Film Study: How Russell Westbrook is tinkering with his jump shot

The offensive key for any team with LeBron James — as the Lakers have found out during his tenure with the club — is spacing, spacing, spacing. Teammates are going to get shots, and they’re going to get great ones at that, particularly when you have another superstar in the vein of one Anthony Davis (who looks physically and mentally READY for this season).

That emphasis on spacing now brings us to new teammate — and new third head of the snake — Russell Westbrook, who has infamously struggled with his jump shot, particularly from beyond the arc. Those struggles don’t seem to be lost on the former UCLA Bruin and Los Angeles native, as based on the off-season film and from training camp. he’s been working on some modifications to his shot that help address key, fundamental deficits.

I broke that down further in the following video:

As I mentioned with the video last week on Talen Horton-Tucker’s shot adjustments, executing these new adjustments in an open gym is vastly different than in a real game.

However, it still provides insight that Westbrook and the Lakers are quite aware of the main issues in his shot, and are attempting to fix them. If these changes lead Westbrook to improve his distance shooting to any respectable level, it’s going to be a long, long season for the rest of the league.

Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, and runs his own in-person and online sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA in which he further combines his movement expertise and fitness training. He also works at a hospital — giving him experience with patients in the immediate healthcare setting and neurological patients (post stroke, post brain injury) — and has been practicing for 4 years. Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC), has a background in youth basketball coaching and analyzes the Lakers from a medical and skills perspective for Silver Screen and Roll and on his own YouTube Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @3cbPerformance.