6'5 with a 6'9 wingspan

The #s are eye popping but the video doesnt paint the most fluid athlete.

That being said he's one of 4 guys who have set themselves above the rest in CBB right now. Those being Ok4, Looney, and Turner
http://www.basketballanalyticsbook.com/

We are about halfway through the college season. Below is a chart illustrating how the best college prospects rate thus far. Potential prospects for the 2015 draft are presented on the right. For comparison, I have included some examples from past draft classes on the left.

Jahlil Okafor, D’Angelo Russell, and Kevin Looney have improved significantly since the last update (found here). All three are highly touted freshman. It is no surprise that their production is improving as they continue acclimate to the college game. Looney is fortunate that we ran this update after his 27 point, 19 rebound performance against Stanford on January 8th.

Texas center Myles Turner was the highest rated prospect in the last update. (He was also the highest rated prospect on Layne Vashro’s most recent projections.) He rates well again in CPR at 7.5. At this stage, Turner, Okafor, Russell, and Looney have distinguished themselves from the rest of the pack.

Possible 2015 first overall pick Karl Towns is in that pack and far from an elite rating. Towns rates very well in blocks, but rates as average or below average in comparison to other top prospects in other categories. The caliber of his teammates is a factor here. Kentucky has so many options that they are giving Towns less than 20 minutes and fewer than 6 FGA a game.

I consider a score above 10 on the CPR scale as projecting elite performance at the NBA level. In fact, outside of Greg Oden, whose career was derailed by injuries, and Jabari Parker, who was just drafted in 2014, we have not found a player that scored above 10 and not developed into a top NBA talent. At this time, no player from the 2015 class has reached the critical (and round number biased) cutoff of 10. That may change by season’s end.

fitzfarm wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:That dude reminds me a lot of Marc Jackson. He is just a taller version

Who shoots the ball a lot better then mark, Russell would be a awesome pick up I would not be upset one bit.. He's a future star in this league

And he's a handsome mofo too

WaltLongmire wrote:Things will get sorted out as the year progresses. Looks like there are a number of decent prospects, depending on how the lottery balls bounce for us.

Just a thought- for what it's worth, the two most significant superstars Jackson had as focal points on his championship teams were 6'4"-6'6"
shooting guards who were also excellent distributors of the ball and defenders.

I also think that if you are Phil and considering Anthony to be a foundation of your tenure, you are going to want the most NBA ready player, I would think.

I think you take the player who is the BPA regardless of his being 6-1 or 7-2 PG SG C. Would Phil pass on Derek Rose just because hes 6-1 to draft a guy who's 6-5? Then he shouldnt be in that position.

talk yo **** you pretty mofo

fishmike wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:This kid can be special..I hope some on this board can STOP suggesting wasting money on guys like Lin or Dragic and focus more on how to go bout drafting this young talented PG. Is there something g wrong with his knee?

Dragic is good... but yea if we draft a young guard like this I would spend money elsewhere than Dragic. Draft a wing, buy some size... that would work

This kid is younger and perhaps much more coachable. As a young coach, it is easier to mold a young PG then one who was coached by many different coaches. Draft this young dude and spend the available money to replenish our bench and to find an excellent proven two-way 6'6"-6'8" SG (Leonard, Butler, etc).

fishmike wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:Can Fisher coach this young dude?

who knows... all we can go by is the fact that NBA players and the stars he has played with look up to him. Kobe and Durant both regard him as one of their biggest influences and those are just two. He ran the NBPA as well.

This insane notion that you spread that this guy cant coach and never will be able to after seeing his "work" with this roster is just that. Insane. Dude's been a positive influence and highly regarded in every circle he's been in. Phil picked him and was transparent in his reasons.

I can't even take the criticism of Fisher seriously anymore. He's not the 1st rookie coach to look shaky. Overall he's going to grow into the job. How soon people forget how shaky Spoelstra looked when he 1st started. In addition the Triangle is one of the harder systems to teach and Fisher had a roster full of low IQ guys and injuries. It's going to make any coach look like he's not any good.

Back to the point of the thread. I would think Fish would have plenty to impart to a young guard like D. Russell. If we don't land Okafor I would be happy with a kid like Russell. He seems to really fill up the boxscore for a guard.