D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

Here is a better comparison to Russell, my namesake and one of my all time favorite
non Laker player.

 

I'm not as high on him as most. We'll have to wait and see. So far I'm underwhelmed.

 

Wow I can see the similarities. They move at about the same pace with some similar looks to a lot of what they do. Especially if you picture Strickland in what he's doing there ... as a lefty.

 

I loved Rod Strickland.

 

One of the most unrecognized and undervalued PG's ever. His numbers were really good, but I guess he was mostly on a sucky team.

 

Completely agree.

 

Any news on who is starting now for the first game? I hope we go with the Russell, Clarkson, Kobe, Randle, Hibbert Lineup.

 

Yeah no worries ^^^ that's what Mitch was indicating to me as an aside ...... to another subject we had going on email yesterday.










:MitchReally: .......... come on Mitch don't do that now.

 

Don't see the comparison at all.

Russell is far more of an offensive threat then Miller ever was.

I don't really get the bust talk that I've heard from some people. Dude hasn't even played a game.

Yeah he struggled a bit in pre-season. Who cares? It's pre-season. He's not the first rookie to struggle in the exhibition season. I think it's silly to proclaim a guy a bust after that. At least give him a year or two.

 

why are the fans and media so down on russell? he's a 19 year old rookie; these guys don't typically set the world on fire from day one. the fact that he's likely starting and nobody's batting an eye at it is sort of informative in itself. i've seen absolutely nothing so far to make me think he won't be a really good nba player at some point. probably soon.

 

These days it seems that every player we pick up whether by draft, free agent or trade has to run the fan gauntlet. Don't know if it is just a sign of he times or some protective mechanism from the last two seasons..lol Completely agree about Russell.

 

but it's not just us. opposing scouts claiming the lakers have nobody that anyone would trade anything for. really? there are probably some current or recent allstars that i wouldn't trade russell for, given what we've already seen.

outside the fanbase, there's a lot of ignorant piling on; inside the fanbase, there are some crazily unrealistic expectations of early success.

russell is going to struggle this year: like pretty much every rookie pg ever. and like pretty much every 19 year old nba player ever. not being anthony davis doesn't mean you can't be great one day.

 

I agree, he is going to struggle...this year and probably just the first couple months. Watching him I can see him trying to adjust to the speed of the game, the defensive intensity by world class athletes, and just being a 19 yr old fitting in with grown men.I see the talent, I see the desire to learn, he'll be fine.But now we all got to decide what do we expect from him, what is acceptable? Must he be the second coming of Chris Paul...who he kind of reminds me of, or maybe he's just a 10pt, 6 assist guy that ends up a serviceable PG. I'd be happy with a Jeff Teague production from him and would call it a win if so.

 

100% agreed. This so true. Actually, this forum has been more than fair to Russell; however, once you enter outside the this forum, it gets absolutely crazy. That's why I like it here; more people listen to reason and logic, understand the process, and are aware it's going to take him awhile to be the player we all want him to be...it's completely normal.

 

i'll be surprised and disappointed if he ends up as a 10/6 backup pg. i think he's already shown an ability to do more than that. my point is that even the guys that do average 18+ and 8+ (which i think is where russell is likely heading) don't necessarily do so immediately. most immediate success stories come from a) guys who are already physically mature (read: strong--paul, westbrook, rose, wall) or b) guys on teams that are so bad that they'll be featured heavily in the offense. often it's both. russell isn't likely to be emphasized in an offense with kobe, randle, and clarkson on a team that is going to be trying to win games as much or moreso than develop players.

i think the guys whose game his most resembles all took a year or two to get into things: deron williams, harden, ginobili. the commonalities: none are super athletes. they rely on a unique combination of skill, size, and hoop IQ to be highly effective players. i think that, like them, he'll figure it out over time.

 

He's gonna take awhile to really shine. He needs to develop chemistry with his teammates, learn their favorite spots to set them up. He needs to work on his timing and control of the game, when to be aggressive and what not. He needs to work in his range, shooting mechanics are their but once he gets that 3 down, watch out.

People outside this forum expect him as a number 2 pick to shine right away but he doesn't have that kind of game. He isn't a score first, athletic point guard.