Detroit Pistons: 3 things Jaden Ivey can learn from Russell Westbrook

Detroit Pistons: What Jaden Ivey can learn from Russell Westbrook

#3: It’s not all about scoring

Most people now think of Westbrook as a score-first guard who can hold the ball a bit too long sometimes and often hoists up bad shots.

But his passing is now underrated, as people seem to forget that while Westbrook has won the scoring title twice, he has also led the league in assists three times.

Like Ivey, Westbrook is not a traditional point guard, as he is going to look for his shot first, but he became very good at using his athleticism and the gravity it creates to set up teammates.

When you have a guy as fast as Ivey or Westbrook, defenses have to react when they have the ball in their hands, which gives them plenty of opportunities to set up teammates.

You can point to Westbrook’s high usage rate in OKC after both Durant and Harden were gone, but I would also point to the fact that he wasn’t playing with the best cast of teammates and kept dragging them to the playoffs.

Westbrook can facilitate as well as score, and has given Ivey a blueprint for how to do it by collapsing defenses with dribble penetration and always being a threat to take it all the way to the rim.

Westbrook has his faults, but you won’t find many players in NBA history who have his motor, passion or sheer force of will and Jaden Ivey would be smart to take these things and apply them to his own game.