D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

It's Philly. Plus, they were dangling him before the trade deadline and almost traded him.

I do hope the best for him. I hope he finds a place somewhere and makes the most out of his NBA career.

 

Grow where you are planted. The great ones can't be kept down no matter where they are. They make it impossible NOT to play them.

Bullet dodged I'd say

 

There is a lot of situations where it just doesn't mix. Not only does Philly not want him; Brett Brown also incorporates a space and pace style that doesn't fit Okafor's style of play.

That exacerbates a 20 year old young man who still needs to grow up in many ways. And quite frankly, he isn't a 'great one.'

His personality and skill-set need the right environment. Unfortunately, the NBA has mostly gone away from his skill-set.

 

Those big hands must weigh 30lbs each.... could see it tiring him out. I guess.

 

rrofy's being overly kind here. we complain about russell and especially randle looking disinterested on defense, but okafor takes it to another level. it's hard to coach "heart", and he seems to have none of it.

 

I'll openly admit that I was wrong about Okafor too. Drafting him over Russell would have been a total disaster.

 

I wanted Okafor too and I was legitimately upset when we drafted Russell. Boy was I wrong...

I was actually thinking about this recently. Drafting Russell when the consensus had Okafor going at #2 had to have been a ballsy decision. If Russell ends up developing into the star we hope we can be, don't we have to give some credit to Jim/Mitch for drafting him?

I'm curious if Magic had made any comments around that draft? I feel like if he was in charge at the time, he'd be pushing for Okafor so that Byron could play an old school low post game full of grit and toughness.

 

i wanted okafor, pre-draft. i wasn't upset about the russell pick at the time, though. i trusted the FO. they were right. i think they had zinger ahead of okafor, too, iirc.

 

Hopefully Magic's presence will help him develop into a better leader.

 

Totally different energy going on since Magic is back. Hoping it turns into results as early as next year. He and Luke seem to be a great combination.

 

I get why they're doing this but I question if it's really good for him and our team to force him into leadership.

 

Magic is probably aware of Russ's "talks too much" persona and wants to see what DAR's really got. Magic's the one now calling the shots and has to evaluate. I also thinks he believes in the kid. Game knows game and some of ESPN Sports Science Guy showing up lately may be a result of Magic challenging him.