D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

The market for a DLO trade is non existent.
If don’t want back anyone’s garbage when we will be at, or very close, to rebuilding.
It won’t matter much to the cap to bring him back at a small amount anyway. I think it will take 2-3 seasons to sign or trade for that next Franchise Leader anyway.

 

I think DLO is over the LA experience. I'd imagine he wants to go somewhere where he feels wanted.

If that doesn't exist, maybe he stays for a reasonable amount and accepts he's a backup and tried to excel in that role.

 

I feel a deja vu reading this thread. We are in the same position we were a year ago.

We can't lose DLo for nothing because we can't get better than him for less money.
We are treating him as trade fodder to upgrade the roster but can't find the deal.
He's an odd fit across the league. Many teams have star guards so he's not a starter in most teams. He's too good for tanking teams and not good enough for contenders, so he's in this limbo. He's best career bet is becoming a bench scoring punch (Orlando, OKC or Minny for example), but he seems reluctant to do so.
If we don't trade him, we have to re-sign him in the summer in a short term contract to continue to try to trade him and repeat this conversation another year.

 

at least he's sharper than schroder and figured out what was going to happen before it did. had he opted out last year, he probably is forced into a vet min somewhere, where he'd overperform but only enough to get a short-term mle somewhere. rinse and repeat. he at least kept his options open another year, and he'll be amenable to that again, imo. someone (us or another team) needs to sell him hard on a sixth man of the year type role. he's talented enough, and players like him have been able to make a positive name for themselves doing it. he's not going to get another huge payday. that's over. he knows that, and it's why he opted in this past summer.

so he's going to have to decide what's going to make him happy: playing on the bench here or playing on the bench in portland or orlando or whatever. even the bad teams have guys at pg they prefer to develop. i could see him taking a salary at the mle or slightly below if it provided some security (3 years, player option).

a lot will depend on lebron, though. i think he's the guy who hates dlo, so if he stays another year, dlo won't be here.

 

Yeah, Lebron hates him.

The only thing I don't understand with him is his reluctance in being off the bench as it's his best role for the rest of his career.
He strikes me as quite an emotional guy who wanted to make it as a Laker. I don't think he's like Kuzma or Grant who want the bag at the expense of playing meaningful basketball.
But he has been having multiple reality checks but still doesn't want to face the harsh truth.
He has been unlucky here too. He would be the starter if it wasn't for Vando's injury and the other guard being Reaves.

Truth is... since he arrived the 2nd time our best version is when he's playing his best basketball. And that version is top4 in the West. I don't see a path with this roster to get the best out of DLo though

 

yeah, i agree with all of this. the only point i'm not sure about is the characterization of kuz/grant (and thus maybe dlo). i think some guys just aren't as motivated by winning. i know it sounds crazy, but it is possible to have fun playing basketball without winning--at least for some people. dlo, kuz, and grant may be those people. lebron isn't, kobe wasn't, and they really don't like guys that aren't like them in this regard.

then again, i always thought porzingis was like this, but he seems thrilled to be a bit player for a juggernaut--much happier than he was as a miscast star for lesser teams.

 

I've always liked DLO, even going back to when we drafted him. But I just honestly think he's had plenty of chances to cement his spot and win over his teammates. I agree with the thought that he just seems to like being in the NBA.

I get why we have kept him around but do think we need to move him for someone the team believes in.

 

the team or lebron? reaves seems to like him, and i feel like i've read that AD does (his presence often helps AD on offense, too).

if lebron leaves or retires, i think we could keep him. but if not, he's gone one way or the other some time in the next six months.

 

It could just be LeBron. I just get the sense that the issue between him and any players and even management constantly wanting to ship him out is more about his inconsistency than personal animosity.

I don't think there is anything wrong here that DLO can't solve with his play on the court.

 

oh, it's about his inconsistency for sure. i think that's just part of the package. the question is do you want gabe (consistent but undertalented) or dlo (talented and impactful but inconsistent). at this salary level, those are probably your options.

my big concern is, again, that when dlo goes, we have nobody who can do what he does from a ballhandling/playmaking/scoring standpoint. reaves can do the latter two, gabe can do the former, but the best teams have multiple guys who can do this stuff. getting dlo gave us 3 instead of two and that was a huge boost.

if we have a route to another pg who can do those things, is more consistent, AND can defend...hell yes, let's go. i'm dubious.

 

Sums up the DLO experience

 

He'll knock em down with flair and ease somewhere else. Good luck to him at his next destination.

 

He contributed a nice game against the Kings with 16pts in 23 minutes, 4 boards and some good aggressive play.

 

If he could play this type of game, two out of three nights, he would stick with a team.
I like mature DLO, but he’s just too wildly inconsistent to be a starter on a winning team.