Oklahoma City Thunder: Why Russell Westbrook has regressed as a 3-point shooter
By Zamir Bueno
Russell Westbrook has regressed as a shooter because he is spending more time off the ball which has increased the number of spot up 3’s
There has been a significant amount of concern within NBA circles about Russell Westbrook‘s regression as a shooter. Shlomo Sprung of Forbes.com is one of several media members to point out that Westbrook has been dreadful as a 3-point shooter over his first 15 games this season:
"“Of the 65 players who’ve attempted at least five 3-pointers per game, Westbrook has the worst shooting percentage by a whopping 1.5 percentage points, per NBA.com. Westbrook is 17-for-76 from three, one of 126 players who has attempted at least 75 treys this season. Of those 126 players, only eight (6.3%)— Westbrook, Trae Young, Donovan Mitchell, Kent Bazemore, Joel Embiid, Stanley Johnson, Jabari Parker and Jaylen Brown— shoot under 30% from three. Westbrook has the worst percentage of any of those players” as he shot 22.4 percent."
His 3-point shooting percentage got slightly worse over the next three games as he shot 22.2 percent. Shooting 22.2 percent has dropped his season averaged from 22.4 to 22.3 percent. The 22.3 percent is 7.5 percentage points less than last season and 8.5 percentage points less than his career average.
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However, one can argue that Westbrook’s shooting woes are directly related to spending more time off the ball. Russell has been touching the basketball 87 times a game which is a decrease of 8.7 touches from the previous season.
The decrease in touches has significantly changed the manner in which he shoots 3-pointers. Russell had developed a habit of shooting pull up 3-pointers over the past two seasons as he averaged 3.95 per game (5 + 2.9/ 2).
He would make 31.6 percent of his pull up 3-pointers in that span.
One example of a Russell Westbrook pull up 3 was late last season vs. the Golden State Warriors when Steven Adams got a rebound and passed the ball to him. Once he received the basketball, Westbrook dribbled it up the left side of the court until he reached the three-point line to shoot it over Kevin Durant.
Unfortunately, spending more time off the ball this season has forced Russell Westbrook to lower the amount of pull up 3-pointers to attempt more spot-up 3’s. Russell has taken 0.6 fewer pull up 3-pointers this season going from 2.9 to 2.3.
On the other hand, he is attempting 1.7 more spot-up 3’s per game going from 1.1 to 2.8. The increased spot ups haven’t worked for him thus far as he is only making 26 percent of those shots.
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Consequently, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Russell Westbrook could easily quiet concerns by increasing the amount of pull up threes per game. However, if the Oklahoma City Thunder and Russell Westbrook agree that he should spend more time off the ball to elongate his career; he is unlikely to see immediate improvement as he needs more repetitions to get comfortable in the role.