D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

He absolutley CANNOT say anything along the lines of; "It's not a big deal, just a joke that went wrong." He's got to grasp the gravity of his mistake and REALLY come across that he knows better now and truly feels horrible and wants nothing more than to win back the respect and brotherhood of his teammates.

 

If there is ANY hint of minimization
It'll be the worst mistake
In the history of Western Civilization

 

So you'd seriously rather he deal drugs? If violating bro code is worse than being a drug dealer I've officially seen it all.

 

Gotta quote this because it deserves more than just a like. Brilliant. Probbaly my favorite rhyme so far. Simple, tasteful and witty.

 

I think what Russell did was stupid and immature, but I also think there are bigger issues about how the sports world handles relationships between men and women to consider and wrote about them for Amico Hoops here.

 

How D'Lo plays tonight and how he handles the media, if he does speak with them, will tell me everything I need to know about his character going forward.

 

What happens if he comes out and drops 50pts tonight

Trade rumors would stop real quick! Lol

 

He just has to play well, and continue to play well.

 

All this kinda puts a twisted bit of humor on the draft discussions from last spring.

Who you got at #2, the heavyweight champion of bum fights or the snitch?

 

He won't score more than 15 tonight and will not speak to the media. Dude is a scared, little kid.

 

My hope is that this whole situation turns into a blessing in disguise for D'Angelo, from the standpoint that it limits his focus for the foreseeable future to all things strictly BASKETBALL. Use the hardwood as a means of channeling his frustration and shutting up his critics through his play on the court. No. 24 made a career out of it...I hope he does the same.

 

I'll take this bet!

I really think he has some Kobe in him. He's gonna come out with a "F everyone attitude" and put up buckets. He'll score more than 15pts

Interesting part will be if Miami players get physical with him to send a message.

 

I'm VERY curious as to how Russell responds to all of this. This could be one of those moments where we'll all look back 10-15 years from now and say "remember when that video came out and everyone was killing D'Angelo in the media and lakers players weren't talking to him? And then he went out and dropped 35-7-6 in a Lakers win over Miami?"

He definitely messed up....I mean the video is inexcusable and I'm more curious as to how the video even surfaced....did he send it to somebody? If so, who? Why did he send it? Also, that video was NOT taken on snapchat as it was too long for a snap video.

 

One act ruined his career from star to just mediocre? Sorry, seems a tad extreme. Run!! It's coming down on us!!

 

I hope You're right, i'm rooting hard for the kid (still see him as a leader of our young core). Maybe he and Nick cleared the air, maybe all this will be forgotten comes fa time. Let's hope for the best.

 

What a s*** show. Some quick hitting thoughts/observations I've had today...

-This even made it all the way to NFL Live today, with NFL players weighing in.

-I see a lot comparing it to Kobe snitching. The difference was Kobe was already Kobe. He was at the top and fell in the perception from everyone -- fans, endorsements, peers, media for either the rape accusations or the sntiching (depending on which people group we're talking about). It took time for him to shake both of those off. Again, this is a hall of famer and one of the best ever (we knew that then, too). This is a kid in his rookie season who hasn't proven anything of merit in this league yet. Big difference.

-More than ever, we HAVE to go after some much needed locker room leadership this summer. Horford, Deng, Noah, Deron Williams, or Joe Johnson. I don't care if they play a redundant position, I don't care about cost. We need a vocal, respected babysitter. A new coach will certainly help, but you need a brother in arms to nail the message home just as much.

-Nick needs to go. I don't like his influence on our young guys. This is the second incident involving him and our youth in what?...a week? I don't care if he's innocent in one instance and the less guilty party in this one. He's doing more harm than good for this bunch of tikes. These prank wars aren't something I want on a team, I want us to focus on winning going forward (yes, I get this season is a lost cause). I don't like his closeness to Arenas, who he's brought around our young kids. Arenas is clearly batty these days, if you've seen any of his social media comments the past 6 months or so.

-Also, I'm not absolving Young of his role in this. He shouldn't have cheated and he definitely shouldn't have been bragging/talking about it. But the sad truth is it's very common place in sports, especially the NBA. I'd wager roughly 2/3 of NBA athletes have been unfaithful in their relationship. It doesn't make it right, but It's just a part of it.

-I can't believe I am saying this, but Scott was right. D-Lo is incredibly immature and does act like he's 14. He needs to grow the f*** up.\, especially as a potential face of this storied franchise.

-Ultimately it's just not a good look. It will blow over, but not anytime soon. It sure as hell doesn't help us when it comes time to beg and plead for FAs to consider us this summer.

 

Some more memes and gifs of the situation:

http://uproxx.com/dimemag/dangelo-russell-nick-young-memes-twitter-reactions-snitch/