D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

Yeah, it’s such a dichotomy.
He really shines when the chips aren’t in the line- which obviously is needed just to make the playoffs.
Maybe next year, if he chooses us, he will finally be dependable in the playoffs?
The other hard part is that his pairing with Austin in the back court kills us on defense. There’s no easy solution to this issue.
JJ will have his hands full for sure.

 

yeah, even if dlo becomes a more solid playoff performer (and he took baby steps this year, imo), there's still the issue that between him, reaves, and lebron, we just have a ton of trouble containing perimeter penetration. i think having a 3 and D shooting guard and moving reaves to the bench makes a lot of sense if dlo stays. if he goes the starting pg needs to be able to defend. i did like the bits we saw from dinwiddie last year in that role, tbh.

and i suppose just elevating gabe could work, too. he's not a great defender, but better than our other options.

 

A lot of doom and gloom around here.Obviously this off season could end ugly if nobody will agree to the trades or FA we need won’t sign here.There are 3/4 ways to make this team better though so I’m hopeful Rob figures it out.

 

Doom and gloom is SOP around here, it lessens expectations I guess.

 

Just chewing on the options.
DLo doesn’t owe us anything. On the other hand, he loves being a Laker, obviously loves playin alongside his good friend Austin, and could choose to stick around.
I think Rob will get that serviceable big man and at least try to get a player in the level of Dejuonte Murray.
If they end up third star hunting, I feel the only real option is Trae. If he does become a Laker, maybe it works out swimmingly? Stranger things have happened.
How did I do?

 

Optimism is good
Love Murray idea but not Trae.Didn’t want DLO back last summer so definitely don’t want him again.This team needs size upfront and quickness with athleticism in the backcourt and imo there are players to be had in those areas but it takes two to tango.

 

Not many here love the idea of Trae, but it ain’t up to us. If they are all in this summer on that third “star,” it surely seems like he’s the most realistic option.
Hopefully, someone, if not multiple folks within the organization strongly oppose the third star build now, until someone like Luka, Antman, or Tatum become an option.

 

as far as I remember, you can't package S&T players with other players, right? If that's the case, we are extremely limited in who we can get if we decide to deal him.

 

i actually think you can package them, it's just somewhat difficult because of the moving pieces. also, he can opt in if we bring him the right trade proposal.

 

By the time Luka, Tatum or Edwards truly were "available", Lebron and AD will probably both be retired.

 

yeah, i'm here, too. i just don't love our options without him.

i want all parties to have a pow-wow ahead of time, though. need to clear the air and discuss contingencies (e.g., playing off the bench if needed, etc.).

 

Remember what happened last time the front office listened to players about personnel moves.This wouldn’t be as bad but it wouldn’t be good either

 

We can’t replace D’Lo if he leaves. And I don’t know what the trade options are if he opts in, but have no problem trading him. I also don’t have a problem with DLo being paid like a 4th best player…which already was the case.

My biggest concern: having to see the corniest nickname all time for a full season, Chokeolo.

D’choke? Sure, go for it. But Chokeolo has got to be one of the worst, most boomer-ish nicknames I’ve ever seen.

Please make it stop.

 

We may be stuck with him, and he with us.
It would be nice to flip him for someone who can defend, but nobody wanted him last season.
Run it back!

 

again, if we had deeper pockets, we'd just sign him to a two-year deal with a team option at a high dollar amount. i promise this is what rob would have done last year if ballmer were our owner, and we'd have traded him midseason for an upgrade somewhere, too.

as it is, i'm very curious as to what the structure of a new contract would look like. i don't think either party wants to run back last year's arrangement (1+1 PO at slightly below market value). i think dlo wants long-term stability (which makes him less attractive in trade), and i'm not sure if we're ready for that. if we are, i'd expect it to be at the current rate or lower, though. i might even expect rob to offer slightly over the mle for 3-4 years, maybe in an attempt to get him to opt out and leave.

and again, i think it's mostly about finances. we're basically at the apron (without re-signing christie or prince) if dlo is paid 18 per. i don't think the FO is on board with that arrangement. guessing ownership's secret desire is to burn dlo as an asset (almost nothing left from the russ trade at that point, btw), and rob is trying to salvage some value.

 

I don’t get the consternation about replacing DLO if he walks.There’s more than one way to skin a cat.You don’t have to get one person to replace his scoring.How about getting better rebounding in which case you could replace him with a better defender who scores 12-13 pts a game.That guy sounds like SD .It doesn’t necessarily have to be him but you get the idea.

 

i just think you (and others) are really selling dlo's role in helping us win games last year short. he fits in perfectly on offense, and he's honestly not as bad a defender as people claim.

could dinwiddie do some of that and play better d? maybe. but dlo's a 40+% three point shooter and not just stand still catch and shoot stuff. dinwiddie's a career 33% shooter from three and has had only one season (4 years ago) where he had better offensive impact than dlo did last year (in a slightly down year for him, by advanced metrics).

in terms of whether you have to replace him specifically--no. however, if we run a pg out there that teams don't have to guard (like gabe), you'll be seeing some of the same issues that doomed us prior to dlo's arrival start cropping up again.

put it this way: our post-dlo pg better be one helluva defender, because we're not replacing what he does on offense using the mle.

 

I’m not down playing his contribution.He was the 3rd best player during the regular season.Im thinking championship and you can’t have a guy be your 3rd best player during the regular season and then your 5/6th best during the playoffs.
I would rather have a guy or guys that score 12 and 6 every night than one who scores 27 one night and 9 the next.It makes it much easier to team build that way.