Russell Westbrook

Russell Westbrook ( born November 12, 1988 in Hawthorne, California) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He attended the University of California in LA, went to the already basketball legend Kareem Abdul- Jabbar. Westbrook was drafted in 2008 by the Seattle SuperSonics, which later became the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA. His favored position is that of the point guards.

Westbrook is considered extremely athletic and shows this through many spectacular dunks. Until his senior year in high school Westbrook could not dunk, what motivated him to improve his athleticism strong.

Childhood and high school

Westbrook was born in Long Beach ( California). He has a younger brother, Raynard Westbrook. Since his childhood admired Westbrook, the Lakers legend Magic Johnson.

Westbrook attended Leuzinger High School, which he. 25:4 to a winning record and in the CIF -SS Div I- AA quarterfinals led. He scoring an average of 25.1 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 2.3 assists per game. On 6 January 2006, he scored 51 points against Carson. He collected during the season 14 double- doubles in eight games and reached more than 30 points. He was in high school, a teammate of today's NBA player Dorell Wright (Philadelphia 76ers ).

College

Westbrook played two years for the UCLA Bruins. The team reached the Final Four in two years, but lost in the semifinals each. 2007 was the game against Florida with 76:66 lost and 2008 you failed to Memphis with 78:63. In his first year Westbrook was not on 3.4 points. But he could increase next year on a solid 12.7 points, Darren Collison also because injured and Westbrook started from now on. He then signed up for the NBA Draft.

NBA

Westbrook was elected at the 2008 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics in 4th place. He and his fellow rookie DJ White signed on 5 July 2008 with the team their contracts. He shares with Earl Watson the point guard position. Westbrook was rookie of the month of the Western Conference in December and February. In December, it reached an average of 15.5 points, 5.1 assists and 5.1 rebounds, 20.6 points in February even, 5.9 assists and 6.1 rebounds. He also scored on 2 March 2009 with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists as the only 2008/09er-Rookie a triple -double. He is the first rookie since Chris Paul 2005-2006 and only the third Sonics and Thunder player ever featured on the list. Russell Westbrook was fourth in the poll for rookie of the year - behind Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo and Brook Lopez. Westbrook was selected First Team in the NBA All - Rookie. The following season, Westbrook was able to increase its average of 15.3 points to 16.1 and from 5.3 to 8 assists per game. In NBA history, only five other players at the age of 21 years were able to present these values ​​in the section: LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Chris Paul, Isiah Thomas and Allen Iverson. In the NBA playoffs, he could once again increase to 20.5 points per game, but it was not enough to win the series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the season 2010/11 Westbrook scored in a game against the Portland Trail Blazers on November 12, 2010, his 22nd birthday, 36 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. 14 days later he scored his Career High 43 points against the Indiana Pacers, while he could collect 8 rebounds and 8 assists distribute. Together with his teammate Kevin Durant applies Westbrook as one of the most up and coming young talent in the league. Thanks to its increased performance on the field Westbrook was voted into the NBA All- Star Game in 2011. The following season he extended his contract prematurely over $ 80 million for 5 years.

Internationally

2010 Westbrook was a member of the national basketball team of the United States, who won the gold medal at the FIBA World Championships 2010 in Istanbul. He won in 2012 with the U.S. National Team Gold in London, with his two teammates James Harden and Kevin Durant.

Play

Westbrook is especially known as a Point Guard, made ​​of many points. This often caused controversy, as many experts see as the main task Assisting a Point Guard and Westbrook stat values ​​initially showed deficits there. At the beginning of the season 2012/2013, these values ​​but they massively increased, so Westbrook appeared even more effective, not only as a scorer but also as a successful registration. Westbrook is one of the most spectacular dunker in the league, because he often performs despite his only 1.91 meters dunks that require a special athletics. Another quality of the Point Guards is its ability to intercept passes and defenders to steal the ball. So he was in the 2011-2012 season with 1.6 steals per game in the NBA player with the 10th highest in this category.

Awards and Recognition

  • 2 NBA All-Star nominations (2011, 2012)
  • 2009 NBA All- Rookie First Team
  • All- NBA Second Team: 2011, 2012
  • 2008 Collegeinsider.com All-Defensive Team
  • 2008 Pac -10 Defensive Player of the Year and third- team All- Conference
  • Third -team Long Beach Press-Telegram Best in the West selection
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