D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

I have no problem pushing the Harden comparison. It'll raise his trade value if you view it that way. And Harden is quite a bit more athletic than Russell.

I do agree Harden had an easier start. They used to bring him in as a defender actually. I remember they tried throwing him at Kobe off the bench as a young, athletic guy who could bother the older Kobe. We have definitely held Russell to a different standard.

 

Sorry folks. Still way too early to tell about Russell. He needs another year for us to really get a read on if he's the going to be a keeper or not. I feel like I know more about Clarkson and Randle. I'd be willing to let either or both of them go if it meant getting PG. I would be willing to trade Russell for PG but wouldn't include the other two and it wouldn't be my first offer. I think Randle is proving to be a clunkier fit here than I'd like.

The good news is we don't have to figure these things out until the summer at the earliest. I still believe that Russell's optimal role on this team is as starting SG with a great distributing PG like Ball. They could share some of the ball handling duties. Russell has a lot of talent and can score pretty easily. I'd like to see what he can do next year.

 

Here's what's concerning me about Russell:

As I've posted before, I think he's our most talented player, and I think his ceiling is incredibly high despite not being terribly athletic. He has a chance to develop into a CP3 or Harden type of player. I'm that high on his abilities.

Having said that, I'm starting to get concerned about the chatter around him from those in & close to the organization. No one is coming out & saying Russell is a jerk, but I can't remember the last time I heard a glowing quote about him the way we hear such things about Ingram pretty regularly, who appears to be universally-loved around the team.

Also, as much as we all (rightfully) despised how terribly Byron handled the kids (Russell in particular) last season, we're now onto a second head coach (who happens to be universally loved) also jerking his minutes around quite a bit. Russell also seems to be kept on a MUCH shorter leash than any of the other youngsters. He ripped off something like 7 straight very good games after the All-Star break, and then he has a bad game vs. Philly and all of a sudden is benched the next game...Oh-kaaaay...?

Add to all that the little comments from Magic for example about wanting Russell to "be more of a leader" and whatnot. These critiques mostly seem to be aimed at Russell's personality & character rather than his game. The implication is that he should be a harder worker and more of a lead-by-example type of player for this young roster. It's strange because the kid's got an impressive array of skills that obviously came from a lot of hard work. He's not the type of player who can simply overwhelm you with supreme athleticism/size/some other physical trait without working extremely hard (a la Shaq at times in his heyday).

It's tough because none of us are on the inside, so this is mostly speculation & reading the tea leaves, but there is a lot of compelling evidence that the staff & FO have more patience for Ingram, Clarkson, Randle, Nance, & Zu than they do for Russell. It sure seems like they're frustrated with Russell on a level that goes beyond simple performance. He's young, and has some maturing to do, but this is very concerning to be seeing at this point in his 2nd season even under a "players coach" in Luke.

 

But see those quotes above if you watch and listen to that interview instead of reading the quotes you get a different impression of how to take that quote. It doesn't read great, but the tone and context when watching and listening doesn't make it sound so controversial.

 

Haha

 

great post

 

Always appreciate the well measured delivery, KRL.

 

I don't know if Ireland realizes he said this or if he's breaking news...

Ireland said that the Lakers are starting Clarkson to see if HE can be the point guard they want for the future and if moving Russell is the right move.

He also said that EVERY player is on the table and hinted that if the Lakers lost their pick, they may choose to TRADE to get Ball.