Russ has almost never tried on defense, that’s a total myth. He’s one of the laziest players ever when it comes to that, a zero effort guy basically. Probably the most physically gifted defensive guard ever (maybe jordan would be ahead) and mostly has been bad to horrific
It'll work out with Luka and Irving. The main problem with Russ isn't that, it's that he was reliant on his explosiveness and he just doesn't have that consistently anymore. He was a fastbreak demon and could finish with the best of them making him a threat on the court but he's not that anymore. He's not a threat offensively much anymore. His best role now in the NBA is being a pure energy guy, leading a 2nd unit of shooters or something