The addition of Russell Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers this past offseason brought to the team a player who can help take away defensive pressure off of his teammates, says LeBron James. According to the four-time NBA champion, both Russ and him can now make the game easier for other players as the defenses focus on them.
“Well, one thing [Russell Westbrook] does do, well, both us on the floor, it takes a set of two eyes off of us individually,” James said. “Now when the ball is swung to us, we just attack. We’ve grown so accustomed over the years of having teams key on us when we bring the ball in transition, defenses loading early not wanting us to get into the paint and break the defense down.
“When both of us on now different sides, if one of us are bringing the ball down and we get the defense shift on this side, quick swing to the other side, now we’re able to go with not a set of three or four eyes looking at us. So it’s just constant pressure that we’re going to put on defense. Ultimately it’s going to help AD. It’s going to help our shooters it’s going to help everybody on the floor because we can bring down the defense at a high level.”
