D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

I think the Russell vs Mudiay comparisons are fair. Can't say who is better from Summer League, though, it will take a few years. Hopefully they end up good enough to even care about comparisons years from now. If this is a Chris Paul vs Deron Williams thing in a couple seasons, everyone wins. Coming out of high school Mudiay was talked about as a top 2 pick before he didn't go to college, and Rusell was talked about later on as maybe top 5, for sure top 10. So wondering who is better and who will be better is fair.

I get your point, that the offense made him look bad, but I think I'm so happy to even have a top 2 pick player that keeps getting talked about, to have a relevant rookie again, that I don't care much. Started watching the Lakers in '93, the last rookie I remember the Lakers having that the media talked about past draft day was Kobe. Almost %100 of the time every other team has the star rookies that get talked about and featured everywhere. It's pretty cool to have one being talked about, seen in ads for Nike next to the #1 pick, being at the front of the pictures with the rest of the rookie class, stuff like that.

 

Who's better? Right now it's Mudiay. Mudiay is NBA ready, athletic, can get to the rim when he wants to. He has good PG vision, albeit not next level like Russell. He's a better defender than Russell although Russell isn't bad. The only thing Russell has undoubtedly over Mudiay is a consistent jumper.

Over time I think it'll end up Russell being better, but right now? Mudiay is better.

 

Agreed with therealdeal. Mudiay is just way more NBA ready at this time. No one can tell who will be better down the line. We'll have to see.

 

That's fine. I don't agree at all. Mudiay showed me in Summer League he can play 30 minutes tomorrow in the league. The stats wouldn't be consistent but he could shoulder that minute load and have an impact.

Did Russell do the same?

 

No its not the only criteria but certainly it makes a difference. Want to tell me what examples we have that Russell is as ready as Mudiay right now?

It's okay to be critical of Lakers and in this case I'm not even being critical just practical and objective.

Mudiay is better right now. Russell will hopefully be better long term. Russell has a higher ceiling for sure but Mudiay has a lower floor. Same argument with Towns and Okafor. Okafor is better right now but Towns might be better one day.

I don't see why that's such a bad position to have.

 

Wait are you guys trying to make me anti-Russell?

I'm not saying I'm not on board with Russell. I think he's got the tools and drive to be the best player in this draft class, but he won't get there over night. There's a reason why I valued Mudiay and Okafor over him and that's because they're ready to go right away. They're ready to be pretty good contributors on day one. I think Russell is both further along than I thought and not as far as those two. He'll show his flashes, but I honestly don't expect him to be Rookie of the Year. I think Okafor, health withstanding, takes that one pretty easily. Then Mudiay, then Stan Johnson. Those three were built for the NBA.

Russell has a higher ceiling than most. I was most concerned with his defense, but he showed good ability on that end that I wasn't anticipating. He showed good-to-great vision on the floor. He showed the natural shooting ability we all expected. He also showed a propensity for turnovers, but I expect those to fall over time. He admitted to being a risk taker and as he matures and catches up with NBA speed he'll limit the risks.

It's no insult to say somebody else is more ready than he is. I'm not against Russell. I drafted him in my dynasty fantasy basketball league, trust me, I hope he turns out the best player in this draft! I think he has the potential to do just that, but I don't think that it starts tomorrow. Let's revisit it in December though before you guys start pushing me into the hater camp.