D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

I still don't understand this stance. The Lakers can get another ballhandling guard, but the don't need one? You think Russell is good enough by himself as an offense creator? Russell is a combo guard in the mold of all the other guards in the league, but he is a point guard? Abeer you're one of those most vocal about not having traditional guard positions and you are convinced he has to remain point guard. I don't understand.

 

Yeah I disagree. Unless Russell is Harden or Westbrook good, I think it's pretty damn important to have another creator or ballhandler, another person who can make the offense work and take pressure off of D'Angelo. Just because the team has other needs, doesn't make this one less important.

 

Lakers missed five open looks off Russ passes just in the second half.

 

Russell is Kobe?

I'm sorry, we must be watching different Laker teams. I don't see consistent good looks created on this team at all by Russell or anyone else. Russell creates a lot of the better looks we get, but it's far from consistent and it's surely far from consistent enough to win more than 30 games.

 

I liked most of Russell's game today. My favorite thing is watching him take the mid-range jumper again off the pick and roll.

I also really liked Ennis pick and rolls late in the game with Russell spacing up top. It didn't result in points, but it did result in open looks. A better pick and roll partner or at least a better initiator would do a better job. Or heck maybe with time on the court together he and Ennis could figure some stuff out, but it was pretty much what I've been saying. Ennis ran the pick and roll decently with Thomas Robinson and because the defense sucked in to guard T-Rob, Russell got clean looks outside at the three point line. Go figure.

 

In the abeer/realdeal argument, I actually can't decide who I agree with. I agree with abeer that Russell can be a pg and distribute, but I haven't seen an overabundance of quality looks. In the first 20 games, the ball was moving and Russell was a big part of that. So I'm not sure if I'm Team RealDeal or Team Abeer on this one. I might lean towards abeer since his name indicates he might have a beer for me if I join him.

 

You said it, man not me.

Just because he creates the good looks we get doesn't mean much. We have no one else to create looks! If I'm the prettiest girl in the bar at 2 AM is that saying a whole lot?

We've agreed in so many ways that Russell is a combo guard and not a point guard. We've in fact argued together over the last couple years that traditional point guards are not only going out of style, but not traditional winners. My argument, and I don't see how it's debatable to be honest, is that Russell is best when his primary function is scoring. I don't even know how that's arguable. If you could put another player next to him that could create looks FOR Russell, what is bad about that? A point guard with a pass first mentality would be a great help to the team's offense including Russell.