D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

Mentoring. Teaching. It's what has to happen. It doesn't matter if you're making minimum wage or $5m a season.

 

I think the point is mentoring and teaching a grown man at a place of employment is very different than raising and nurturing a child. The limitations of both positions are very different.

 

Can we PLEASE stop comparing any of our players to Kobe? Jordan & Kobe were borderline psychopaths with their work ethics and drives to be the best. They're on a whole other level of work ethic. By that standard, no one will live up to that kind of drive.

 

I agree. It's pretty unfair. I don't need Kobe or Jordan, but you see that picture of how often Ingram is in the gym working hard? That's something I can get behind.

 

I REALLY wish I knew what the hell was going on inside this club. Luke isn't a dumb guy, but he's also not above making mistakes. Both Russell & Clarkson were playing their best ball of the season, and Luke decided that this was the perfect time to completely jerk their roles around like this?

And now they've each played two of their worst games of the season. Hmmmmm...Who could've possibly seen this coming??

Also, now Russ is pressing to make these spectacular passes to seemingly win back the coaching staff's approval and it's resulting in bad turnovers more often than not. And you're mostly trotting him out there with Tyler "I'll be out of the league in a month" Ennis and 3 guys who can't hit a jumper to save their lives. And we're all somehow shocked that Russell isn't lighting the world on fire?

 

Of course. Still am skeptical that Russell is "lazy" though. Remember this summer when all "the kids" were posting almost daily about all being in the gym together? Also, I heard on a Laker podcast on this topic today that there's a board at the practice facility that lists the completed drills or whatever, and Russell is consistently near the top of the list.

Again, something is up & I'm not trying to say Russell is perfect in this scenario whatsoever, but there is quite a bit of evidence he puts in the work.

 

Cool. If that's the standard applied to all the young guys. However, remember Clarkson's brain-dead idiotic unforced double dribble early in yesterday's game? Didn't see him get an immediate hook.

I'm fine with holding the kids accountable. What I'm not fine with is Russell being held to a ridiculously high standard the other kids aren't.

 

@Lakerman JSJ this is what I'm saying. I honestly don't think Russell is lazy off the court. Everything I've heard, read, and seen of the kid is that he works hard to prepare. It's the way he approaches that preparation, the way he approaches games, the manner in which he works. There's consistent concern with his mentality on the court and that's never been something he's fixed.

Of course now it's blown up into a story and I'm beginning to doubt the relationship can be repaired. I still think Russell can be a good player. He's got a ton of talent. I just think, regardless of who is to blame, a divorce is probably coming and it's probably for the best.

 

I'm a college professor. It's what I do.

 

Can we please just take a deep breath for a moment? Russell just turned 21. He was the #2 pick in a good draft less than two years ago. A week ago, he had completed his 7th consecutive good game post-All Star break.

Also, even if the thinking is "let's trade him this offseason", what favors are you doing to his value by mind-F'ing him with this switch now?

 

Hey I'm not freaking out, man, it's just the way I see it. I'd love to be wrong. I'd love for him to come out next game and go 20/7/5 and lead us to a victory, but do you think that's really the likeliest outcome?

I understand this lineup change looks bad from the outside, but the same logic you apply to D'Angelo works the same for Luke: if we've trusted him to be a smart coach most of the year, why are we turning around now and saying this is all his fault? Is it more likely that Russell is the problem and that something is happening behind the scenes we don't know that's causing this change or that Luke just lost his mind and decided to make this move knowing that it would cost us games? Luke has made mistakes this year, sure, but he hasn't made a lot of the super confusing moves that Byron made last year. I don't think he makes the move to bench Russell without reason. Obviously the move hasn't worked at all no matter what the intent was (punishment or experimentation), but I just don't believe Luke is Byron making decisions that having no logical base. There's just got to be something going on we don't know about.

 

Jorge Sedano and that Amin Elhassan guy say the same thing: he's not just immature for a professional, but immature for his own age group in comparison to guys like Booker, Turner, Porzingis, and Towns. I have no idea where they got that info, they didn't source it, but it's what they said. I'm not saying they're right or wrong but it makes sense.

 

Another note I'd like to make if I may: It's not like Luke & the staff have no clue about positive ways to develop young talent. Just look at how Ingram's been handled.

He's struggled quite a bit (especially early in the year) as we all suspected he would due to his frame & youth. However, he's consistently been given a role & minutes he could count on. Low & behold, his trajectory has continued to point upward on a relatively steady pace.

I don't give a crap if Ingram is the nicest guy on God's green earth and Russell is "brash" or even a jerk. If he puts the work in, that's a hell of a lot more important to me. I know I just said not to compare anyone to Kobe a few posts ago, but allow me to briefly make one point: Do we think any of Kobe's teammates were ever super hyped to be hanging with that dude? And on that topic, I'm almost maniacally addicted to keeping a close eye on body language and how teammates interact on the court with one another. Not seeing any sort of divide on the floor between Russell & his teammates out there.

Again, I'm not here to just defend Russell and say he's not to be criticized. Clearly, there's something afoot here, and he has some role in it. But short of being an absolute toxic cancer in the locker room (which I've seen no evidence of, and we'd more than likely have seen an article or two on), the leash should absolutely be longer for our most talented player in his second season. I. Don't. Understand.

 

To be fair, I haven't trusted Luke's every decision all season. I don't like the way he's managed minutes or been SO attached to certain personnel pairings on the floor that have disrupted games or our youth's overall development.

I think he's going to be an excellent coach, but he's young like most of our roster, and he's going to make mistakes and go through growing pains along the way as well.

But again, I'm not putting zero responsibility for this on Russell. He clearly isn't giving them something they want. Just without knowing what's going on, something just isn't passing the smell test for me. I see zero logic in placing Russell (& Clarkson for that matter) in positions where they have little to no chance at success. That serves no one.