"Russell Westbrook has the worst hands of any point guard I have ever closely watched" – Skip Bayless takes savage dig at LA Lakers star for his poor dribbling
Los Angeles Lakers superstar Russell Westbrook has come under immense criticism this season for his role in the Lakers' poor season.
On Fox Sports' morning show "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed," sports media personality Skip Bayless piled on the criticism of Westbrook by talking about bad his handles, which are extremely essential to a point guard, are. Bayless said:
"Russell Westbrook has the worst hands of any point guard I have ever closely watched. Ever, ever, ever, ever. He has hands of stone. The worst handle. He just can't hang on to the basketball."
Bayless also spoke about how this keeps happening to Westbrook as he misses wide-open dunks and turns the ball over at least a couple of times in a game. Bayless said:
"We are talking about a slam-dunk, first-ballot hall of famer. This is not unusual. This is a fairly, nightly occurrence."
"Russell Westbrook has the worst hands of any point guard I have ever closely watched. Ever, ever, ever. He has hands of stone. The worst handle."
— @RealSkipBayless https://t.co/wvRwJCHyzE
Can Russell Westbrook fix his problems?
The LA Lakers and Russell Westbrook find themselves at .500 (19-19) as they are seventh in the Western Conference. Los Angeles is 4.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies (23-14), who are fourth.
One of the aspects hindering the Lakers is Russell Westbrook's performance. LeBron James continues to do what LeBron James does. But Westbrook's performances, especially in the absence of Anthony Davis, have really hurt the team so much so that they fare better with him on the bench.
A 122-115 loss to the Brooklyn Nets at home on Christmas provides the perfect example. The Lakers clawed back a 23-point deficit in the fourth quarter with Westbrook on the bench.
Russell Westbrook last 8 games:
23.5 PPG
6.9 RPG
8.9 APG
50/36/72%
He is +39 in that span, the highest +/- by a Lakers starter. https://t.co/vz38lnGb30
Turnovers are another issue Westbrook needs to reduce as he is averaging 4.8 per game, the second-highest average of his career. These turnovers have come at crucial moments as well, which tends to hurt the team even more. Westbrook has eight games this season with seven or more turnovers.
Another aspect of his game that is hurting the Lakers is the pace with which he plays. Westbrook arguably has the quickest first step in the league and can blow past players, enabling him to attack the rim with ferocity. But the Lakers have the oldest roster in the league, and this tends to cause problems for most of these players.
With that said, in the past Westbrook has struggled to establish chemistry in the first half of the season but turned into an MVP-caliber player in the second half. The Lakers will be hoping that will prove to be the case again. Los Angeles, for all its championship aspirations, is going nowhere if Westbrook doesn't figure things out quickly.