D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

Also another thing about Russell I'm really sick of people saying he's gonna be a bust just because he doesn't have great athleticism. There have been so many players through the course of history who haven't been great or even good players athletically who played an elite level.

Players at Russell's position like John Stockton and Steve Nash. Steph Curry who has taken the world by storm the last couple of seasons isn't a superior athlete by any means.

Ball handling, jump shooting both three and mid range, being able to pull up, shoot off screens, step backs and fadeaways, pin downs, having a floater like you've seen Clarkson develop, being able to use angles and get leverage on defenders, footwork, a low post game, leaking out in transition, and obviously the ability to contort your body and draw fouls. Guys like Chauncey Billups another terrific player who never was the most athletic player.

I don't know if DeAngelo is gonna be a superstar. I still firmly believe he can be and one game doesn't change that. He's at a disadvantage with Byron not using him and not getting him involved and into the game and basically being an afterthought. It's way too early to write this kid off.

 

Thank God that experiment is over...

 

Yes and if I see that Bass/Kelly backup big rotation again I may throw something at my television.

 

Me too. Me too...

 

Glad Byron learned how to take his head out of his a** quicker now. Now let's hope we see more Black and less Kelly.

 

I think he's going to take awhile. As a Jah guy, that's tough to watch. I'm gong to fully support Russell but it's going to be a long couple years especially with a crowded back court.

 

I'm tired of hearing about Okafor honestly. I know a lot of people wanted him, but I didn't think he was all that impressive. Yeah he scored and dominanted on the block, but had SEVEN turnovers. I'm sorry, but that's awful for a big man. That's awful for anyone. He was also going up against an undersized Boston frontline that he should dominate with ease. Only seven boards too which is also unacceptable considering his size advantage.

I think the guy will be a good player, but he looks like a bigger Al Jefferson to me. Very good low post scorer and I think he'll be a decent rebounder, but he's subpar defensively for a guy with his size and physical attributes and is a total black hole offensively.

 

And the Sixers also lost badly...so there's that....Jahlil can be Al Jefferson for all I care...but if he's not leading his team to wins, what does it matter?

I'm still confident that Russell will end up the better player....it just sucks that he doesn't get the opportunity that some of the other rookies will get.

 

I never dismissed his offensive game as far as scoring the ball in the low block. Okafor is very skilled down there and has an array of moves, but I can't discount the amount of turnovers. For a guy who isn't the predominate playmaker and ball handler and obviously he's not that's an awfully lot of turnovers.

I think Okafor is gonna be very good, but to me to be a dominant big man he has to improve his effort on the boards and you can't give the ball away that many times as well as his overall defense. Unlike Jefferson he has to the physical skills to be a big time defensive anchor. He can be dominant if he just puts in the effort. We know what he can in the post.

As for Russell yeah it'll take some time, but he has got to be more involved in the game plan and not being relegated to being a spot up shooter. Let him handle the ball and be the point guard because he's way more of a true point than Jordan. Thought last night we saw a few glimpses of Russell's court vision. Tried to thread the needle to Hibbert and he was unable to hang on to the ball. He came off a screen and stepped into rhythm and knocked down a jump shot. Like to see more of that.

 

Not to mention Mudiay's 11 turnovers

Turnovers are part of the learning process for rookies. Doesn't really mean anything.

 

What's that Byron, play Russell at the 1?



The fact that Byron is still experimenting and hasn't figured anything out after camp and preseason pisses me off to no end.

RE: Okafor, I think I remember reading on reddit that no rookie center debuted with that many points since 1985. As for the turnovers, 7 Turnovers for a rookie in his first game is not even considerable as any kind of evidence.

 

@therealdeal I was just looking back at the Draft thread, and I now remember why I was so high on D'Angelo (well, over Mudiay/WCS/Winslow at the time) It was his shooting. He was supposed to be lights out --- Curry 2.0. I don't care about his passing right now. Where did his shooting go? I guess that's what I'm most disappointed about.

Remember this folks?

 

Well at least Kobe is smart enough to know how to use Russell.

 

Not impressed in the sense that I'm not gonna be putting the kid in the hall of fame or killing the Lakers for not taking him and the fact he faced a frontline he should have success against. He had a very good game offensively. Not anything I didn't expect him to do, but the same questions I had about him remain. That is his effort level defensively and on the boards, and being able to pass the ball out of the post and handle double and triple teams.