REACTION PLAYER

While reading an interview with Larry Bird last night via Slam Magazine June 2008, Bird had a great description of what type of player he was – ‘a reaction player‘ are his exact words.

On his famous steal against the Detroit Pistons in Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Finals.

“It was just a reaction play. Them things happen so fast that you don’t have time to think it out. I was getting ready to go foul Laimbeer because they had the ball and were up by one with five seconds left. When I took off over there, I was heading for Laimbeer and the ball was floating in the air and i just went for it and knew DJ would be coming for it. I didn’t even look for him. I was always a reaction player. When I made passes to get out of the double team, it was gone before I thought about it. Tip passes off rebounds, hitting the lane for a steal – things like that just happen. You don’t see it and think, “I need to do this.”

Russell Westbrook formerly of UCLA is being described as the same type of player (no, not like Larry Bird) -  he’s being called a ‘hustle, energy, versatility‘ type-guy. Westbrook is a solid player, he has played both guard spots so I guess that makes him a combination guard. It’s nice to see someone be recognized for doing all the little things that we talk about here at Play The Right Way! The DailyBreeze.com has a piece on Westbrook.

As for Westbrook, he’s grown from 5-9 as a high school freshman to 6-0 as a junior to 6-2 as a senior to his current 6-3. His game has grown even more.

Talk about someone with an upside to his game.

The first time he wore a Bruin uniform he was only 17. He’ll still be a teenager when he plays in his first NBA game.

Although primarily a shooting guard at UCLA, he played enough as the point guard to make it clear he can play there. Just give him a little time to, well, grow into the position.