D’Angelo Russell Was The Wrong Pick In LA
- Updated: December 6, 2015
For pretty much the entirety of the 2014-15 college basketball season, Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Duke’s Jahlil Okafor were viewed as the prospective first and second picks in the NBA Draft. But in the weeks leading up to the draft, Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell got an almost-bizarre surge in hype. It was bolstered by reportedly strong performances in pre-draft workouts and the perception that there wasn’t a better guard in the class. The result, as we now know, is that the Lakers grabbed Russell with the second pick with Okafor still on the board.
The rookie guard had a rough summer league and preseason, and a very slow start to the season as well. But in recent games, he’s been playing a little bit better and media members and fans alike are being a little kinder to him than they were a month ago. The LA Times did a write-up of Russell’s progress following a recent Lakers game against the Wizard, and suggested that the young point guard is continuing to learn and improve. The tone was that after a steep learning curve early on, Russell is managing to settle in and play some steady basketball.
Incidentally, Russell has also moved into a position among rookies where he’s already regarded more competitively than he was after his first few games went poorly. Discarded early on as a non-factor compared to the rest of the class, Russell is now making a little bit of noise among his peers. Betfair has a running list of the best odds for the various rookies to take home Rookie of the Year honors. And at this point, Russell trails only six rookies: Towns, Okafor, Emmanuel Mudiay, Kristaps Porzingis, and somewhat strangely, Frank Kaminsky and Delon Wright. Russell is almost certainly not going to win the award, particularly with Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour likely to limit the rookie’s minutes a bit. However, his placement in that company speaks to his improving legitimacy.
But even with the increasingly optimistic outlook for Russell, it’s become clearer over the course of the season that he was the wrong pick for the Lakers. That’s not to say he won’t become a steadily productive NBA player, but he wasn’t the right fit given five things we know now.
1. Jahlil Okafor Is A Franchise Center
Granted, at this moment anyone who didn’t draft Okafor might feel a little bit relieved, because he currently looks like a problem. A few altercations with fans and a dramatic speeding ticket haven’t done much for the big man’s reputation. But on the court, he’s been every bit as good as advertised and shows the promise of a guy who can score 20 points per game for 15 years. And the reputation shouldn’t take too big a hit; Okafor has never been a problem in the past and is dealing with a very rough transition to a tough city and losing environment. In all likelihood he’ll straighten out and become a force the Lakers would love to have paired with Julius Randle inside.
2. Kristaps Porzingis Is The Real Deal
The awkward, towering Latvian combo forward that went to the Knicks on draft night has been fairly phenomenal thus far. He would have been a strange fit in LA given Randle’s hold on the power forward position, but Porzingis might be the best talent in the draft. And when you’re rebuilding like the Lakers, talent is the most important thing.
3. The Lakers Have A Point Guard
No one seemed to take Jordan Clarkson seriously when he quietly had a terrific rookie season in 2014-15, but he has probably been even better this season. He’s shown that he could be a long-term solution as the Lakers point guard. As mentioned, talent is the most important thing, but drafting a creator when one of the only two spots on your roster that’s spoken for is the point guard position seems like poor planning.
4. Better Shooting Guards Were There Later
If the plan was for D’Angelo Russell to be a sort of combo guard alongside Clarkson as Kobe Bryant eases out of the NBA, then the Lakers should have considered trading down and grabbing a better shooting guard with a later pick. Guys like Stanley Johnson, Devin Booker, and even Jerian Grant would all have been there later. They could all develop into shooting guards every bit as effective as Russell looks like he’ll be.
5. Justise Winslow Is Going To Win Games
A rebuilding team needs winners, and Miami rookie Justise Winslow is just that. It’s been suggested that his defense alone is vital for Miami, and many have talked about how great his +/- statistics have been. His offensive game needs time to catch up, but Winslow is the kind of tough, defensive-minded, winning presence that any team in the Lakers’ position can use to establish a culture. Trading down for Winslow would have been a better call than picking Russell.
Again, none of this is to suggest Russell won’t be a good player. But for all these reasons, he still looks like he was the wrong selection for LA.
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