summer developing his catch-and-shoot 3-point game. To provide more evidence to this claim, ESPN‘s Royce Young had this to say during a recent appearance on a Zach Lowe podcast:
"“He’s been working on it this summer, I’ve been told…what they’ve stressed Zach, is work on catch-and-shoot, become a little bit better of a catch-and-shoot guy.”"
On this same podcast, Lowe and Young projected the Oklahoma City Thunder to have a starting lineup of Westbrook, George, Andre Roberson, Patrick Patterson and Steven Adams. As of today, only George and Patterson have proven themselves to be consistently good 3-point shooters.
If Westbrook can add this skill to his repertoire, it will do more than give Oklahoma City some spacing. According to Basketball-reference.com, last season the Thunder finished 11th in 3-pointers attempted, but ranked 23rd in 3-point percentage. Help is needed.
Attempting to improve his off-ball shooting sends a clear signal to the newly signed George. Westbrook seems more willing to play without the ball in his hands, allowing George to take full advantage of his offensive prowess. There is another teammate to consider as well.
The addition of point guard Dennis Schroder is an intriguing one. Many have questioned the ability of Schroder and Westbrook to share the court together. After all, Adams’ new book reminded us how poorly the Reggie Jackson era ended in OKC.
Playing alongside Schroder will truly reveal if Westbrook is committed to this change of play. As noted by The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, a Schroder-Westbrook duo could work if the MVP plays off the ball more. Westbrook can succeed in this role. He has the athleticism to be an effective cutter and shot 36 percent on catch-and-shoot triples last year.
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The math here is simple. Last season Westbrook yielded a considerable amount of scoring opportunities to a talented teammate, something he did for the first time since Kevin Durant left. This offseason he is working on producing offense when someone else has the ball. Westbrook won’t turn into the off-ball guard Stephen Curry can be, but a slight adjustment could do wonders for his team. Time will tell if there is some fire to this smoke.