D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

@RandleROFY and @abeer3 are correct in their criticisms. Just because there is an excuse in place, doesn't mean you don't understand the problem. It's important to understand an issue in order to resolve it. It's easy to say "he'll figure it out" but a lot of kids don't. See Evan Turner, Wesley Johnson, Derrick Favors, Dion Waiters, Thomas Robinson, Terrence Ross, Anthony Bennett. These are just kids from 2010-2013 who were in the Top 5 or Top 10 who never really put it all together. Some of them are pretty good, some are just okay, and some of them are flat out busts. Sometimes kids don't get it even with time on their side.

It's fine for us to have constructive criticism of the kid. He's far from perfect and one of his major flaws this season is getting his head on straight. That's worse than a jumpshot that needs to get fixed. Some kids never put it all together. We've seen maybe 2-3 games where he is dialed in and focused and he was great (thinking Wolves game and Brooklyn game). We've seen probably 20-30 games where he isn't and he disappears on the floor. You cornerstone can't disappear. He's got to grow out of it. I hope he will, but maturation is a process and who knows how long that'll actually take him? Hopefully it happens sooner rather than later.

 

Agree 100%. And this goes back to Byron. The right coach can get that out of him. IMO, Byron's approach worked wonders for Clarkson. Jury is still out on Russell. I saw an awesome 10 game stretch when he was named the starter and since then he's regressed.

 

Absolutely. He does disappear. If we were to get Simmons in the draft, our two future cornerstones might never appear in the same game at the same time. It's why part of me wants to get the second pick so we can take Ingram. Ingram does seem to step up in big moments. I also wouldn't mind taking Buddy Hield at #3. I'm starting to think Clarkson is the ideal 3rd guard in a 3 guard rotation. When we want to go small he can play with the other two.

But Russell's propensity to vanish is not good news if we draft Simmons since he seems to have the same problem.

 

I'm taking the most talented kid no matter what and if that means Simmons, I'll do it for sure.

I'm honestly not crazy about the idea of him and Russell being tight though. This isn't about playing with your friends like AAU ball, this is about striving for greatness. I don't doubt Russell wants that concept, but I wonder if he understands what it means and what it'll take. Just contrasting Russell and Randle, Randle is way, way more focused even if he's not as good which makes him more effective at times. Same idea with Clarkson. If Russell played as hard as those guys every night, we'd have no question who the future of our franchise was.

Honestly right now I'm taking Ingram because he seems like a more complete player, but I still want to see the workouts. I want to see Ingram, Simmons, Hield, Bender, Poetl, and Brown. I think I know how I'd take them, but I want to see how they react in workouts. Last summer Russell was more competitive than Okafor which made our decision. I'd like to see if someone stands out like that again.

 

There's good reason to be down on all things Lakers at this point, but I wanted to point out at least two things. First, his three-pointers. He's been insanely good from three. Already top 20 in terms of makes as a rookie.

Second, his passing. I don't think we've seen him scratch the surface of his assist potential. He's the kind of passer who could focus on passing first and be a later career Jason Kidd-type player with threes, assists, and decent rebound numbers. Or he could be the kind of player who scores 20-25 PPG and also hands out 5-6 dimes.

Either way, his future is bright. Closest thing in my mind to a reason to keep watching the team.

 

ESPN, always right on time, is reporting the Utah blowout is due to DAngelo recording Nick. Says no one on the team trusts him.

 

I mean I'm sure that's something weighing on the team. Tough thing for a locker room.

Still, kind of cherry picking the argument aren't they? It could just as much be that they have given up on Byron Scott. Is anyone saying that in the media though?

 

Yup, I just got that alert too. I can actually believe it, I said as much on the topic the day it was discovered Russ was the cameraman. How CAN you trust the guy right after something like that? It's why I joked that Young was not sick last night, he didn't want to be around Russ. I mean really, can these guys share the same locker room and bench after that?

 

After reading the article it sounds pretty bad actually.

link

People won't talk to him or eat with him. I mean I don't blame them. It was a messed up thing to do and I certainly wouldn't want to talk to him either. Still though, you'd hope there'd be someone in the locker room mature enough to put him in his place while still keeping the team together. He needs to take his whoopin' from the guys, but in the end they need to figure it out and he has to learn to grow up. Someone needs to bridge that gap. Hopefully it's Julius or Jordan.

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...lakers-rift-video-took-nick-young-made-public

 

There needs to be veteran player help to step in, but I think most of all, a strong coach to step in, which is something we do not have. I knew this was gonna be a mess, you cannot record your teammates like that and have it go public and have them still trust you. Like I said before, they probably are checking to see if he's recording on his phone at all times, they aren't sharing anything personal with him now, and I half jokingly said they probably have to wonder if he's wearing a wire. It was such a stupid thing to do by Russ, shows incredible immaturity. We can argue about whether what Nick was doing was wrong as a married man all day, but privacy is privacy, you can't invade that as a teammate. Just when you think the season can get any worse...

 

Yep. I was scolded for calling him immature earlier in the year, but what a stupid stupid thing to do. I'd be pissed at him too. Nick is no saint, but if you expected different from him then I have a bridge to sell you. It still doesn't excuse taping him for use later on, even as a joke it's a stupid one. What is funny about taping your friend confessing to cheating on his fiance? I fail to see the humor there.

 

This is bad. Very bad. This is the kind of thing that can linger for years.

 

Kobe's got only one foot left IN the door he's so far out. I don't think there's any way or reason for him to be that voice. It's got to come from Randle, Nance Jr., or Clarkson in my opinion. I know they're not veterans, but they're the ones we're trying to build around. The veterans like Bass or Lou are simply not as invested. Maybe Roy could be the one to do it even though he's on an expiring contract...