On April 12, Beijing time, Lakers guard Westbrook was interviewed by the media and summarized the season. In an interview, a reporter mentioned that James and the thick-browed brother had asked Westbrook to be themselves many times this season, but Westbrook interrupted the reporter and said with a smile, "That's not true, let's tell the truth." ”
Westbrook said that he rarely has the opportunity to be himself this season, he has been trying to play according to the team's requirements, whether it is good for the team or not, and at the same time, working with James and Thick Brow, the run-in of the Big Three, how to maximize the use of their capabilities, has always been a problem.
At the end, Westbrook even said, "The frustrating part is losing, making huge sacrifices, trying to find different ways to do things differently in the position where I'm placed while we're still losing, which doesn't make sense in my opinion." But there's nothing I can do about it. I don't want to talk too much about my personal performance, try to find a way, yes, I didn't play the way I wanted, I mentioned it before, but I'm the only one who can make a change because I know the way I should play and I know what I can do for the team and I can't do it, which is frustrating. ”
It must be admitted that after coming to the Lakers, Westbrook did make some sacrifices and changes in playing style, but was his sacrifice really big enough? Statistics can reveal the answer.
This season, the Lakers have 31.7 percent of the ball, 26.4 percent of Westbrook and 26.3 percent of the thick-browed brothers. That is to say, even if Westbrook sacrifices a certain amount of ball, his ball is actually still quite a lot. It's not much less than the 29.5% last year when I was in the Wizards.
In the case of degraded ability and obviously inferior to James, Westbrook is doomed to not get the highest ball, and the Lakers cannot be like the Thunder period, the whole team in order to let him get the triple-double data, serve him alone. So in this case, if you want to maximize the power of the two, then the best way is to let the two lead separately, that is, Westbrook to play as a substitute. Can Westbrook, who thinks he has sacrificed a lot, willing to make such a sacrifice for the Lakers?
One could argue that Westbrook's salary was there, and he used to be an MVP, so he couldn't accept playing as a substitute. Indeed, with Westbrook's former position, his reluctance to play as a substitute is understandable, but don't repeatedly emphasize how big his sacrifice is, and can't always do everything alone?
Throughout the season, Westbrook's performance, and the pay the Lakers paid him, completely could not match. All kinds of high-level statistics, as well as his many outrageous shooting performances on the court, are enough to prove that the main reason for Westbrook's poor performance is his poor ability, not the sacrifice for the Lakers.
Judging from The Westbrook interview, he is completely unaware of his own problems, which once again proves that the Lakers trade him is indeed a wrong choice. The Lakers' best offseason is to find a way to send Westbrook away and let him be himself elsewhere.