Game 68: Los Angeles Lakers (20-47) @ Houston Rocketts (46-21) - 8:00 PM ET

[crazyeights]

Yeah, this team is going to outrun everyone or they're going to be a mediocre and ugly offensive team... Unfortunately, moving the ball well is only half of the equation... You need to be an above average defensive team to have a good pace...

Clarkson pushes the ball... Russell walks the ball down, shouts at everyone what to do... Dribbles... Dribbles some more and then tries to pass into an instant assist. He's good at it... Like a poor man's CP3... But that's not what this team needs... This season. In a couple seasons, that might be a better fit...

So there's another double-edged sword here too.... Russell's defining characteristic as a PG is his 'craftiness'... He uses pace adjustment to create space and throw off defenders... He's not explosive enough to take people off the dribble and create space so he hesitates a bit to get them on their heels first and then pops off them... That's what he's (really) good at... But that also slows down the offense, and impedes ball movement.

For Russell's gifts to be maximized we need to surround him with at least 1 absolutely light's out catch and shoot guy... Preferably someone who also can lock down the perimeter on D, and a dynamic scorer who can create his own shot, along with a defensive anchor in the paint who can also get up and down the court... That could be Ingram, Randle, and Zubac in a year or so... But they need to buy into it... Ingram can't hit the side of the barn, Randle's not committed to playing defense, and Zubac's not quite in NBA shape yet... SO this season is all about D and speed... And we have no D... So Walton is trying to get the pace up...
I think that's why we're trying the JC thing... And in all honesty, from what I saw, I thought the offense looked better when JC was pushing. Just like it looked better early in the season when Ingram was handling the ball in transition and pushing it...

If that's the case then why not play DAR as SG off-ball and have Clarkson push?

You can't say defense, because we started Nick Young who aside from maybe training camp has been one of our worst defenders.

Because a Shooting Guard should be able to shoot? Russell is 100th in the league among guards that play significant minutes in TS%... Although JC is better over all, he's worse from outside... Young was 18th.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&per_minute_base=36&per_poss_base=100&type=advanced&season_start=1&season_end=-1&lg_id=NBA&age_min=0&age_max=99&is_playoffs=N&height_min=0&height_max=99&year_min=2017&year_max=2017&birth_country_is=Y&as_comp=gt&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&force%3Apos_is=1&qual=mp_per_g_req&c6mult=1.0&order_by=ts_pct

Slava had posted this earlier in the thread:

Here's a radical thought, why not play them together even if you reduce Russell's usage enough to just use him as a spot up shooter and decoy? Russell's 3 pt% off corner 3s is 47.5%, he is a better shooter than Young when he plays off the ball and he actually knows how to cut and move to get himself open spot up shots. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work and you lose games, so what? You are already losing by 40, what difference does it even make?

Nick shot 0-7 from 3 yesterday anyway. He's been awful since the All-Star break. His TS% is .476%.

If we're simply talking about pace, then I'd take into account the fact that D'Angelo has 21 steals since the all-star break. Nick has 4. Sure he had a lot of turnovers this game, but we'd be playing him off-ball.

[Kilroy]

If that's the case then why not play DAR as SG off-ball and have Clarkson push?

You can't say defense, because we started Nick Young who aside from maybe training camp has been one of our worst defenders.

Because a Shooting Guard should be able to shoot? Russell is 100th in the league among guards that play significant minutes in TS%... Although JC is better over all, he's worse from outside... Young was 18th.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&per_minute_base=36&per_poss_base=100&type=advanced&season_start=1&season_end=-1&lg_id=NBA&age_min=0&age_max=99&is_playoffs=N&height_min=0&height_max=99&year_min=2017&year_max=2017&birth_country_is=Y&as_comp=gt&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&force%3Apos_is=1&qual=mp_per_g_req&c6mult=1.0&order_by=ts_pct

Slava had posted this earlier in the thread:

Here's a radical thought, why not play them together even if you reduce Russell's usage enough to just use him as a spot up shooter and decoy? Russell's 3 pt% off corner 3s is 47.5%, he is a better shooter than Young when he plays off the ball and he actually knows how to cut and move to get himself open spot up shots. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work and you lose games, so what? You are already losing by 40, what difference does it even make?

Nick shot 0-7 from 3 yesterday anyway. He's been awful since the All-Star break. His TS% is .476%.

If we're simply talking about pace, then I'd take into account the fact that D'Angelo has 21 steals since the all-star break. Nick has 4. Sure he had a lot of turnovers this game, but we'd be playing him off-ball.

But you can't simply take the ball out of a player like Russell's hands and expect his production to stay the same or improve... Like Ty said, it's about chemistry...

I honestly don't care about what position he plays or the lineup he's in... That doesn't seem to be the core issue right now.

[crazyeights]

If our goal is chemistry we've been blown out twice.

If our goal is showcasing JC/JR we've been blown out twice.

Really, whatever the goal was--aside from tanking--it's been a bad last two games.

[kblo247]

Russell wants to run the offense his way.
Russell can make a bigger impact in the game as a scoring first two guard.
Russell, however, has developed a tendency to stop the offense everytime he gets it (unless he is shooting right away)and resets it up killin any pace, ball movement, or flow to the offense that Walton is trying to produce.

It is okay to pass the ball when it doesn't directly lead to an assist.

Russell really has no leg to stand on as a scoring sg, basically Kobes old role. The guy has not scored 20 points or more but 15x this year. He doesn't average anything but two free throws to offset shooting 40%, which is needed when you shoot poor, ask Iverson. He has to show and inkling of being able to get buckets

I really get annoyed by Russell's inability to get to a line especially when he spent two years playing with Lou. He picked nothing up: hats problematic for me, as much as Randle not picking up how to defend by watching Mwp. It makes you question their hoop iq imo

[iamworthy]

If our goal is chemistry we've been blown out twice.

If our goal is showcasing JC/JR we've been blown out twice.

Really, whatever the goal was--aside from tanking--it's been a bad last two games.

Can't remember where I read our heard this but someone said if you are trying to trade Russell you're tanking his value and if you are trying to keep Russell you're tanking his confidence.

[kblo247]

If our goal is chemistry we've been blown out twice.

If our goal is showcasing JC/JR we've been blown out twice.

Really, whatever the goal was--aside from tanking--it's been a bad last two games.

Can't remember where I read our heard this but someone said if you are trying to trade Russell you're tanking his value and if you are trying to keep Russell you're tanking his confidence.

And if Russell can't take it mentally or beat out Jc when we were losing anyhow, he should go. I mean damn, did you feel the need to coddle Kobe when Eddie Jones or Rick Fox would start over him even when he played well? I know I didn't watching him from day one because he wasn't built like that. The same goes for young guys like McGrady, Jermaine O'Neal, Rasheed Lewis in Seattle, KG when he was a little twig out of high school, and so on who had to earn their time, shots, minutes and role by showing up and out working people to actually force their way to all stardom

[Spens1]

Are you sure that's "nothing" though? And if you are, my next question is what do you think he has to "gain" right now, in this current situation? How 'bout the team?

Humble pie by not playing minutes really.

D-League may be a step too far in the other direction, cause he'd play basketball, but meaningless basketball.

I see, you want him humble but not too humble, and you want him in the way of Clarkson and Randle's "glory".

The mission, as I see it being played out, is give the ball to Clarkson and Randle (for, I think, obvious reasons), and Russell, as presently constituted, like I said, is kinda just in the way of that mission. If he's not shooting too much, taking shots from those two, he may be pouting, which is almost equally as bad.

Look, don't get it twisted, I want Russell around long term more than Clarkson and Randle, but this is just like tanking to me.

Tanking, in the traditional sense, is an organization hoping to lose by creating the "best" environment to accomplish that end.

This type of tanking, the type I'm proposing, is merely, strategically, sending guys away so that you can boost the value of another guy.

It's not "meaningless"; it's just desperate.

you want him motivated, not even more disengaged. If he has some desire for basketball, being on the bench whilst seeing Clarkson and Randle get minutes will fire him up.