Russell Westbrook Working on His Game

Very few articles are written about young players without mentioning AAU/club basketball or affiliations. Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook is the exception. I have no idea if he ever played AAU/club. Every article focuses on the work that he did on his own or with his father, as in this excerpt from Arash Markazi’s article titled “Westbrook: the Honor Guard.”

“If he had practice from 7 to 9 p.m., we would go shoot 9 to 11 p.m.,” said Westbrook Sr., who would lead his son through a series of shooting drills around the court that would have him shooting more than 500 times, a number that would rise unless he hit three consecutive baskets from specific spots on the court. “We would shoot for hours and it was that extra effort that got him to where he’s at. It’s something he wanted to do. I remember one Christmas he caught me off-guard and said, ‘Dad, let’s go shoot.’ He would want to shoot right after we got home from church, too. That’s all he wanted to do.”