D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Opted In!

obviously, but i'll play devil's advocate...say it does. say we get in as the 8 seed and lose to denver (or okc or whatever) and dlo has another very bad series. would you be hoping he'd opt out?

my point is that a guy making less than 20 per on a non-rookie contract isn't a third star anywhere. and non-stars sometimes have very bad stretches.

for example, here's bruce brown, whom everyone wished we could have moved dlo for:



jokic and murray carried his a**. and mpj's a fair amount, tbh.

i'm just saying that even if dlo sucks again in the playoffs, my opinion is unlikely to shift much. he's a nice fit with our stars at the pg spot, and upgrading would be very difficult and deplete other areas on the roster.

investing in a backup pg was the right move, however.

 

You just expect him to have a 3 point flurry in each game at this point. It's become odd when he doesn't. Didn't like we didn't get him more looks or a sooner look in the 3rd.



Props to DLO for that one. Nice showing of selfless maturity.


I got a good laugh either late in the 3rd or in the 4th, don't remember which, DLO was standing up from his seat on the bench barking at the Cavs as they were trying to create something. Kept yelling "hell no!" at them. They failed to score.

 

He's making ridiculous shots out there , the one before the end of the 1st quarter was DIFFICULT

 

Been playing like an all star.

 

You just don't expect to see him listed with franchise players like that.

 

I want so badly to get excited about DLO's stellar shooting of late, and if he can carry this through the playoffs, when it actually matters, I'll be the first to admit I was wrong. But I'm still pretty skeptical he he shoots anywhere near 40% on 3s when we're playing Denver, and Murray and MPJ start bombing 3s (as they are wont to do), and all the pressure shifts to DLO to respond in kind. Absent that, his regular season stats mean squat.

 

If you love the game of basketball and watching the Lakers play I just can’t get with that kind of thinking. It’s been all kinds of pleasure here and still hope for the best going forward.

 

I agree with .. both of you

 

Might as well not even bother watching them play unless/until the Lakers are in the WCF or championship series if “the ring is the only thing” is all that matters. It’s too tough and there’s too many really good teams to not do otherwise to me as a fan.

 

I actually agree with you more than you realize. I have been enjoying this recent Laker surge as much as anyone. The sun rises and sets on the Lakers for me, and I wake up in the morning a much happier person when the Lakers are winning. And I have enjoyed DLO's recent play greatly. His shots aren't just going in; they look beautiful in the process.

But I think playoffs are where the mice are separated from the men (e.g. Ariza shooting 50% from 3 and getting those 2 clutch steals against Denver in 2009). Put another way, I think a player's legacy is largely defined by whether or not they step up and come through in the playoffs. So setting aside my current enjoyment of the Lakers, and my appreciation for DLO's current stellar play (on offense), I'm saying that my overall assessment of him as a career professional basketball player hinges largely on whether he can carry this run through the playoffs. Otherwise he's just another choke who looked great during the regular season but couldn't handle the pressure when it really mattered.

 

But after how freaking difficult Ham made it to even get there if we do, down to these last 4 games ..... that "choke" has been delivering big time in pressure in these games since the all star break and much earlier most of the season, post Ham benching him and AR at the same time ....to get us there.

 

LOL ... DLO flexing at this guy after spiking his shot while helping.

 

He struggles against bigger more athletic wings particularly when LBJ is out because he's usually getting the best defender along with AD. That allows Russell to attack the teams 3rd or 4th best defender (his own admission), and he's usually going to win that matchup the majority of the time.

He's just not ultra-athletic, have the first step or will overpower you if there is a quality wing defender against him, but that's okay. His "regular season" has been good and I think he's been All-Starish has a third option and a a flat out "star" on some nights, too. For his salary? That's a win.

I just don't see a future here for him, but that's not his fault. He could have a great play-in and playoff run, but barring a trip to the Finals, I just don't see it. I see Rob going after a 3rd star because this may be the most assets he has had pre-AD, and I don't think he's going to pass that up, IMO.

 

Uh oh, he pulled a Denver

 

Better be for a legit starting quality capable center with legit size then. Need that more than Mitchell and sure as **** more than Trae Young or even Murray, as we should be able to find a way to keep Spencer if DLO is going out.

 

Yeah, well, we got a nice little preview of Playoff DLO last night. A very important game with the deck stacked against us (no LeBron, no AD) and a lot of pressure on him to make shots and he goes ice cold from 3.