D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Opted In!

this is all fair. he's not a superstar and has flaws. they aren't going away. he's still not our primary problem and is likely better than any realistic potential replacement. adding a bunch of assets to him to upgrade at pg probably won't be worth it. we did the right thing by investing in a different kind of back up pg to deploy in different matchups, then he died. we also invested in a forward that is quick enough to guard top perimeter guys, and he also basically missed the entire season.

i'm actually right where i was in the season after the title defense: i honestly think we could bring back the exact same team next year and win 10 more games than we did this year. we had some bad breaks and some bad coaching.

if dlo walks because ham is here, we'll be dead in the water, though. like, "maybe we blow it up" dead.

 

This makes perfect sense: the problem for the Lakers and this is not Ham's fault is that Dlo would still be a good offensive player even in these matchups as he is a very good off ball shooter - he's won game as the catch and shoot guy just this past month. But then he can't play good defense so that make it impossible to keep on the floor.

Not having Schroeder or Caruso for these matchup along with a lack of a bruiser is the fatal flaws of this roster. (but again I can't emphasize this enough with Cam or Vando this team looks completely different - two big POA defenders basically allows these other guys to shine but we just haven't fixed it. It's similar to a football team with stars at the skill position but looks like s*** when the offensive line gets hurt: i.e. mahomes against TB in the SB)

 

Of course the problem is we are doing an awful lot of flushing and moving on lately.

 

I have to say, as much as I’ve been enjoying his play and demeanor on the court with the team and am rooting for him to perform up to his expectations and talk, that I’m with Slick on this and pissed that he had to say something about Ham, again and to national media, now when we’re fighting for our season. Bad move and selfish. Probably what prompted Ham’s let’s talk pow wow today.

 

yeah, there was no reason to make those comments. at least not right now. we all know ham sucks, but wait until the offseason for that s***

and not sure why he felt like taking a shot at DS either, considering he outplayed dlo for most of the playoffs last year

 

What was the shot? Stating that schroder had a longer leash/was favored? He did/was. By fans, too!

 

he said "i'm here and he's not, so i like our chances"

 

Preemptive strike against Gabe coming back? Reportedly Ham told Vincent, that he had a legit shot at starting, when we signed him.

 

If you're going to make those statements, you better back it up.

Outside of the Sac game, he has good since January, but that was the game we need him to be on his A game, and he **** the bed. In fairness, the other stars did, too.

We're probably finish 9th or 10th and be out in the first or second round. He'll probably be gone in the summer. Ham isn't going anywhere, IMO.

 

Why does the timing matter? It’s not like this team ever rallied around Ham. If anything they began to play better as numerous players started taking subtle shots at Ham in comments to the media.

I see an entire team that doesn’t respect the coach for good reason and uniting around how bad he is probably brought them closer together.

We’re almost 70 games into the season and Ham is still making cliche statements about effort and details, while taking ZERO accountability. I’m more concerned with the timing of literally anything he says.

I will continue to welcome jabs at Ham from any and all players until he is fired.

 

The thing is..outside of Lebron and AD..what has any of these guys ever done before last season? Nothing

The most playoffs success, any of these other guys have had, came under Ham. Hell..AD had only been to the Conference Finals once, the chip season.

So I question, what makes them think, that they have a better idea, of how to get the job done? The Hubris of youth, I guess.

You want to see lack of respect for the HC? See Vogel's 10-31 finish his last season here. That's quitting on a coach, those guys threw in the towel and didn't give AF about competing anymore.

The vibe with some of these young guys, seems to be in synch, with some of our fanbase to me.

"We had a great run!" "We got to the Conference Finals!" Yeah..and we got swept too.

A dose of reality needs to be injected here IMO. This ain't last season, the team isn't the same, the competition is better.

Vanderbilt, Walker and Shroeder, all had their moments during that playoffs run too. 2 aren't here anymore, and Vanderbilt has missed most of this campaign.

Well.. they have this magical 5 from last season starting now. Overall the team has been playing well for the last two months. That being said, the hardest part is still ahead of them. These other teams don't give a s*** about our playoffs run last season. The saw us getting swept too, so these cats need to man up, talk less, and go out there and win some of these damn games.

The HC ain't out there getting blown by routinely on D, missing open shots in crunch time, losing track of their man in rotations, failing to box out. No..that's on some of these dudes, doing all the "complaining" IMO.

 

ok, thanks.

i agree. if we lost dlo and kept schroder, we'd be worse. for sure.

this annoyed me about ham as well. i remember the slight hint that the starting pg from the team that went to the wcf might have to fight for his job. ok...

everyone talks about AD/jokic, but i'm waiting for lebron to outplay murray in our matchups with denver. he doesn't either. the team with AD/lebron is supposed to have at least 1 of the top 2 players in a series. and the dominos fall after that, too.

yeah, we've done better after folks felt more comfortable taking shots at the lame duck. he's gone. and any replacement (now that doc's off the table) is likely to be an improvement.

any dlo replacment, however, is likely not to be.

 

Lol..now he had no idea, what was at stake, standings wise, against the Kings? I just don't understand, why, he's trying to draw all this attention, to himself right now.

In our last 7 losses with D'Angelo starting.
He's shooting 30% from the field, and 20% from 3, in the 2nd half.

The media is going to turn on him quick if he doesn't perform. It's an unnecessary distraction.

 

Very talented player, but he's 27 and been on multiple teams.

He's been solid this year for the most part. Haven't had much too complain about. Would rather put up with a Dave McMenamin article and a no-show at Sac than deal with Kyrie Irving for a whole season.

That said, I do think he's gone this off-season as I mentioned. Lakers aren't going too cheap to fire Ham, and I don't think they want to go through another coach. IMO.

But we will see.

 

Nice to see DLo brings you back, TRod, from time to time, despite LeBron still being here