What if we pick Porzingis instead of DLO?

[Michael Lucky]

It's not easy going from college or Europe to the NBA. The NBA schedule is grueling. A team can't just draft a 19 year old and expect him to play 35 minutes a game for 82 games. That's a good way to wear a guy out, hurt his confidence, cause injury or all three.

I'm glad you brought that up since we have clear evidence of Byron destroying Russell's confidence. Just before he got benched he was starting to play better while getting more minutes (around the time he had a couple 20 point games in a row). Then he got benched and we got his famous comment along the lines of "i thought i was getting better, now i don't know anymore"

[gts1]

Porzingis clearly had a better season than Russell... He also clearly had a more defined role. But that's also a symptom of Russell being a tweener more than just Scott...
Russell would seem to have a higher ceiling. But Porzi seems more capable of contributing consistently, right now.

So with Porzi, maybe we win a few more games and don't have the chance to pick in this draft, ultimately capping our potential.

This is the draft when we need a Porzi.

That's not uncommon... a couple years ago myself and a couple others spent a few nights going through stats for big men vs PGs, using just a players PER as a measure of an individual players growth (not comparison to other players) big men came out of the gates faster, where PGs and Guards in general took a couple more years to get up to speed which makes sense when you consider their roles...

[AcecardZ]

Byron Scott played 22 minutes a game as a 22 year old rookie and people are mad that Russell didn't get more than 28 minutes a game as a 19 year old rook?

[gts1]

Byron Scott played 22 minutes a game as a 22 year old rookie and people are mad that Russell didn't get more than 28 minutes a game as a 19 year old rook?

apples and oranges

Byron played on a team set to make another run at a championship that was heavily loaded with vets like Magic, Coop and Wilkes, they didn't really need Byron (although he did contribute on a small level) and they certainly were not in player development mode like this past seasons' team was


like I said apples and oranges two completely different teams under two completely different circumstances... only thing in common is they were both Lakers teams

also this is where looking at the stats page vs watching the games is important... it's not the minutes played per se, it's how and when he logged those minutes. For most folks it's the circumstances where those 28 minutes per game where accumulated, off the bench, very little playing time in crunch time etc etc etc

[Michael Lucky]

Byron Scott played 22 minutes a game as a 22 year old rookie and people are mad that Russell didn't get more than 28 minutes a game as a 19 year old rook?

Yes lets compare the game 30 years ago to today's.

[AcecardZ]

A certain hall of fame shooting guard played 31 minutes a game as a 21 year old rookie... Ray Allen

Another hall of fame shooting guard only played 15.5 minutes per game as an 18 year old rookie... He played 26 minutes per game as a 19 year old... Kobe

I don't think the D'Angelo Russell minutes per game argument has much merit.

[danfantastk32]

One has to remember Scott, for better or worse, is pretty old school and came from a time where rookies didn't start or even play a lot of minutes. I thought he gave Russell and Randle plenty of opportunity to showcase their skills and gain experience without overplaying them risking injury or confidence.

Perhaps I'm going to easy on Scott but I have no reason to defend the guy. If I thought he did a terrible job I'd have no problem saying so. He not only had a terrible roster of players he had to deal with Kobe's last season and now the team is in far better shape than when he took it over. I really don't know what more people were hoping for?
Was winning ten more games that much more important? I hate losing as much as the next guy but we knew this was going to be a throwaway season before it even began.

I agree completely. Scott is old-school. I don't think anyone is arguing that Scott is somehow a great fit for this team, or anything like that. But it's like you said...we had the Kobe show, and really just a terrible, terrible roster. Scott clearly had his issues with Russel. The question is: was his stupid phone deal with Young, just the first of many to come? Or was that really this horrible mistake he learned from? Scott played the guy damn near 30 minutes. Is it a good thing DLo wanted desperately to play the end...good ol' competitive fire, or was it entitlement? I'm the #2 pick so you HAVE to play me?

Byron is gone...so let's all just hope that Luke gets these guys performing better. But we may all understand Scott a little better in a couple years, if this guy does turn out to be a bit of a brat.

Personally, I like Porzingis more. I think what he brings to the table is a lot more unique that what Russell brings. Russell can turn into a fantastic PG, and not break the top-5 in the west. If your not a top-8 pg in this league, then your essentially "middle of the pack" and just list off the top pg's, you got Paul, Curry, Lillard, Westbrook, Wall, Irving, Lowry, Conley, Thomas, Teague, Walker. Will Russell even make top-5? That's gonna be hard.

We shall see. Russell has alot of time to become a much improved player.

[Kilroy]

Byron Scott played 22 minutes a game as a 22 year old rookie and people are mad that Russell didn't get more than 28 minutes a game as a 19 year old rook?

Yes lets compare the game 30 years ago to today's.

The fact that it was 30 years ago isn't nearly as important as who he was playing behind.

[KSOR24]

A certain hall of fame shooting guard played 31 minutes a game as a 21 year old rookie... Ray Allen

Another hall of fame shooting guard only played 15.5 minutes per game as an 18 year old rookie... He played 26 minutes per game as a 19 year old... Kobe

I don't think the D'Angelo Russell minutes per game argument has much merit.

Are you really comparing Kobe's role on a CONTENDING team to Russell's role on a rebuilding team with no better option at point guard?

[danfantastk32]

A certain hall of fame shooting guard played 31 minutes a game as a 21 year old rookie... Ray Allen

Another hall of fame shooting guard only played 15.5 minutes per game as an 18 year old rookie... He played 26 minutes per game as a 19 year old... Kobe

I don't think the D'Angelo Russell minutes per game argument has much merit.

Are you really comparing Kobe's role on a CONTENDING team to Russell's role on a rebuilding team with no better option at point guard?

You know, I agree that its really hard to compare. The situations are so different. But what I do agree with AcecardZ on is that 28 minutes is hardly this giant "slight" to Russell. I mean, 28 minutes as a rookie is pretty darn good. I do think that the whole thing was completely blown out of proportion as well.

Could/should it have been 32-35 minutes? Yeah....ok. But the argument that he was stunted due to Scott not playing him enough is sort of a stretch in my book (btw...not saying that you are making that argument, but many fans/media certainly have).

One thing I have heard alot, is that he wasnt in for the end of games. And while I do think that that would be an example of an opportunity lost, experience-wise......go google our 2015-16 schedule, and just kinda cruise down the list. There are a butt-ton of double-digit losses, so I guess someone would have to really dig deep, and figure out how many CLOSE games Russell didn't finish. That would be a legit argument then. Unfortunately, I don't really care enough. That season was a train wreck, and completely taken over by the Kobe circus. And that's not something that I think Scott had much decision on. Somewhere in all that, he gave Russell 28.2 minutes, which to me is enough for a rookie. To argue it shoulda been a few more, is nit-picking a coach you don't like, IMO.

Scott's big fault, was the way he dealt with Russell in the media. Scott's clearly not the guy to coach this young squad. The good news is, he won't be. Let's hope Luke is up to the task, and lets hope Luke gets some better players than Jim/Mitch ever gave Scott. That will go a long way.

[AcecardZ]

Are there many examples of 19 year old rookies getting more than 28 minutes a game?

I can see people being a little perturbed if lots of other young players were getting more playing time/experience but I'm not seeing that.

Too bad Byron wasn't a little smarter and played Russell as much as Porzingis was played. An extra .2 of a minute per game.

From what I'm seeing 28-30 minutes seems to be pretty standard for 19 year olds projected to be future starters.

[gts1]

You know, I agree that its really hard to compare. The situations are so different. But what I do agree with AcecardZ on is that 28 minutes is hardly this giant "slight" to Russell. I mean, 28 minutes as a rookie is pretty darn good. I do think that the whole thing was completely blown out of proportion as well.

Could/should it have been 32-35 minutes? Yeah....ok. But the argument that he was stunted due to Scott not playing him enough is sort of a stretch in my book (btw...not saying that you are making that argument, but many fans/media certainly have).

One thing I have heard alot, is that he wasnt in for the end of games. And while I do think that that would be an example of an opportunity lost, experience-wise......go google our 2015-16 schedule, and just kinda cruise down the list. There are a butt-ton of double-digit losses, so I guess someone would have to real he ly dig deep, and figure out how many CLOSE games Russell didn't finish. That would be a legit argument then. Unfortunately, I don't really care enough. That season was a train wreck, and completely taken over by the Kobe circus. And that's not something that I think Scott had much decision on. Somewhere in all that, he gave Russell 28.2 minutes, which to me is enough for a rookie. To argue it shoulda been a few more, is nit-picking a coach you don't like, IMO.

Scott's big fault, was the way he dealt with Russell in the media. Scott's clearly not the guy to coach this young squad. The good news is, he won't be. Let's hope Luke is up to the task, and lets hope Luke gets some better players than Jim/Mitch ever gave Scott. That will go a long way.

As you note yourself it's not the minutes that folks really have a problem with... it's the how he got those minutes. Sitting on the bench in 4th quarters, logging a majority of those minutes for a couple months coming off the bench.

This team wasn't a great team, they weren't going anywhere, not a threat to make noise in the playoffs

For myself I never had a problem with the actual minutes, didn't even mind when he got sent to the bench but to have him sitting in crunch time when games were close was nonsensical and even dumber when they were getting blown out. Now and again when he had a rough outing or was playing outside the system sure sit him down to send a message but the message didn't need to be sent game after game

[gts1]

Named players minutes per game at 19 or 20 years old as rookies. Skipping some guys I never heard of or who played very limited number of games...

I'll add D'Lo turned 20 years of age two months into the season so he wasn't even a young 19 year old at the start of the season since age seems to be a sticking point with some folks.. he was basically no younger or older than the others on the list below out side of Iverson

LeBron 19 yrs old 39 mpg
Iverson 21 yrs old 40 mpg
Shaq 20 yrs old 37 mpg
T Evans 20 yrs old 37 mpg
E Brand 20 yrs old 37 mpg
Durant 19 yrs old 34 mpg
Marbury 19 yrs old 36 mpg
Wiggins 19 yrs old 36 mpg
S-A Rahim 20 yrs old 35 mpg
Mike Bibby 20 yrs old 36 mpg
CP3 20 yrs old 36 mpg
Magic 20 yrs old 36 mpg
Lamar 20 yrs old 36 mpg
Carmelo 19 yrs old 37 mpg
A Dantley 20 yrs old 38 mpg
D Rose 20 yrs old 37 mpg
John Wall 20 yrs old 38 mpg
Eric Gordon 20 yrs old 35 mpg
Isiah Thomas 20 years old (the good one) 34 mpg
Joe Smith 20 yrs old 35 mpg
Chris Bosh 19 yrs old 34 mpg
C Webb 2o yrs old 34 mpg
Dwight Howard 19 yrs old 33 mpg
Westbrook 20 yrs old 33 mpg
Towns 20 yrs old 32 mpg
Brandon Jennings 20 yrs old 33 mpg



I'll stop at 33 minutes per game because there's a whole pile of them between 30 mpg and 32 and I don't want to list them all, the point being it's far more the norm for rookies to play more than 30 minutes a game than it is a rarity.. DLO is number 281 on the list

And a whole other bucket load of guys at age 21...

Just for fun

Wilt as a rookie played 46 minutes per game, Kareem 43

[AcecardZ]

That list is full of 20 and 21 year old rookies. C'mon bro!



Edit:
Marbury was 19 and played 34 mins a game!

[Ingrambility]

A certain hall of fame shooting guard played 31 minutes a game as a 21 year old rookie... Ray Allen

Another hall of fame shooting guard only played 15.5 minutes per game as an 18 year old rookie... He played 26 minutes per game as a 19 year old... Kobe

I don't think the D'Angelo Russell minutes per game argument has much merit.

I think consistency could be argued...seemed like while dlo did avg 28mins it felt sporatic especially the 1st 3/4 of the season and he never seemed to be in thegms in the 4th qtr even if we were being blown out

[GeorgeDillion]

That list is full of 20 and 21 year old rookies. C'mon bro!



Edit:
Marbury was 19 and played 34 mins a game!

It also doesn't factor in that only three rookies this season played over 30 mpg
Towns 32.0, Mudiay 30.4 and Okafor 30.0

Russell was second among rookie pg in mpg with 28.2 behind Mudiay by 2.2 mpg that's really not that drastic.
Among pg with 3 years of experience or less Russell came in 4th behind Lillard (35.7), Mudiay (30.4) and Payton (29.4).
He also came in tied at 24 in mpg for PGs with Jrue Holiday.

Was Russell used incorrectly last season yes. But the minutes argument was always just a talking point.

[gts1]

It also doesn't factor in that only three rookies this season played over 30 mpg
Towns 32.0, Mudiay 30.4 and Okafor 30.0

That's because he asked...

Are there many examples of 19 year old rookies getting more than 28 minutes a game?