D'Angelo Russell Projections

[Derento]

DLO is going be good player he's already shown what he can do. Lakers are lucky to have him. If he irons out his shot and gets it up to a higher level and improves his decision making sky's the limit.
Harden,Curry,Westbrook weren't stars from day one.

[georgy33]

DLO is going be good player he's already shown what he can do. Lakers are lucky to have him. If he irons out his shot and gets it up to a higher level and improves his decision making sky's the limit.
Harden,Curry,Westbrook weren't stars from day one.

Harden was the 6th man of the year in his third year in the league,Curry shoots 40% from 3 from his first year in the league and Westbrook have athleticism wich Russell will never rich.I don't say Russell is a bad player, he might be good as a 2-3 option,but he definetely not a franchise player

[LakersSoul]

You never know what the future might hold as you have only seen glimpses of what Dlo is capable of. The big obstacle will be if he has the hunger and desire to take it to the next level and truly be a star.

Right now, I say BI is a potential franchise player and a lot of this summer and next summer will cement that. As for Dlo, this was his first true year to shine and he showed what he is capable of. He will have to take it another step over the summer and become less error prone and more consistent night in and night out. I wish Dlo would have also taken up on Kobe's offer but he is his own master so he decided instead he will be doing it his way. He has already been the last one at night practicing whether he has a 40 point night or 8 point night. That says a lot about his character.

[Princeinrevolt]

D'angelo would easily average 7+ assists a night if he had teammates that can shoot threes. He finds way too many open players that can't make shots for their lives.

[MelosSoreWrist]

DLO is going be good player he's already shown what he can do. Lakers are lucky to have him. If he irons out his shot and gets it up to a higher level and improves his decision making sky's the limit.
Harden,Curry,Westbrook weren't stars from day one.

Harden was the 6th man of the year in his third year in the league,Curry shoots 40% from 3 from his first year in the league and Westbrook have athleticism wich Russell will never rich.I don't say Russell is a bad player, he might be good as a 2-3 option,but he definetely not a franchise player

I'm not committed either way on Russell yet, or ingram for that matter. I'd like another season of Russell and Ingram before deciding on their future with the Lakers, but I'm not against trading them for stars/fringe superstars.

That said, its hard to judge Russell on his 2nd year, 20 year old season verses Harden's 22 year old 3rd year in the league season and Steph Currys 21 year old rookie season. Harden came out as a sophomore and Curry a junior. I'm of the opinion those years make a huge difference. Im not saying Russell will ever be as good as Harden or Curry but the comparisons of the early years arent parallel.

On a tangent, the comparison I find interesting in this draft is Josh Jackson vs Brandon Ingram. Jackson is 6 months older than Ingram and looks to be much more physically developed. People are fawning over him considering him for the 1st pick, I wonder how good Ingram wouldve looked in college this year offensively and defensively.

[B-Scott]

DLO is going be good player he's already shown what he can do. Lakers are lucky to have him. If he irons out his shot and gets it up to a higher level and improves his decision making sky's the limit.
Harden,Curry,Westbrook weren't stars from day one.

Harden was the 6th man of the year in his third year in the league,Curry shoots 40% from 3 from his first year in the league and Westbrook have athleticism wich Russell will never rich.I don't say Russell is a bad player, he might be good as a 2-3 option,but he definetely not a franchise player

Only 12 year olds think having exceptional athletic ability is most important as a guard. Chris Paul, is not very athletic. Yesterday, he never flat out blew by our guards. He got high screens and knocked down the mid-range jumper. He never just blew by any of the Lakers guards. Paul, will sometimes dribble for 15 seconds, before finding his shot. You rarely see him just blowing by a defender off the initial dribble.

Steph Curry, is not extremely athletic. He uses his ball handling to create separation and his shot. Plus he gets a ton of screens set for him. Not every guard has to be as athletic as Westbrook to be successful in the NBA

Ball handling as a PG is the key to getting by defenders and getting your shot off. You don't need 4.2 40 yard dash speed or a 40 inch vertical. Only an 8th grader thinks that. The game today. Did you notice when Lakers set the high screen Russell blew by Tony Allen and Mike Conley jr with ease?

If you got handles... you can get by the defender. If you can cross-over with both hands.... you can get past the defender. If you got hesitation moves, you can get past the defender. If you can use all of this and knock down the step back jumper. Your playing the defender like a puppet

[SashaTheMachine]

Watch on YouTube

[Slava]

Didn't even realize he had 28 yesterday, he was terrible in the first quarter and missed gimmies all game long. I remember BI being so aggressive yet only had like 13 points. D'Angelo is effortless as a scorer.

[AcecardZ]

In today's "for what little it's worth department" D'angelo Russell has a 15.2 PER this season. The same PER Russell Westbrook had at the same age.

[TheHartBreakKid]

lol....so James Harden was a six man of the year in his third year, so D'ngelo, who is still in his second year, isn't on track to be a superstar player? What sense does that make.....Dlo's numbers current numbers are way better than Harden's second season numbers. It's really not even close. 6MOY harden played 31 minutes a game btw......give current Dlo 31 minutes a game for the whole season and his numbers are as good, if not better, as Harden's 6MOY numbers....and that was his third season compared to Dlo's second .


Look, it would be really biased of me to say that Dlo will be as good as Harden, or even that he has a good chance to be as good as him. Harden improved a lot from his 2nd and 3rd year version.... and Dlo has to make similiar improvements to ever get on that level. I'm just saying, as this stage of his career, Dlo is as good, and arguable better than, James Harden was at the same point. I just don't understand how some of our own fans aren't excited about this kids future.....he has a long way to go, especially in terms of consistency, and maturity, but for a 21 year old he's been more than promising, imo, and hasn't done anything to show that he doesn't have number one option superstar potential. Whether he reaches that potential, of course, is a whole other story

[AcecardZ]

D'angelo should be fine. There was a while where I was wishing we had taken Porz but I'm happy with our pick. People are just a little too consumed with winning right now. The W's will come.

As far as needing wins to attract big name free agents I'm not sure I agree. Lebron went to a lousy Cleveland team. Durant caught a miracle with the salary cap increase or I'm pretty sure he's still in OKC with Westy.

What other big names players have moved recently turning a decent team into a contender? Al Horford maybe? There hasn't been many and there's a good chance it stays that way.

We could have easily won more games this year so if having a higher win total was the key to getting us the players we need Moz and Deng would be starting every night.

We've had three lottery picks and two out of the three appear to be on paths to be very good players. The third isn't horrible and who knows where he'd be if he hadn't missed his rookie season due to injury?

We get good productivity from Nance, Zubac and Clarkson. Seriously, what team has done better with their late first and second round picks?

I think the team is in pretty good shape. They'll be in great shape if they can keep their lottery pick. Super young but super talented. I don't see anything wrong with that.

In two or three years the team should be right where we want it to be. Young, talented and in position to make the playoffs for years to come and if we can find a unicorn along the way, via draft or free agency, we may even be able to contend for a championship or two.

[Pythagoras]

DLO is going be good player he's already shown what he can do. Lakers are lucky to have him. If he irons out his shot and gets it up to a higher level and improves his decision making sky's the limit.
Harden,Curry,Westbrook weren't stars from day one.

Harden was the 6th man of the year in his third year in the league,Curry shoots 40% from 3 from his first year in the league and Westbrook have athleticism wich Russell will never rich.I don't say Russell is a bad player, he might be good as a 2-3 option,but he definetely not a franchise player

If you're going to tell me that you knew Harden was going to be a franchise player after his third year and Curry was on his way to being a franchise player after his rookie year then I'm calling you a liar. Russell may not ever be a franchise player, but at age 21/22 he's better than most guys who end up being those types of players were at 21/22.

[iamworthy]

Have we seen Russell in a laker uniform for the last time? With the unfortunate death in the family he's already excused for the next game and might miss the last game a well. The last visual of him in a laker uniform might be him hitting a game winning shot... Crazy.

[Pythagoras]

Have we seen Russell in a laker uniform for the last time? With the unfortunate death in the family he's already excused for the next game and might miss the last game a well. The last visual of him in a laker uniform might be him hitting a game winning shot... Crazy.

The Lakers aren't trading Russell this offseason

[J_LA]

Have we seen Russell in a laker uniform for the last time? With the unfortunate death in the family he's already excused for the next game and might miss the last game a well. The last visual of him in a laker uniform might be him hitting a game winning shot... Crazy.

Would be a big mistake IMO

He's shown enough to realize there is definitely something there. You don't give up on players like him 2 years into their careers. Especially considering all the different Circumstances he's faced. I'd like to see him have another full season and possibly a playoff appearance before I'm ready to move on from him as a 20 year old.
Just seems so crazy to me anyone thinks they know what he is already, Or that he's close to a finished product.

[iamworthy]

Have we seen Russell in a laker uniform for the last time? With the unfortunate death in the family he's already excused for the next game and might miss the last game a well. The last visual of him in a laker uniform might be him hitting a game winning shot... Crazy.

Someone reading my post? just messin.

Read on Twitter

[dAdo dA dEvil]

Have we seen Russell in a laker uniform for the last time? With the unfortunate death in the family he's already excused for the next game and might miss the last game a well. The last visual of him in a laker uniform might be him hitting a game winning shot... Crazy.

Someone reading my post? just messin.

Read on Twitter

This is kinda creepy. Maybe if we do land the pick I wouldn't be surprised if DLo is gone. I'm still willing to give him another season before I decide if I would like to keep him or not.

[madmaxmedia]

Comparing DLO's stats to some of these other guards in their 1st and 2nd year is very problematic for me because each of these guys is very different and has/had a different development path going forward. I don't care what the 1nd/2nd year stats of Lillard, Harden, Farmar, and DLO are, they're all such different players anyway. I will say that what the stats say is that DLO is not a lost cause, if that's how you're judging him right now. I don't really like his FG% for someone who's not a high volume shooter.

DLO is not as quick as many guards, but is a very smooth player who is good at recognizing and reacting IMO than straight out blowing by people. I think with a lot of refinement and discipline he can turn into a very good player, OTOH if he doesn't put in the work and hours in the lab he won't reach that potential. He's very much a 1.5 to me in terms of position which can be good or bad depending on the situation, the good thing is he is big enough to play the 2 and be a very nice playmaking 2.