D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

/sarcasm

 

Hate to say it, but D'Angelo is looking much like he did at the beginning of the season. Far too tentative. Just six shot attempts. Five of which were three's. He needs to drive the ball more and cut harder instead of just hanging around the three point line. Really disappointed in his play of late.

 

He looked pretty mediocre out there tonight. But inconsistency comes with being young and inexperienced. Just hope he learns something from it.

 

So, he sucked tonight. No commentary needed...

 

I really hope this isn't what Russell's career ends up being. A guy who has a great stretch and then has a stretch where he's going through the motions and isn't very aggressive and into the game. That would be incredibly disappointing because he can and should be a superstar point guard. Has all the tools.

 

It's very odd to see a player have a dominant stretch of games and then a stretch where he's passive and a non-factor. D'Angelo kind of reminds me of Lamar Odom in that sense.

He's a rookie and 19 so he has a ton of time to improve. Even so, it's no excuse for him not to come out with 100% energy and that's the biggest thing he needs to work on - coming out full of energy, like Clarkson does. If you're not scoring bring the effort on defense. These are habits he has to develop at a young age.

 

Thats been my issues with him from the start. I just remind myself that he's just 19. If he's doing this stuff in 2 years I'm gonna start to worry.

 

Pretty much. Just never got going.

 

We can chalk it up to the normal consistency or lack there of for young point guards. We should all remember someone like Steph Curry didn't become an elite level point guard until his fourth season in the league. Chris Paul I believe in his third. Most of these guys are so young just like Russell and still trying to adjust to the level of competition.

 

He just doesn't seem like an NBA point guard to me, though he'll eventually play the position. When I watched him at Ohio State, he just seem like a guard, a tweener, that was more talented than everybody else. Surely he could wreak havoc in a triangle type offense, but he doesn't have the natural aggressiveness that I see in other NBA guards. Still a talented player though.

How much of his struggles are due to BS, probably most of it, but he has to own his play. In all honesty, with the nice contract that he has and the fact that his coach is on the way out and will be gone from the Lakers before he will be, he has to just throw all caution to the wind and just do it. Hopefully he has a support system of trusted loved ones that can encourage him to play all out and don't worry about BS.

 

Tweeners that are more talented than everybody else are superstars IMO.

 

Sacre
Sacred
Scared



Maybe he was saying they were playing like they were Sacred.

Is that, or is that not more insulting?

 

Mostly garbage minutes tonight but at least he was more aggressive. Didn't shoot that well but still put up 18.

For a 19 year old that doesn't get consistent minutes, I'll take it. He can do better.

 

D'Angelo definitely responded tonight. d****** Byron waited way too long to insert back in the game. Lou was giving us nothing. Even though he missed shots D'Angelo was being aggressive and attacking the basket early on in the game. He shot the three ball well. Just missed some makeable shots at the basket and his mid range.

 

For the love of everything, play Tarik...