For an NBA point guard, Russell Westbrook was always different, an enigma. He rebounded better than the rest and had more of a shoot-first mindset than others in the elite set.
Yet despite the shooting green light, Westbrook, king of the triple-double, still put up some gaudy assist numbers. Suffice it to say, he had the ball in his hands a lot in his prime. One thing Westbrook didn’t always do is take care of it, something coaches had to live with if Westbrook was going to play freely.
Westbrook has averaged 4.1 turnovers per game over his career with, notably, his lowest totals (3.8) coming as a Laker. Compare that with quintessential point guard Chris Paul, who has a career average of 2.4 turnovers.
Now, after a very difficult start to his late-stage career as a Los Angeles Lakers guard, Westbrook is suddenly enjoying a surge of offensive productivity. Significantly, the man whose shooting was so poor that haters started calling him Westbrick, has been knocking down shots at a high percentage since moving to the reserve sixth man slot on the Lakers roster.
On Sunday, in a tough 114-110 loss against a strong Cleveland Cavaliers team, Westbrook again looked good shooting the ball, going 3-of-5 from 3-point territory and 4-of-5 from the line, finishing with 10 assists on 46.2% shooting.
But the Westbrook surge ran into trouble as he committed seven turnovers, five more than the next least careful Laker Austin Reaves, who had two.
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