My role model is Russell Westbrook. ‘The Brodie’ has faced a lot of criticism and adversity in his career, as it isn’t easy to make it in the NBA when you are one of the shorter players in the league AND can’t shoot a 3 consistently. The way that Westbrook is able to succeed is by giving 110% effort every night, pushing the pace and hustling for loose balls, fighting for rebounds and finishing through contact. Every night, you can tell that he is the one that wants it the most, the one that will bring the most intensity to the court regardless of the day or opponent. We have seen this type of intensity before- in the Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant, who has said that Westbrook has the same dog and fight in him that he had in himself. In fact, Westbrook recently said in an instagram post that when he met Kobe at the age of 16, playing a pick up game against him at UCLA, Kobe played like it was the NBA finals. From that moment on, Westbrook decided that he wanted to emulate that Mamba mentality, and said that Kobe Bryant was his idol. So in a way, my role model is also Kobe, the man who did so much on the basketball court, yet had the potential to do so much more off of it. May he rest in peace.
(235 words)
(235 words)