D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Opted In!

Journeyman Prince can't carry DLO's jock on the offensive side of the court scoring, dishing assists and running the offense so LeBron can rest. Everyone has off games or slumps shooting the ball, and it's not like DLO from the start of the year hasn't made the effort at least to be better on defense. Not to mention Prince has had multiple games where he didn't do ANYTHING on that side of the ball and we are typically getting outscored in the first and third quarters. You preached for a year that it's more about offense in today's game than defense, to not much agreement, but nonetheless did.

 

Nah..you just continue to misquote, what I actually said. It's more important to have guys that can score against good defense, instead of just having good defensive players. That's what I said, and still believe it. Great offense,beats great defense, more often than not. The problem with D'Angelo, is that you can't always count on his offense, and defense isn't his thing, according to him. That's why Dennis avg 30mins a game. We don't have a Dennis now, D'Angelo and Austin have to compensate.

You are still comparing apples to oranges, Russell is supposed to be our PG, run the team without Lebron, and score with Lebron. He's not a utility player like Prince. So blah, blah, about Prince's minutes, that doesn't give any cover for him, not executing his duties on this team.

Russell avg more minutes per game than Prince anyway, I don't get the comparison.

Now Rui could make an argument, about playing more than Prince. D'Angelo isn't in the same sphere.

 

someone should, and we probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

 

Who then? Name your pick.

Rui, Wood, Max..exactly who?

 

Not sure NY does that deal....

 

Yeah, I know. I don’t think we are trading LeGM either.

 

yes, yes, yes? the idea that prince's defense has been good is not accurate. he's been almost as bad as dlo and reaves, which is why we looked so much better with vando on the floor with the same guys. without vando, i'd suggest playing reddish at the three. if he's out, probably rui, then wood, then max.

prince is a bench player. a good one! but a bench player. trying to use him as our perimeter stopper has failed at every opportunity. playing lillard with prince is no different than putting dlo on him, tbh.

benching our most talented non-lebron/AD offensive players for defenders instead of benching prince for a defender was lunacy.

 

He didn't play much yesterday to close the game? Fantastic January. Great in Boston.

Still think they're heavily targeting Murray.

 

This, this, and this.

As others have posted previously, DLo works in some of the best lineups next to LeBron and AD, while Prince is in some of the worst.

In fact, the three worst lineups next to LeBron and AD ever in Lakers history have Prince at the 3. He simply should not be played at the 3 next to LeBron and AD.

Meanwhile, when Vando played next to LeBron and AD, with DLo and Austin also playing next to them, the Lakers went an eye-popping +33.8.

Oh, Vando is injured? Well then, sub in Rui with that lineup and the Lakers went an incredible +28.5.

Still need a backup for that spot? Sub in Wood with that lineup and the Lakers went a fantastic +18.5.

The simple fact, by the numbers, is that Prince does not work in that spot, while others do. DLo & Reaves are in the best lineups next to LeBron & AD, with many other great choices in the final spot, whereas Prince is the worst choice in LeBron/AD Lakers history. Factually. By the numbers.

And all of this is not even meant to bash Prince - I like him as a bench player in proper lineups. What all of this circles around to is to support what abeer said, that DLo and Austin should never have been benched for a defender instead of Prince for a defender. And since this is the DLo thread, which all circles around back to DLo's comments the other night, that he and Austin should have gotten more support from coach instead of coach yanking them around in order to play the Lakers worst lineups instead of the best ones. It's coaching malpractice.


Re-post:

 

Yeah well, I noticed that he played 33mins, and that D'Angelo sat out the 4th quarter, amazingly, the defense was outstanding in the 4th quarter. Might be something to that, don't you think? Besides that, Prince is tasked with guarding the scorers, way more than we ask Austin or D'Angelo to do that. That makes it hit differently.

As I've said previously, the technicality of who starts, isn't as important as who finishes, or plays the heavy minutes.

The question is, if this becomes a trend moving forward , is D'Angelo going to be OK with that?

 

Nah..D'Angelo is only valuable, when he's knocking down shots. The playoffs will more resemble the Knicks game. Lower scores, more physical.

Run the playoffs numbers for me, I'd be more interested in how Russell plus/minus looks in the playoffs. I'm not totally in love with plus/minus to began with, but I'd be interested in seeing D'Angelo's career playoff numbers in that regard.

 

Slick you are waay over the top in your criticism of Reaves as a defender to justify a lot of your supporting of Ham's bad decisions this year. Which include Prince obviously. You treat him like Chucky Atkins. He competes he takes charges he's just not super fast. Even in comparison with Prince himself, to say Prince is a whole lot better than him would be an exaggeration. But your statement above is a joke or is another of you're who are you going to believe .... Me .... or you're lyin' eyes takes. Boo. And BS. No we NEVER see Reaves tasked with guarding the best guards and "scorers" most of the minutes he's out there.

 

This is the point though: Prince, Dlo, Reaves is all offense with no defense. Flip Dlo and with Max and the equation changes, Prince is a lot more playable. Basically when you have AD you can get away with two bad defenders but not 3.

That was why it was so stupid to have Prince in the starting lineup with Dlo/AR. Both Dlo/AR and Prince would play better if they are split

 

Are you watching the games man, or are simply, responding to perceived criticism of a player that you like? You don't OWN Austin man, that's one of my favorite players on this team too. He's not a good defender, it is what it is, and NO...we don't ask Austin to tackle the assignments with high end scorers.

So what? That doesn't detract from Austin's value IMO, he's a scorer, a playoffs proven scorer. That's more important than D'Angelo for instance. You can count on Austin to show up in the playoffs too, that's no small thing dude.

Some of you guys get carried away with narratives, now..somehow..some way..you want to turn this into Slick is Austin bashing.

Hell Nah..I still stand by the comment, that he's a weak perimeter defender, it's true, watch the damn games. Everyone knows this, especially the other teams.

Yet Austin is still every bit the baller, that I said he was going to be, as a Rookie. You keep leaving that part out, for some reason. I got all kinds of lectures, for saying that Austin was going to be a superior player overall, to Caruso, and it wasn't going to take long to get there.

FOH with that Austin bashing noise LT!!

 

That is a bold faced lie!! LMAO!! He gets substantial minutes on all the high scoring guards every team we play.

 

Well see Pioneer..I've always said that, it's Cam and Jarred that should start, that's ideal to me. I don't think we'll ever see it tho, since Cam might not resign here.

I don't really like Austin and D'Angelo on the court together TBH...unless D'Angelo is hitting shots. I have a D'Angelo problem..I thought that was pretty clear by now.

Max looked ready last night, I wouldn't have any problems with him playing more either.

 

Yeah on rotations..not as a primary defender. Why the f*** do you think, that Cam was moved into the starting lineup? You don't know what you are talking about man. Again you seem to be blinded, by this perception of Austin being unfairly being singled out. Go back and watch the Knicks game...you will see what I'm talking about, it's not some big mystery.

 

He "started" on Jalen last night and covered him more than anyone! Sure was getting beat, so was everyone they put on him. But he started. And in Ham's rotations often is on the Curry, SGA, Tyrese, etc is my point. We have no one else because of the injuries ... usually .... that's any or a LOT better. Especially with him and DLO together. Your original statement was that couldn't compare what Prince does on D because Austin doesn't get tasked on the "scorers" too.

 

That is Prince's role..to guard the other team's best scorer. Of course a little guy like Steph or Brunson. is an issue for him too. You want Prince on a KD, Paul George type, not Austin Reaves.

Circle back to my preferred starting perimeter trio..Cam, Jarred and Austin is the best scenario. Yet since D'Angelo is more sensitive about being shown "love", let him start, Austin is still going to close, and play more minutes anyway.
I don't think Austin/D'Angelo is the best pairing for the team in the playoffs. That doesn't mean that D'Angelo is utter garbage, if he's knocking down shots, we can win some with that look.


Now specifically, Yeah Prince is a better defender than Reaves, he's more versatile defensively IMO. Cam is better than both, while Jarred is the 2nd best defender on the team period.