4 Ways Russell Westbrook could help the Los Angeles Lakers

Free Throw Shooting

When you hear that the Los Angeles Lakers were dead last in driving to the rim, you cringe but you can understand that they are scoring in different ways and you can justify the stat being bad.

But when you finish 28th in the NBA at free throw percentage, that is a stat that sends a shudder down your spine.

Free Throws. The easiest shot in basketball and the World Champion Los Angeles Lakers were 3rd last with 72.9% from the Free throw line.

Simply unacceptable.

This is an area the Lakers definitely need to work on in the off-season. Each member of the Lakers playing staff should be doing all that they can to up that percentage and the Lakers at the minimum should expect to be league average next season.

Westbrook is a career 80% free throw shooter.

While he isn’t Steph Curry or Steve Nash from the free-throw line, it most certainly would be a step in the right direction.

If Westbrook can shoot his career average from the charity stripe, the Laker’s free throw percentage would go up dramatically.

With Westbrooks’s ability to cut to the rim, he draws a significant amount of contact on the way and over the course of his career has been amongst the league leaders in being fouled.

If Westbrook can continue this trend of drawing fouls and making his free throws, then the Lakers are in a fantastic spot to have a bounce-back season from the free-throw line.

If Westbrook joins the purple and gold and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers begin to hit their free-throws, it is possible that once again they can turn one of their biggest weaknesses into a significant strength.