Lakers: James Worthy Wants Russell Westbrook to Stop Feeling Sorry For Himself

Big Game James Worthy had some advice for struggling Lakers star Russell Westbrook, and it was blunt.

The Lakers need to figure out the best way to utilize Russell Westbrook this season. If that means sitting him when it matters most, then so be it. It doesn't matter if he's the highest-paid player on the team anymore. When he's really off, he severely hurts their chances of winning games. 

James Worthy offered his own advice for Russ this week. Speaking on Wednesday on Spectrum SportsNet, Worthy said that he wanted Westbrook to stop feeling sorry for himself. 

Worthy also pointed to his lack of turnovers, which is indicative of the lack of aggression that he's playing with right now. 

"He knows he's vital to this team, and he knows that his performance is not what he'd like it to be. I personally don't like to see Russ with zero turnovers. I like to see him with at least three or four maybe. That means he's aggressive; he has an aggressive style of play, and when he's in that mode, he's productive."

Westbrook scored just 12 points on 5-of-17 shooting from the field in the Lakers loss on Tuesday. It was the second consecutive game that he made just 5 shots. The only difference between those games? He turned the ball over 7 times on Sunday and did not have one on Tuesday. 

The Lakers brought Westbrook over to compensate for potential losses to LeBron James or Anthony Davis. After both of those guys missed major time last season, they realized they needed someone to step up. Unfortuantely, that has not happened when both of those guys went down at various points this season.