Lakers need to put Russell Westbrook in Javonte Green role

Lakers need to put Russell Westbrook in Javonte Green role: Shot selection

When the Chicago Bulls lost Patrick Williams to an injury early on in the season, they were forced to adapt. Well, their version of adaption was to use Javonte Green at the power forward position.

The 6-4 wing quickly learned to utilize his elite athleticism and off-ball movement to turn himself into a quality power forward option on both ends of the court.

He’s not going to score a million points, grab a ton of rebounds, or dole out a bunch of assists, but he knows how to play his role well and contribute to winning basketball.

Think of Russell Westbrook as a supercharged version of Green.

They’re fairly similar players in the sense that both rely on their amazing athleticism to get the job done. And on top of that, neither are great three-point shooters (Westbrook just takes significantly more).

You won’t catch Green pulling up from the mid-range, and he only shoots from three when he needs to. In fact, 3.6 of Green’s 5.2 shots per game come in the paint (69.2 percent). Most of the rest? Corner threes.

Westbrook takes a similar percentage of his shots in the paint (roughly 61 percent), but the rest of his looks, for the most part, come from the mid-range and on above-the-break threes.

So first and foremost, that’s one change Westbrook and the Lakers need to make in order to mirror Green – stop taking those looks. Stick to the paint and the occasional corner three.

But it goes deeper than that. Green thrives off the ball, and so can Westbrook…