D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Opted In!

It's not the numbers, trodgers, it's the attitude. It's the infuriating lack of passion and effort game to game. There's lack of consistency due to age, and then there is just baffling games where this guy looks like he'd rather be anywhere else but on the court. If it were pure numbers and I saw him giving his all, cutting back on his mistakes and lazy passes, stepping up as a vocal or on court leader, having at least the occasional game where he says that's it I'm taking over, I would not be quick to get down on him and I would also preach patience. I need to see at least one of those things start to happen on a consistent basis, because there is no legit excuse I can see for them not to. There's no vet guard ahead of him taking his minutes, he starts and has the ball in his hands as much as he wants, he is being given every opportunity to put his imprint on each game and be as good as he wants to be out there.

 

I suggest that this incalculable "attitude" factor might be a distractor from what's really going on. I know that attitude really does matter to people, but I'm not sure it should. Effort is another question, and we can debate that.

 

He does?

He's 6th on the team in DRtg.
He's 11th on the team in ORtg.
He's 4th on the team in VORP.
He's 9th on the team in W/S.
He's 11th on the team in TS%.
He's 7th on the team in PER (if you're into that sort of thing).
He's 4th in Box +/-
And yet he's 2nd in USG% behind only Lou Williams.

I think he might be the most naturally talented baller of the young three that's been here more than a year, but he's probably the most disappointing. He might be the most talented player on our team at any given moment, but especially lately he hardly plays like it. His effort and attitude drag him down to a player that isn't the best on the team at all. He's not better than Lou Williams. He's probably not better than Nick Young right now. I would say Larry Nance Jr. has a more positive overall impact on the game than Russell. Tarik Black has been tremendously impactful lately (besides the game against Boogie where the whistles were raining on him).

A player with his ability on a team like this? He should be among the top 2-3 in basically all of these categories. At the very least he shouldn't be so low on our own team in ORtg and W/S if he's as good offensively as we hope he is. Live with it? Nah. Attitude and effort are enormous parts of this game. If he's not willing to work for wins, I'm going to lose my patience. I'm frustrated and I'm willing to move on from all these kids, but I still believe they have talent. Russell embodies the sort of stupid immaturity that I can't stand. This isn't college where he's better than everyone else. Right now he's probably the 4th best player on maybe the worst team in the league. If he's as good as he thinks he is, why are we this bad? We can keep pointing fingers, but maybe that's the point. These kids need to take responsibility for where the team is and the sort of effort they're giving to the franchise.

 

I think the numbers are pretty clear here - he's playing better than nearly everyone on the team, even by the advanced metrics. I'd say Lou, Nick, and Randle are the only ones you could make a case for. The others are playing against scrubs. If you have a 21 year old guy who's posting his numbers, and he's your fourth best player (at worst) already, you're thrilled and you deal with the inconsistencies. You also absolutely get him working with a sports psychologist and/or mentor ASAP.

 

They do. Randle, Lou Williams, Nick Young, Larry Nance Jr., and in some cases Zubac are all above him in almost every one of those metrics. He's tied with Randle in VORP and slightly ahead of him in Box +/-.

 

Nance plays against backups. Lou often does, too, but I included him without argument. Zu plays against backups - and almost no minutes. So he's out.

 

You can always find a way to "explain" why a certain number favors this guy or favors that guy and why you can torch the numbers to express exactly what you want to.

At the end of the day it comes down to the eye test and the eye test shows that Russell is not very good or particularly efficient at anything right now. The eye test also shows that he hasn't made the strides this year that would be necessary for him to achieve the ceiling we thought he would have. The eye test also shows that Russell doesn't seem to be receptive to criticism and isn't really focused. He doesn't seem to hate losing and he feels like he is playing great and the world is beautiful.

At the end of the day you need to have the right culture as a franchise and clowns like Russell or Randle aren't dying for championships. That's the main problem.

 

...whatever happened to that version in the Summer League and the Olympic practices? I was expecting a carry over even if the level of competition was different. Maybe that's it.

 

Draft position means - literally - d*** fifty. NVE was the comparison point and he was more than a year older. DA is simply a better player at that age.

 

Good question. Almost like something happened between then and now. Like Lakers management.

 

Lol. Yes. Did you? He was one of my favorite "bridge" Lakers - with Ceballos, Jones, and Threatt leading the way. Nick became a very good player. He wasn't better than Russell at this age.

 

I think it's not just DAR who's being affected negatively by the environment. I think our defense is a partial result of it, too.

 

Apologies if I'm being a douche. I'll improve my attitude.