D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

well, nobody's taking his candy as the ballhandler in terms of getting it across half court and getting into things. this is where reaves struggles. once we're into things, i'm comfortable with either guy initiating the half court offense but think reaves executes more consistently. russell makes some amazing passes and some terrible ones. reaves very rarely makes a terrible one.

still, should be noted that in the short time russell has been here, he has found AD in ways nobody but lebron has (imo).

anyway, i think he can play on the ball, but it's good to have another player who can as well. right now, we have that in reaves (and schroder).

 

Saw that Lebron yelled at him during a timeout in the first half and dude gave us 3 huge shots back to back to back. We needed those shots in the worst way. Hope thats a turning point.

 

I think Russell has the confidence. He just, imo, doesn't always "think" the game through like someone like Austin does. He feels like a mix between Austin and Dennis where they all attack but do it with a different mental approach to the game. Austin is the thinker. Dennis goes off feel of the game which can be good and bad. Russell keeps trying to "figure out" where to fit the game into. He doesn't go off feel like dennis which means he will attack and let the game dictate what's happening. And he doesn't take the mental approach like Austin where he is constantly working to put pressure on the other team and looking to get the foul or find the teammate. Sadly, Russell has a better overall game than both Austin and Dennis but those two understand their games much clearer than he does, again imo.

If he is attacking the paint and putting pressure on the GRiz or whoever I am all for it. He gets those 3's off action of ball movement I think he drains more. Hopefully this will make him put more pressure on the D to deal with him because the other two are def doing that and it works.

 

That's a great take, agree!

I think we will still see a big game from him in the POs. He just had his first shooting better than 45%!
But he won't always be your closer. I also think in each game that passes, he's closer to 20mil than 30, where he was before postseason

 

i think him getting those little runners early in the third helped him get over the mental hump a bit. tried and true: get to the hoop, see the ball drop, things get easier. ask bane!

 

Yeah he's useful against drop coverage . His scoring outbursts are definetely needed and hepful , the rest is meh

Not sure he could play a lot against the Dubs , his defensive awareness is too weak

 

He should play a lot against the Golden State actually, their perimeter defense is weak asf. If you can dribble and shoot, you can have success against Golden State and Sacramento.

 

Just to be fair, Reaves gets picked a lot, he may not make bad passes but he loses the ball in the paint a fair amount. Would like to see him clean this up a bit.

 

I am hoping that a year working with our staff will help him with all this.

 

D'Angelo seems to be uncomfortable with contact IMO, especially on drives. As long as he can face up and use his dribble to launch a jumper, he's fine. If he drives and receives contact, he is prone to throw up wild off balance shots. Sometimes it's like he isn't even looking at the rim, he's just throwing up bailout type of shots.

 

that was my point. reaves rarely makes a terrible pass, but he gets his pocket picked too much to have him handle the ball for 94 feet. dlo, on the other hand, does ok against full court pressure but will throw some bad, wtf passes. it's ok. i think we have them both playing their ideal role for the most part right now. and i actually think dennis is a great change of pace third guard to have as an alternate.

 

I guess my point is that Reaves can do that after the ball is in the front court and in the paint. This is after the ball has been brought up the court. I am not ragging on him, he does a ton of good things, obviously. Everyone has their weaknesses and something they need to work on.

I heard a good comment by Derek Fisher when he pointed out that these playoffs are going to really help DLO improve his game, because they help you understand your role better, help you see the things you do that help the team and the ones that can hurt. Make you see that when the game gets tight, what risks are worth taking. He thought DLO would benefit from this a great deal and I think he has a point. DLO, other than his short stint in SF has never really been on a playoff team that COULD make a run.

 

I feel he's due a huge game. Those 3 straight clutch threes had to have given him confidence. Also Lebron acknowledging him in the postgame interview.

 

digging in the archives a bit

 

NO raise for you if this keeps up

 

Man..Brooks was roughing him up right out the gate...took him out of his scoring game early. He did get 10 dimes though.

 

Shave your head and man up!

 

Good luck promoting your BS sports drink in Charlotte...

 

Came out of the 3rd strong but we need more of it all game.