D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

Yeah he had a poor game, but you have to let him play through it. We aren't some contending team that needs to win or has that pressure to win. Unfortunately, I feel that Byron has created that atmosphere for Russell where he's walking on egg shells instead of playing freely. I love D'Angelo's attitude, but he should have NEVER been benched in the first place. Sure, he had a rough game, but it's ONE game. He's actually been pretty darn good over the last 10 or so games. He deserves to start and hopefully this doesn't give Scott the OK on NOT starting him after all star break.

 

Oh, mother******.

 

Is he saying this because he had a lot of freedom in college and now is limited to what Byron Scott called a PG role ?

If not I have no idea what he's talking about

PS : I don't watch college ball ...

 

I'm glad he's taking responsibility. He hasn't been great the last 2 games. He's had an otherwise good month of January, though. Good for him.

 

He played in a 'dribble weave' system in basketball which incorporated a lot more spacing, ball and man movement. You can tell how much more improved the spacing was in college because Thad Matta (OSU's head coach) had a much better system than we run with Byron. If you watched him in college, often there were time where he didn't bring the ball up. He would work off-ball receiving the ball later in the possession and setup the offense. He wasn't a 1 or a 2; he was a basketball player that was put into positions to succeed. They (OSU) surrounded him with finishers and shooters, spread the floor, and he went too work.

IThe system we have is horrible. If you're running sets often called 'chin' or 'elbow', and you can tell we are because Russell is rubbing his chine or making a motion with his elbow, you can tell the other team knows what's coming. The other team defends our initial with crappy spacing, our best screener is on the bench (Black) and Russell will dump the ball off into the high-post and stand in a corner. If he's lucky, somebody will set a bad screen with our clogged spacing, and he'll have no space to attack. I'm amazed he's been this successful with Byron.

You take a look at Philly; they trade for Ish Smith, hire D'Antoni, and while I think his offense is too PG-Centric, the results have been Philly winning games and being in competitive in other games even when they lose. Ish has done well. You incorporate Russell into that offense. He's doing better things, averaging more points and assists, and looking like a franchise changer.

 

Agree.



In most of these sequences, they titled 'pindown flare action,' Russell is working off the ball. He ends up receiving the ball in a majority of these possessions, though. If you pause the video at the 1:52 marker; he receives a pick in roll around FT line. Notice the spacing and where everybody is positioned at; he could take that jumper or pass it to the corner for 3 other shooters for a open 3-pointer. 2 shooter properly space within a good distance from each other...

 

loading:B0ron will now DNP him because B0ron marches on the beat of his own drum. #Boronalytics

 

BYRONNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yeah I've been saying all along that he's really not a natural/pure PG. I didn't see the Kidd comparison, but saw the similarities with Harden. DAR will become a really good basketball player but not someone you can expect to run the show.

 

Don't think you can say he's not someone you can expect to run the show definitively like that. I seriously doubt we are looking for a starting PG going forward now that we have him. Certainly he can't under the joke of a coach to this point. But watch after he gets to start and play starter's and finisher minutes after the All Star game like JC did last year.

 

Well I feel if a player is a natural/pure point, that player would find ways to rack up assists no matter what system is being run. DAR clearly is a better natural scorer than a passer or faciliator at this point of his career. He could still grow into a very good PG, but I am just saying it is not natural to him. (as he admits himself) I still see him more as a Harden or Brandon Roy type, and I really don't see the merits of trying to paint him into something that he isn't.

 

I'm not, and I understand your point. But teams coveted him (Phil and NY) and certainly the Lakers since they saw him as Magic Johnson lite and took him over Okafor .... in order to make the entire team (s) better with his floor leadership and passing. It's what ALL the hype was about coming out of college with the seeing things unfold and hitting guys with passes quicker and better than anyone else PLUS he could shoot.

 

Yes,I was expecting DAR to be a Magic Lite as well. But as the season progressed it became pretty clear that he's primarily a scorer with great poise and IQ, along with good vision and passing ability. So the scouting had it reversed because in reality he's a better scorer than he is a passer. From what I'm seeing right now, I don't think he's a prototypical PG at all.