Following Russell Westbrook’s Wizards debut, The Athletic’s Fred Katz tweeted that Westbrook shot 6-13 on midrange shots. The tweet was a basketball Rorschach Test — some were impressed by Westbrook’s accuracy, some dismayed by the volume of two-point jumpers.
In reviewing video of each of his two-point jumpers, I found that he was actually 6-12 from the midrange in the opener against the Philadelphia 76ers. Broadly speaking, Westbrook’s 6-12 shooting was decent but still a net drain on the offense. His teammates had an effective field goal percentage of 54.1%. On these shots — which don’t include his pair of three-point misses — he shot 50.