D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

I don't want to keep this going, especially not in this thread. I made my point I think that Okafor was a good pick and a safer prospect. There's reasons to not like him and reasons to like him. He was my pick, but I'm fine with Russell. I'm moving on.

 

Would you be surprised if I told you that 30% of Lopez's shots in his career are from 10' to inside the 3-point line? And that this past season the number was 35%? So he shoots from all over.

Moreover, he shoots 41.2% on shots from 10-16 and 39.1% on shots from 16 to three; this past season, those numbers were 47.0% and 42.2%. In fact, his FG% on jumpers was 14th best in the NBA last season among players who took at least 200 shots; he shot 42.5%; Curry, for instance, shot 43.4%.

Lopez outperformed Pau, AD, Marc, Klay Thompson, and Kawhi. The players who topped him: Korver, CP3, Redic, Morrow, Dirk, Vucevic, Parker, West, Bosh, Horford, Steph, Middleton, and Jason Smith.

For what it's worth, I think Brook is widely regarded as one of the best offensive centers in the game. He's no Duncan, but very NBA players have a ceiling as high as him, much less Duncan.

 

Looking forward to next season's schedule... The Philadelphia game would be must-see TV.

 

It's all good, @therealdeal

I've stated how I viewed the Okafor pick. I saw him as a safer bet with a lower ceiling and a difficult time filling out the roster. I view Russell as higher ceiling, shakier bet, and easier to build around.

 

Very good points abeer. Duncan did play 4 years in college. Give Okafor 4 years at Duke and he most likely continues to dominate his competition, and comes out as the for sure #1 pick with an extremely NBA ready game, and is definitely compared to Duncan even more. I hate to keep repeating myself, but I'm good with Russell, and I also think Okafor could be a beast and we regret the decision to pass on him. Only time will tell, I hope they both turn into great players, so everyone wins. Also, my best friend is a Sixers fan and the poor guy needs this big to work out, he needs some hope.

 

I hope he has a higher ceiling. I'm really counting on the fact that Russell must show something live that I'm not quite getting from afar. Like I said I trust Mitch. We've got something cooking here. I'm excited for the next step.

 

Good interview. Even Mitch concedes that only time will tell if they made the right choice. Hearing his decision was based on watching Russell play all college season long as well as the other things is also good to know. He didn't say they drafted him based on his last good workout. He said workouts are tricky because sometimes it's a guy by himself and how does a PG show his skills like that, and that 3 on 3 isn't the best test either. He said they took Russell based on body of work, and I buy it. I know there were posters here that were high on Russell all year too, before I even knew who he was. I remember plenty of talk about him being a guy we should be looking at along with Towns, Mudiay, Johnson, WCS, and some others. Not much Okafor talk was had back then, because nobody thought we had a shot at the #1 pick and that's where he was expected to go. I can't remember who was watching Russell closely and was high on him all season, but I feel like it was you, realdeal, along with Johnson. I could be wrong though.

 

I understand the disappointment in not getting Okafor by some here, but in my eyes, Mitch has gained the benefit of the doubt regarding draft picks.

When was the last terrible draft pick we've picked up in a position that we could have gotten a much better player for our needs in that draft? How many times have we seen our draft pick turn into gold and/or perform way above their pick position?

Until the day I can pin a bad pick on Mitch, I won't criticize or second guess his assessment on who to draft

 

At least one of Philly's five million centers will consider the Lakers when their free agency time happens... Who knows maybe by then Russell will be dazzling The League and they'll say: "Hey, I wanna play with that dude!" He may have had an eye-opening workout but make sure you bring it live...all preseason, all 82 games and the playoffs if we get in. You wanted to be #2 and now prove it!

Saw somewhere that Clarkson is looking forward to playing with Russell thinking they would be a lethal backcourt. That gives me some positive vibes. Better make your outside shots first kiddies.

 

Wasn't me. I watched him play, but I honestly thought he was borderline Top 5 talent. I didn't watch every game though so maybe it's just one of those things. I know @ElginTheGreat and @RandleROFY were very high on him the weeks leading up to the draft, but that's it. I had him behind Towns, Okafor, and even borderline behind Mudiay and Stan Johnson. I think those two are more ready to go right now, but also I love defense and I think they're going to be topnotch defenders.

I'm fine with Russell though. Let's get cookin' with some positive Russell mojo.

 

Got your back @gcclaker