Interesting, I seem to remember posters in here back when he was on the Lakers saying that he wouldn't become that great of a scorer due to his lack of trips to the line.
Skimming through the pages, came across GT's post from the 39 point game his rookie year:
Quote:
So a few Russell observations from the game tonight...
-The only other game that I've been to this year is a game in November against Detroit. The thing that immediately caught my eye then was just how physically different he looked from everyone else. Really a boy amongst men. That was a lot less pronounced tonight than it was in November. I don't know if it's just natural maturation, work in the weight room, or a combination of the two, but he physically looks different than he did 4 months ago.
-He and Clarkson seem to have a real, genuine friendship. It was noticeable in Summer League, noticeable in November, and noticeable tonight. All of the young guys seem to get along, but those two are the tightest.
-Speaking of which, I noticed a lot of bickering between he & Randle in November, and the vibe between the two was different tonight. Much more on the same page.
-He's a little ADHD. I can see why he drives a guy like Byron crazy. In shootaround, he would go from working on specific move (focused a lot on floaters, and different shots in the 5-15 foot range), and then would go (bleep) with Anthony Brown, or joke with an usher. Then he'd very purposefully work on something else, and then would start rapping to whatever song was on the loudspeaker and would shoot a 20 foot hook shot. I don't have a problem with it, but Byron's just not that type of dude.
-He already knows Motion Weak better than anyone else on the team, although I was pleasantly surprised by how much Clarkson was directing traffic too. He was annoyed with Hibbert & Brown a few times, directing them to their cuts.
-Like I said before, his game is super effortless. Just great at cutting and relocating. He's just finally in an offense that gives him the opportunity to do that a lot. But this kid's on some jedi (bleep). He only missed a couple of shots tonight that were decent looks. He had a couple of heat checks that he shouldn't have shot, but you just felt like it was going in every time he had an open look.
-To that end, his jumper is very "quiet." I don't know if that's the right word for it, but it arrives at the rim at a slow velocity, and barely moves the net a lot of the time. He looks especially comfortable with the NBA 3 now too.
-Everyone knows what a big Russell fan I've been since back when he was in the 8-10 range in mock drafts. What an awesome game to go to. It was like watching my adopted basketball son's coming out party.
That was his breakout game and it was against the Nets too. Not a shock they ended up moving on him when they got the chance.
Interesting, I seem to remember posters in here back when he was on the Lakers saying that he wouldn't become that great of a scorer due to his lack of trips to the line.
Interesting, I seem to remember posters in here back when he was on the Lakers saying that he wouldn't become that great of a scorer due to his lack of trips to the line.
Don't forget "blow by speed"!
He still needs to improve in that aspect though.
In this league, your shots won't fall all the time and you gotta get easy points like Kobe use to do all the time...
Skimming through the pages, came across GT's post from the 39 point game his rookie year:
Quote:
So a few Russell observations from the game tonight...
-The only other game that I've been to this year is a game in November against Detroit. The thing that immediately caught my eye then was just how physically different he looked from everyone else. Really a boy amongst men. That was a lot less pronounced tonight than it was in November. I don't know if it's just natural maturation, work in the weight room, or a combination of the two, but he physically looks different than he did 4 months ago.
-He and Clarkson seem to have a real, genuine friendship. It was noticeable in Summer League, noticeable in November, and noticeable tonight. All of the young guys seem to get along, but those two are the tightest.
-Speaking of which, I noticed a lot of bickering between he & Randle in November, and the vibe between the two was different tonight. Much more on the same page.
-He's a little ADHD. I can see why he drives a guy like Byron crazy. In shootaround, he would go from working on specific move (focused a lot on floaters, and different shots in the 5-15 foot range), and then would go (bleep) with Anthony Brown, or joke with an usher. Then he'd very purposefully work on something else, and then would start rapping to whatever song was on the loudspeaker and would shoot a 20 foot hook shot. I don't have a problem with it, but Byron's just not that type of dude.
-He already knows Motion Weak better than anyone else on the team, although I was pleasantly surprised by how much Clarkson was directing traffic too. He was annoyed with Hibbert & Brown a few times, directing them to their cuts.
-Like I said before, his game is super effortless. Just great at cutting and relocating. He's just finally in an offense that gives him the opportunity to do that a lot. But this kid's on some jedi (bleep). He only missed a couple of shots tonight that were decent looks. He had a couple of heat checks that he shouldn't have shot, but you just felt like it was going in every time he had an open look.
-To that end, his jumper is very "quiet." I don't know if that's the right word for it, but it arrives at the rim at a slow velocity, and barely moves the net a lot of the time. He looks especially comfortable with the NBA 3 now too.
-Everyone knows what a big Russell fan I've been since back when he was in the 8-10 range in mock drafts. What an awesome game to go to. It was like watching my adopted basketball son's coming out party.
That was his breakout game and it was against the Nets too. Not a shock they ended up moving on him when they got the chance.
The sad part was the anti Dlo contingency expected him to have that kind of performance every night. I remember that game like it was yesterday. It was that game where I really believed that this kid has something special. _________________ Music is my medicine
Interesting, I seem to remember posters in here back when he was on the Lakers saying that he wouldn't become that great of a scorer due to his lack of trips to the line.
Don't forget "blow by speed"!
He still needs to improve in that aspect though.
In this league, your shots won't fall all the time and you gotta get easy points like Kobe use to do all the time...
I agree. I mentioned in another comment that he seems to have improved his craftiness and ball handling. That seems to be helping him create easier shots and mitigate his relative lack of athleticism.
Skimming through the pages, came across GT's post from the 39 point game his rookie year:
Quote:
So a few Russell observations from the game tonight...
-The only other game that I've been to this year is a game in November against Detroit. The thing that immediately caught my eye then was just how physically different he looked from everyone else. Really a boy amongst men. That was a lot less pronounced tonight than it was in November. I don't know if it's just natural maturation, work in the weight room, or a combination of the two, but he physically looks different than he did 4 months ago.
-He and Clarkson seem to have a real, genuine friendship. It was noticeable in Summer League, noticeable in November, and noticeable tonight. All of the young guys seem to get along, but those two are the tightest.
-Speaking of which, I noticed a lot of bickering between he & Randle in November, and the vibe between the two was different tonight. Much more on the same page.
-He's a little ADHD. I can see why he drives a guy like Byron crazy. In shootaround, he would go from working on specific move (focused a lot on floaters, and different shots in the 5-15 foot range), and then would go (bleep) with Anthony Brown, or joke with an usher. Then he'd very purposefully work on something else, and then would start rapping to whatever song was on the loudspeaker and would shoot a 20 foot hook shot. I don't have a problem with it, but Byron's just not that type of dude.
-He already knows Motion Weak better than anyone else on the team, although I was pleasantly surprised by how much Clarkson was directing traffic too. He was annoyed with Hibbert & Brown a few times, directing them to their cuts.
-Like I said before, his game is super effortless. Just great at cutting and relocating. He's just finally in an offense that gives him the opportunity to do that a lot. But this kid's on some jedi (bleep). He only missed a couple of shots tonight that were decent looks. He had a couple of heat checks that he shouldn't have shot, but you just felt like it was going in every time he had an open look.
-To that end, his jumper is very "quiet." I don't know if that's the right word for it, but it arrives at the rim at a slow velocity, and barely moves the net a lot of the time. He looks especially comfortable with the NBA 3 now too.
-Everyone knows what a big Russell fan I've been since back when he was in the 8-10 range in mock drafts. What an awesome game to go to. It was like watching my adopted basketball son's coming out party.
That was his breakout game and it was against the Nets too. Not a shock they ended up moving on him when they got the chance.
The sad part was the anti Dlo contingency expected him to have that kind of performance every night. I remember that game like it was yesterday. It was that game where I really believed that this kid has something special.
The confidence and swagger just looked different when he was on even as a rookie. He definitely had his struggles but the games when he got it flowing always had you thinking, "If this kid can put it all together, he's a heck of a player" (Especially since his runs and hot streaks usually seem to lead to runs rather than seeming like stat padding on a bad team). Seems like it's happening now. Nets have a legit shot at the playoffs and Russell looks like he has an outside shot at the ASG.
Interesting, I seem to remember posters in here back when he was on the Lakers saying that he wouldn't become that great of a scorer due to his lack of trips to the line.
Don't forget "blow by speed"!
He still needs to improve in that aspect though.
In this league, your shots won't fall all the time and you gotta get easy points like Kobe use to do all the time...
His tear drop and stop and pop mid range game is deadly. _________________ Music is my medicine
Happy for DLO. Really wish we would have been patient with him. He and Lonzo would Have been a killer future backcourt. _________________ From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals
I don't quite recall everything you said after he got traded, but I remember you saying with your time with the media you heard things about him. You basically said his awareness was lacking? I forget what exactly you said.
It's funny because I frequent another forum and someone said LFR posts on LG and a while back he said he heard that no one liked Russell and that the staff didn't either. I don't quite remember you saying it like that though . Basically a game of telephone where things get misremembered/misheard.
Happy for DLO. Really wish we would have been patient with him. He and Lonzo would Have been a killer future backcourt.
This actually reminds me of a point of contention that I have with Zo.
I understand that being a Laker was his dream, but he was taking low key shots at DLO during the draft process.
There is no reason for a player who is not even on the team to try and cost another player his job. It was a bad look.
What makes it worse is that I think he did it due to what his dad and Magic were feeding him.
This gets to his biggest weaknes which is his malleable mentality. When he is confident, he is a monster, but when he mentally floats he is nonexistent. _________________ Llluuukkkeee
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D’Angelo Russell’s reached that point where he doesn’t care about his primary defender and automatically takes his cues from the help defense. For a young PG that’s a big checkpoint to pass
Interesting, I seem to remember posters in here back when he was on the Lakers saying that he wouldn't become that great of a scorer due to his lack of trips to the line.
Don't forget "blow by speed"!
He still needs to improve in that aspect though.
In this league, your shots won't fall all the time and you gotta get easy points like Kobe use to do all the time...
His tear drop and stop and pop mid range game is deadly.
he is shooting 49.5%...so we just gone say 50% from 10 feet to the 3pt line on 232 attempts folks
While watching his latest highlight video I decided to take a trip down memory lane and took a look at one of your older videos about his shooting struggles and how his stance (particularly how his left foot pulls ahead of his right) can attribute to that. Going back to the highlights and I saw less of that inconsistency you were talking about. Regardless if that improved his shooting or not, I want to thank you for allowing me to pick up on something I never would've had I not watched your videos.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but we could've had a Jules/Lebron/PG/Dlo/Zo core with Kuz off the bench if we played our cards right, no?
This is assuming we go after PG when he demanded out of Indy by including BI in any potential deal, don't trade Dlo, don't mess with Jules' playing time in that last year, meaning the relationship with their agent never sours. We still make the deal with the Cavs for JC/Nance. But would we still have been able to create enough space for Lebron with PG and Jules' cap holds + not outright trading Deng and Mozgov (stretch provision instead)? Or maybe we're able to trade one of the two more easily with picks attached last summer?
I don't quite recall everything you said after he got traded, but I remember you saying with your time with the media you heard things about him. You basically said his awareness was lacking? I forget what exactly you said.
It's funny because I frequent another forum and someone said LFR posts on LG and a while back he said he heard that no one liked Russell and that the staff didn't either. I don't quite remember you saying it like that though . Basically a game of telephone where things get misremembered/misheard.
No, I think that's pretty accurate.
We could go on and on about the reasons why, but he didn't have a lot of advocates around the Lakers. I spent a lot of last season asking people what happened with him, and a lot of people didn't like him as a person.
He was really immature and had little to no social awareness. My only problem with all of it was how one-sided it was. The Lakers were far from blameless. And for the life of me, I don't know why you badmouth a guy that you're trying to trade, and then trade him when his value was at his lowest. They handled the situation terribly even if he needed to go.
I don't quite recall everything you said after he got traded, but I remember you saying with your time with the media you heard things about him. You basically said his awareness was lacking? I forget what exactly you said.
It's funny because I frequent another forum and someone said LFR posts on LG and a while back he said he heard that no one liked Russell and that the staff didn't either. I don't quite remember you saying it like that though . Basically a game of telephone where things get misremembered/misheard.
No, I think that's pretty accurate.
We could go on and on about the reasons why, but he didn't have a lot of advocates around the Lakers. I spent a lot of last season asking people what happened with him, and a lot of people didn't like him as a person.
He was really immature and had little to no social awareness. My only problem with all of it was how one-sided it was. The Lakers were far from blameless. And for the life of me, I don't know why you badmouth a guy that you're trying to trade, and then trade him when his value was at his lowest. They handled the situation terribly even if he needed to go.
The Showtime Mafia ruined that relationship. Byron Scott, the gift that keeps giving...it really does go back to him.
Magic and Pelinka clearly didn't like him and it showed. That being said I don't think he would've played like this here because the Lakers offense is garbage, the player development is questionable, and Luke is terrible at utilizing talent to it's fullest.
I don't quite recall everything you said after he got traded, but I remember you saying with your time with the media you heard things about him. You basically said his awareness was lacking? I forget what exactly you said.
It's funny because I frequent another forum and someone said LFR posts on LG and a while back he said he heard that no one liked Russell and that the staff didn't either. I don't quite remember you saying it like that though . Basically a game of telephone where things get misremembered/misheard.
No, I think that's pretty accurate.
We could go on and on about the reasons why, but he didn't have a lot of advocates around the Lakers. I spent a lot of last season asking people what happened with him, and a lot of people didn't like him as a person.
He was really immature and had little to no social awareness. My only problem with all of it was how one-sided it was. The Lakers were far from blameless. And for the life of me, I don't know why you badmouth a guy that you're trying to trade, and then trade him when his value was at his lowest. They handled the situation terribly even if he needed to go.
I remember you talking about his lack of social awareness and media guys not enjoying interviewing him, but don’t recall you saying thr staff disliked him as well.
That whole saga will be interesting to me because he seems to get along with his teammates and has a lot of friends around the league. That’s why people not liking him is interesting to me. The whole leak thing didn’t help though.
I can see why the media guys disliked him because he never looked like he wanted to talk to them. I don’t know if that was because that’s his personality or if he heard everything that was being said about him. Dude was kind of disliked as soon as he was drafted and then the leak thing (his own doing) buried him.
I also have no idea if Kenny likes him or not. Hard to read that guy
Glad to see him killing. I love watching the guy play.
Unfortunately he’s my favorite player in the league since Kobe retired. Tough to get attached to any of the Lakers right now, knowing this roster is going to look very different soon.
Also the narrative he couldn’t do this here, or that he’s figuring it out is just wrong. He was pointing to this trajectory all along. His injury last year slowed his development briefly.
Last edited by akk7 on Mon Jan 21, 2019 9:13 pm; edited 1 time in total
Magic and Pelinka clearly didn't like him and it showed. That being said I don't think he would've played like this here because the Lakers offense is garbage, the player development is questionable, and Luke is terrible at utilizing talent to it's fullest.
All of that is true, but if we would have let the young guys grow together; they could have all learned and become something special together.
Now, we have a much smaller window to try and steal a title as opposed which really puts Luke and some of our other young guys in a bad position. _________________ Llluuukkkeee
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