If Russell had star potential, the star-starved Lakers would not have traded him. Dumping Mozgov was not that urgent.
They didn't clear cap space this season. They cleared the cap space in a year. i.e., not that urgent. Not a chance in hell they would trade him if they thought he would be a star. Trading a contract locked 21 year old potential star - just to dump MOZGOV in exchange for cap space in a YEAR? That's not what happened. What happened here is Russell is a pretty good young player and the Nets are starving for youth and have no picks and no prospect of being competitive soon. So the Nets were willing to take Mozgov for an inevitably departing Lopez just to get a decent young asset and take a risk of trying to develop him into something. Lakers dump a crappy contract and open up cap space. Also, the Lakers opened that space up for a 2nd star. If Russell is that guy, why bother? They could just pair Russell with the first star.
Lakers clearing space and parting with the 2nd if they get CP3 / PG13 and keep blossoming Durant clone.
CP3 They have assets!!We on the other hand have Harden and maybe , if even possible, we can add at least two 2nd tier elite players I.e. Bledsoe/ Milsap. I would rather Milsap over Anderson as a starter anyway.
Nets still have salary room to take Anderson. Better Dump him to Nets quick before Lakers call and offer them a 1st round pick to take Deng!!!
Russell is a PG, but he averages 4 assists in 28 minutes. Harden can get 4 assists in 1 quarter Russell is supposed to be "CURRY" like shooter, or at least he claims to be. But he shots 40% FG overall. 40% OVERALL!!! CHUCKER Steph shoots 45% from 3's and he takes a lot of 30 ft 3's! And then you have other issues like no one likes him. And he already welcome Ball by saying , "I can't play with Ball. I'm the PG, we don't need another PG" BYE FELICIA!! This guy is clueless like Dwight. He's just another Bust from #2 overall. I just looked at the #2 pick overall since 2000 and 6 of those guys were out of the year in less than 5 years or in China like Beasley!!!! At least he'll be better than Thabeett and Darko I say he ends up like Derrick Williams. Sitting on the bench and bouncing team to team in 5 years
I see Ryan Anderson as bigger version of JJ Redick. They bring to the table 3 point shooting, but they cannot create own shots. Both players have also troubles in playoffs. But having 3 point shooting on PF is even more important than on SG, because it is all about stretching the floor and gives opportunity for JH to penetrate the basket. And having 35% on 3pts equals 50% for 2pts, so system worked for Morey in most cases. However JJ Redick and Anderson are not reliable in clutch moments so it will be disaster if team needs their shoots to win the game. Ryan Anderson at least have decent number of rebounds so even if he misses he brings : + threat + rebounds + stretching the floor (cleaning the paint)
Trading Ryan Anderson? Do Pigs fly? Cars take water to run? Sky purple?..... without taking acid. no? then no... we arent trading Anderson.
Small sample size issues. The two years before this that Ryan was in the playoffs he shot 40% from 3.
Ryan just got married during last season, right? That adjustment might have something to do with poor play. Also, I wish someone would tell him to stop shooting 3's from 5-6 feet behind the line. You don't get more points for doing that, and he's not real good at it.
Actually Anderson's elite range is what opened up massive holes for Harden to drive as much as he did. Anderson has many weaknesses, but his range and 3-pt shooting for a PF are phenomenal.
I'm having a hard time understanding the hatred thats being thrown at Anderson by some of my fellow brethren! Anderson didn't give himself his contract, he only signed it! Mooory rolled the dice and it came up snake eyes! No, I'm not bashing Mories, he did what he thought was necessary at the time to acquire the player he thought was going to blossom alongside Harden! In hindsight we all see that he overpaid for him, but being a Monday morning quarterback is not helping the cause! GO ROCKETS!!! ....... ....... .......
two years ago he wasn't starter so there was no pressure on him and he didn't play against the best players . overall his 3-point shooting in playoffs : 2010 bench 28% 2011 bench 30% 2012 starter 40% 2015 bench 41% 2017 starter 28% but his FG% was disaster in almost every playoffs 31% 26% 34% 44% 39% General advanced from career : regular season PER : 17.00 playoffs PER : 9.0 He might have some problems in playoffs.