It is very early, but it has the potential to be one of the worst picks in NBA history. It might not be Bowie over Jordan or Oden over Durant bad, but it could be lose. Russell looked lost and timid last night. It does happen to a lot of rookies in their first games. However, Russell has neither the shooting nor the athletic ability that great NBA point guards need now days. He has decent court vision, but you can't succeed based on that alone. It didn't help that the player taken after him had a historical debut for a rookie. Jahlil Okafor had 26 points, the most by a center in NBA debut since Kareem in 1969. In the second half, he had to be constantly double teamed... we are talking about a 19-year-old rookie here. [youtube]juSRVue5ch4[/youtube] Also Porzingis had 16, and Mudiay killed us with 17. Both Hezonja and Winslow looked good too. This Russell pick might haunt the Lakers for a long time.
I think D-Lo will be ok once he gets the keys to the offense next year. That being said I still don't think he'll ever be better than Jah or Manny Mudiay. <iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p_B870Px5z8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I won't condemn him yet. One game. Very young. And that team is a mess. Can't be easy being a rookie PG on a team with Swaggy P and Kobe.
too soon. Anyways he isn't like Benett. And he does have good vision and he makes some nice passes. But agreed that his athleticism puts a rather low ceiling on him for a no.2 pick. He is not fast at all and can't create separation. But he can learn to use hesitation moves to help himself. Also the coach Byron Scott is **** and his offence sux and doesn't even use Russell as he should. Oh Okafor scored against a team with the worst defensive bigs of David Lee Zeller adn fat Sully. Hold your horses before you call him the next Kareem. And his team lost by 20+ points or so. How many points he gave up on the other end?
whats with all these reactions after the first game of the season, much less a 19 yr kid playing at the highest level at the pg position in the shadows of Kobe. Philly's team sucks. of course okafor is going to have free reigns on offense. His offense for a big was well known coming in and playing against boston's bigs isnt exactly tough.
Welcome to the twitter age. We're lucky we got through one quarter without people pronouncing the verdict for an entire season to come.
His only problem is turnovers (11 last night ) but he's young. I still have him for ROY (dark horse Stanley Johnson).
The FIRE MCHALE thread was going full speed in the first quarter of the first game this season. Welcome to Clutchfans
Yeah I agree with the OP I was shocked with how bad Russell has looked the preseason, almost all draft sites described as being the almost perfect prospect able to shoot pass and iso effectively. Sure he wont be as horrible as Bennett, but his draft class was crap anyway so it didnt matter much. This draft oth is balls deep in talent, Porzingis, Okafor, Mudiay, Hezonja hell even our own Montrezl Harrell has performed better in summer league, preseason and the first game lol
If Jahlil Okafor turns to be the next great or reallly good NBA center. There's no way this pick could be defended. I'm still not seeing what made them draft Russell. He's not a bad player, but 2nd pick in draft. Someone screwed up their scouting report.
Think about Marcus Morris. He looked like hot trash for multiple uears. He is so far this season looking strong. (Bracing for regression to mean) It is way to early to write off Russell. Let him adjust to the tempo, then we can cast our judgement.
