Price was a 32.9% 3-point shooter as a 22 year-old rookie. Russell is 3 years younger. He'll get there.
Interesting that the mid-range areas by either elbow don't show many attempts. He seemed to really like that pull-up jumper off of a screen in summer league. Apparently he didn't take that shot too much at Ohio State.
Well, you have to remember the college 3 is closer than the NBA 3. He was probably a little discouraged not hitting those 3's earlier in the SL and never got in a rhythm. When he stepped in the elbows around those screens, those were more in his range and he started hitting those shots. In college, it was probably a lot more beneficial to just step out a foot and take the 3 rather than the midrange game as well.
It'll take him a little bit to get used to the NBA three, but I like the trajectory of his shots, nice high arc with a smooth finish. He'll get in the weight room this summer and put on like 5 POUNDS of muscle or something like that, and he'll develop a little more strength to get comfortable with the extra distance.
D'ANGELO RUSSELL PROJECTIONS Scoring Efficiency: 5.71 Passing Efficiency: 3.38 Hustle Efficiency: 2.67 Position: PG Positional Efficiency: 74 -Russell showed decent scoring punch, good vision, strong effort on defense, and a serious lack of readiness for running an NBA offense. He should, however, learn pretty quickly, and could be a solid all-around player by end of year one. Role: Starter Russell will likely start at PG and play heavy minutes. He may end up being fairly interchangeable with Jordan Clarkson, and he might end up taking a back seat with initiating the offense when Kobe is on the court. Youthful mistakes will probably lead to some premature benchings, limiting his overall minutes. Player Comparison: Penny Hardaway It is difficult to find a comparison for Russell for two important reasons. First, he could become more of a floor general or more of a scorer; he could legitimately be either of those players. Second, he's so young that he has so much potential to develop on either of those very different paths. Still, when I see a young guy needing some time in the weight room with flashy passing and good vision, someone who looked despite his poor shooting performance and TOs like someone who could be looked to as a leader, I see Penny. (As a second best, Chris Paul when he entered the league; there's a good deal of that player in D'Angelo.)
ROBERT UPSHAW PROJECTIONS Scoring Efficiency: 4.77 Passing Efficiency: 1.85 Hustle Efficiency: 3.67 Position: BIG Positional Efficiency: 73 -Upshaw might struggle to score buckets, especially if he is ignored like he was in Summer League: he doesn't have a good shot, and he's a terrible FT shooter. He should block shots very well and rebound reasonably well. He won't turn the ball over much in passing situations, but he might be whistled for a bunch of fouls setting screens. Role: Role Player / Defensive Big Upshaw might not play in many games this season, and he might not see many minutes either. He has shown, however, that he can hold his own defensively against the two top bigs from this season's draft. That bodes well for his ability to earn some playing time. Seven footers with some skills (he has shotblocking and screening) get minutes. Player Comparison Because of his size and flashes of determination, coupled with his shot blocking and occasional glimpses of footwork, Upshaw sometimes looks like a young Andrew Bynum. To be fair, Upshaw is a few years older than Bynum was when Bynum was flashing these skills, but if Upshaw could polish his game a bit, he could end up better than Bynum on defense even if not as good on offense.
Ha...I was thinking Bynum as a comparison too. Not on offense though because Drew was an absolute monster with his back to the basket game. Similar body types and body mechanics though, also a bit of a temperamental personality in both. I could see Upshaw being a more offensively polished DeAndre with less high-flying, mostly because of the rim-protecting potential.
Actually I think Upshaw's best analog might be Hibbert. Tall, a little ungainly, defensive oriented, simple but fairly successful post moves, nice little mid-range touch, not as great a rebounder as they should be for their size... I think we have two Hibberts.
BRANDON BASS PROJECTIONS Scoring Efficiency: 5.51 Passing Efficiency: 1.90 Hustle Efficiency: 3.52 Position: BIG Positional Efficiency: 80 -Brandon Bass is a pretty complete player, a major coup given what the Lakers are paying him. He can score well, he he's a good offensive rebounder, and he doesn't turn the ball over very much. He has starter-level chops. Role: Second String / Heavy Rotation Bass can start, and he will push Randle for minutes at the 4. In fact, he will likely at time surpass Randle on the depth chart and in the esteem of Byron Scott. He will likely play about half of the minutes of Lakers' PFs this season.
I figured I wouldn't do a comparison with these gents, as they are mostly established vets. Remaining to add: Kobe Bryant Roy Hibbert Ryan Kelly Robert Sacre Nick Young Lou Williams Or perhaps I could add a section on player comparison - who these players are now/in the Lakers plans.
So, here are the composite ratings so far... Scoring 7 - exceptional Kobe Bryant 6.59 6 - excellent Jordan Clarkson 5.88 5.75 good D'Angelo Russell 5.71 Jabari Brown 5.59 Julius Randle 5.52 Brandon Bass 5.51 5.5 solid Anthony Brown 5.38 Larry Nance Jr. 5.21 Dwight Buycks 5.17 Tarik Black 5.11 5 - adequate Robert Upshaw 4.77 4 - poor 3- terrible Passing 4 - exceptional Kobe Bryant 3.57 3.5 - excellent Jordan Clarkson 3.47 D'Angelo Russell 3.38 3 - good Dwight Buycks 2.79 2.5 - solid Jabari Brown 2.47 Anthony Brown 2.32 Larry Nance Jr. 2.20 Julius Randle 2.16 2 - adequate Brandon Bass 1.90 Robert Upshaw 1.85 Tarik Black 1.83 1.5 - poor 1 - terrible Hustle 4 - exceptional Robert Upshaw 3.67 Brandon Bass 3.52 3.5 - excellent Tarik Black 3.40 Julius Randle 3.36 Larry Nance Jr. 3.00 3 - good D'Angelo Russell 2.67 Jordan Clarkson 2.54 2.5 - solid Anthony Brown 2.44 Kobe Bryant 2.31 Dwight Buycks 2.24 2 - adequate Jabari Brown 1.68 1.5 - poor 1 - terrible Positional 100+ superstar 90+ star ....Kobe Bryant 86 ..........Brandon Bass 80 80+ starter .Julius Randle 79 ......Jordan Clarkson 74 ......D'Angelo Russell 74 .......Robert Upshaw 73 ........Tarik Black 72 ..........Larry Nance Jr. 70 70+ role player 60+ rotational .....Jabari Brown 55 .....Dwight Buycks 55 ......Anthony Brown 54 40+ NBA body 20+ potential NBA body
I think the metrics will eventually show Jabari as a rotation guy, Buycks as nothing, Randle as a starter, and Russell and Clarkson right under it around 77-79 or so. Clarkson might break the plane. Upshaw I expect to move downward a bit (or stay the same if he doesn't have a huge sample size). Same with Nance Jr.
Knowing what I know about the rating system, I think Uphsaw will improve; bigs tend to be able to hit 70s and 80s easier than other players, especially wings. Maybe my system is too hard on wings I agree with you on Jabari, but part of what separates Jabari from some other players is his high scoring efficiency; if you're looking for a scorer, he does it well. I'll compare it with Nick and Lou later on. I bet they'll be pretty impressive, FWIW. Young was often at 6+ in the past.
KOBE BRYANT PROJECTIONS Scoring Efficiency: 6.59 Passing Efficiency: 3.57 Hustle Efficiency: 2.31 Position: Wing Positional Efficiency: 86 -Kobe can still do it when healthy, and even when he wasn't healthy, he could still dictate the tempo of a game and the look of a team. Kobe should settle down somewhere between what he has done the past two seasons and what he did prior to his Achilles' injury. He's still a devastating scoring and passing combo. Role: Starter What Kobe should do and what he will do will likely converge this season, as the Lakers have learned the hard way what happens when you try to push an aging star beyond his limits repeatedly. Bryant should be able to start half of the games this season and play between 24 and 30 minutes per game. Player Comparison There are numerous players Kobe could pattern his game on in these late stages of his career. He could be a Jason Kidd type floor leader, but we should expect the young bucks to handle the ball more than that. He could be a Vince Carter type gunner who doesn't do much else, but something tells me that Kobe will - and should - get into the paint more and be relied upon as a creator from the elbow. In his final season in the NBA, Michael Jordan operated with Jerry Stackhouse, Larry Hughes, and Tyronn Lue doing a lot with the basketball. Kobe should continue to emulate MJ.
Well I just think Upshaw's raw-ness will come into play eventually and he'll be prone to mistakes/lack of statistical production. He's got such a long way to go that despite his great talent I think statistically he won't show much on the floor.
