[valentine]

I love the Lakers even though Im technically not a fan. But no one can deny theyve given basketball fans decades of quality entertainment.

But D’Angelo Russell is the least likeable player in the NBA. Every time he opens his mouth he utters nothing but stupidity.

Im 100% convinced that his career will suffer majorly for reasons that have nothing to do with his playing ability.

His maturity levels are seriously under developed and Id place his overall intelligence in the bottom 3-5% of all people.

What really annoyed me recently was his latest interview where he put everyone at the Lakers on blast for his poor Rookie Season. This included Kobe and the Coaching Staff.

I hate players that make bad excuses for having a bad year (which he admitted in the interview). 

I just dont understand how Lakers Psychology experts didnt spot this is interviews and testing. In fact they reached for Russell over Porzingis, Mudiay, Okafor etc. 

Sorry Lakers fans…its not a dig at the franchise (which has a few other problems but seems to be on an upward trajectory). 

But it wouldnt surprise me if Russell has an Andrew Bynum type career where poor decisions and lack of common sense derail an otherwise talented basketball player.

Thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JordoParticipant]

How mature were you at 19-20? Also you can determine his entire career after one year? Outside of the phone record thing he had an average rookie season with a lot of flashes of potential. And Bynum had injuries and didn’t seem to care toward the end.

[Hype Machine]

Yes, after 1 year I am determining that whatever team has him on their roster will be significantly worse off, over an extended period. Ive seen enough to write him off.

He has the talent to have a break out year anytime he wants, but in LA its only a matter of time before he screws up again. Either with an isolated stupid incident (eg phone), or the overall sum of his stupidity becoming a locker room cancer.

Russell is immature for his age. Im already comparing him to other 20 year olds. 20yo Kobe was super intelligent; Brandon Ingram is of average intelligence, and Dangelo Russell is of substantially below average intelligence. 

 

 

[pokieParticipant]

 D’Angelo Russell can grow into a fantastic player. He can. He’s one of these players though that, for him, it has to be his team. He was so young last year. He needed more attention than he got.  What he got was swollowed up in the "Kobe Farewell Tour". That’s cool. It had to happen. Byron Scott is a great coach but he’s better with older players. He’s a hard guy. I think that’s why they brought Luke Walton in. Now you have a rookie Head Coach and Russell in a "Rookie-Rewind" kind of season. It’s them against the world. If Kobe had retired at the end of 2015 I think you would have seen a different D’Angelo Russell last year. The whole season would have revolved around him. More would have been expected of him. He would have had to immediately assume the heaviest burden. Which is the position he as a player has probably held most of his playing career. He leads. Now he’ll get his chance. Don’t count him out yet.

[Chilbert arenasParticipant]

I was a wild child as a 24-25 year old living in Los Angeles, I can’t imagine what I would have been like as a 20 year old celebrity athlete with millions of dollars… 

[McDunkin]

You probably could have landed yourself a Kardashian

[festar35Participant]

I dont hate Russell, but players I would have taken before him are:

Okafor, Porzingis, Turner, Booker, Mudiay and Winslow. I see him as a solid contributor and he may surprise me becoming more but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

[Andv1 WaitingParticipant]

 Towns-obvious though.He was the clear number 1 pick

Porzingas Now they would- But nobody wanted to take such a high risk at the time, as he could have as easily been a Darko/Jan vesely..So 4 was safe and the right place for him now and at the time

The rest of your list though  I disagree:

Okafor: Two maybe 3 off court incidents and has already been supposedly put on the Trade block. Thats not a good sign either. This is without even mentioning the defense or f/t shooting..3 was the right place for him if the 76ers sort themselves out and use him right. 

Miles Turner: The Gait issue could come up eventually and he would have been a major reach at 2 but at number 6 though now you could have a conversation there as he would have worked nicely with Cousins…

Mudiay: That jumper is the issue there and  may never be consistent-See John Wall as best case scenario and Rondo as a worst..If the jumper does eventually come right and becomes consistent I could then be persuaded to change my opnion. These are flaws what Russell doesn’t have and has more tools that will help reach his ceiling alot sooner than Mudiay(like the lakers want). Who in a redraft would probaly go the Kings if Turner hadn’t been taken as they need a pg big time now…

Booker: He is a nice player now(He even surpass russell if the suns are smart) and in my opinion then he should have gone either 8th,9th or 10th pick overall… But over Russell at the time not happening as Booker wouldn’t have gone on the court with Kobe and Clarkson(my guess they see him as a sg not a pg) ahead of him.

Winslow….10 is just right lookin back at it now as that Jump shot of his needs some serious work. If he gets that down a Kawhi L/Scottie P clone could be in his future..

The talent is there with Russell its just getting him to facilitate a little more and not do anything else bonehead off the court…Then we may just see the talent the lakers see in him.

  

 

 

[MopgrassParticipant]

 He has two personality issues: immaturity and ego. The ego part is forever. He made some strides in the maturity department after the Swaggy incident. I thought he handled it well and put it behind him after an appropriate amount of time. But the ego is going nowhere. 

I expect a good year from him and for him to show why he was picked 2nd (keeping pace with the unicorn). 

[Andv1 WaitingParticipant]

 Walton has to do the following for Russell to succeed though:

Hold him accountable.

Help him on defense.

Decide his position:Is he a SG or the PG. If he is the sg let him keep doing what he is doing but if he is the pg he needs to facilitate a little more rather than trying to score all the time otherwise the team just won’t function properly.

The rest is on Russell.

Learn from your mistakes,don’t do them again, realize actions have consequences,and work hard on your game that is anyone can ask from Russell..As he is still just a boy growing up.

 

 

[markfitz14Participant]

76ers Need a PG! Trade Russell for their draft pick back. They may even include Okafor in a 3 team trade to Boston for the Celtics 2018 pick or something like that. 

[BeastMode716Participant]

 were on D’Lo’s nuts in the months approaching the NBA Draft there were a handful of writers who pointed out that some scouts were extremely concerned about Russell’s maturity level – especially if he ended up in LA.

Obviously I’m a fan of the purple & gold so I want him to be Great so I overlook A LOT – but if someone forced me to be honest I’m scared to death of his childish attitude & I’m even more scared of his lack of elite level quickness on Both ends of the court

No one wants to talk about this but Russell was a Decent but far from great shooter: 41% FG shooters & only 35% from 3pt range & he can’t defend anyone.

media like espn talked up some of these kids so hard for decent but not great seasons that I fear it’s almost impossible for D’Lo to do anything but struggle in year 2. 

D’Lo is really putting a target on his back with all the semantics. Kobe is not around to the attention away & I really believe teams took it easy a lot of nights b/c Every player in the NBA is a Kobe fan & did not want to embarras him. I’m worried Russell’s over the top demonstrations may invite some epic @ss whippings this season & that could harm Ingram’s development

I understand being demonstrative is part of Russell’s game but I’d like to see him become more of a team leader & respect opponents by playing w/ a more under control mind set

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andrew1984Participant]

If you were looking for someone from whom you can learn moral character and humility, what on earth made you think the NBA was the place to look? 

[Author]

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