D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Opted In!

looks like he liked a fan saying something good about him, then realized it could, potentially, in the eyes of the lonzo ball acolytes (which somehow greatly outnumber his), be perceived as anti-lonzo.

i don't think the lakers "would be stupid" if they drafted ball, but i've been consistent in saying that i don't think pg is a position of need. because we have a good one already.

btw, the guy who may be even more threatened/annoyed by lonzo's hype is clarkson. he's had to work and prove himself as an nba player, then some dude from the local college shows up and the laker fan base wants to trade him yesterday and is convinced he needs to go to the bench on day one.

 

I don't think it's about his numbers tho. I think it's about his mentality and maybe still a maturity thing. At least how it is reflected in his body language on the court.

He seems to me to be much better than he has shown. That's not a criticism of his numbers because they are good. But he just strikes me as almost going through the motions because he's so talented. When I see Booker, I wish DLO was aggressive like that. Maybe he will just be a late bloomer.

If the lakers see a hunger in Lonzo or another player, I could see how they would be fine in shifting focus to that new player. Magic has set the standard that he wants hungry players that go after it and want to wear this jersey. When I think about that standard, DLO doesn't come to mind.

 

One thing to note about DLO is the commercial success he's enjoying in LA. He seems to be attracting rather large endorsement deals, and none of our other kids really posseses that cool factor as athletes. If anything, I can definitely see DLO threatened by the Ball brand, and the effect it may have on him off the court.

 

As much as I want to see the Russell+Ball experiment, and I understand the kid is still young and immature, but I've almost had it with these off court tidbits that he keeps putting himself in. Recordings, tweets, whatever.

We never hear anything about Julius, Jordan, or Ingram, but everything always seems to revolve around D'Angelo. I don't like the atmosphere it creates and there are some players around the league that still don't like what he did with the recording.

If Russell+Deng+28th gets George, I'm taking it and running.

Rolling into 2017 with Ball+PG+Ingram+Randle sounds nice.

 

Yeah, and businesses have codes of ethics too and professionalism. Grown men follow them. It's not just about the tweet, it's the behavior in general. And D'Angelo always happens to be the topic of discussion, why is that?

So because I think Russell's off court behavior doesn't line up to what I think a professional basketball player should act, it's a joke? Because I want to trade that immaturity for an established player while unloading a contract seems like a joke, too? Cool.

Yeah Kobe was abrasive and sure, some players didn't like him, but that means what he did was okay because he was played well?

 

I must say, that report of Byron questioning DLO's work ethic does concern me a bit.

 

And that's the nature of the business today.

Everything will be scrutinized unfortunately, and there needs to be some sort of accountability for it. The organization is in a position to draft a player and you go out and do something public like that, which seems small, but it's all under a microscope.

What seems little to you or me, may seem a lot bigger to a Magic or Rob, to an organization who's trying to stay away from all of this "drama" that's been floating around lately.

I'm not saying these players don't do this on a day to day basis and can't be themselves in private, but they have to remember they are professionals too and keep it private.

 

Getting benched by 2 different coaches is what concerns me

 

Imagine Kobe born into this Twitter, Facebook, Instagram era. He would be hated more than dlo.

 

russell clearly doesn't live the game like kobe. i've repeatedly indicated my concerns with his off-court behavior.

and he's still worth more to this franchise than an unproven college freshman. this is my major point.

 

FWIW, we know Russell can play at the NBA level, and if he can get it together mentally, he's going to be an All-Star.

Ball; the jury is still out. Hey, people love new, fresh, exciting things though, right? But what happens when Ball struggles because he will; What happens when people realize he's not some some sort of transcendent "talent"? We'll see how the fan-base reacts.

 

what happens when he likes a tweet or something?

 

Actually there are quite a few accounts of Jordan Clarkson's off the court activities out there but it's only news if it's Russell.