How you spin a terrible SL into a "best in the draft" thread based on his performance in this game is a quite a reach.

Amazingly, his 1/4 performance from the 3pt line improved his SL % from about 7% to 12%.

Still think he will turn things around, but this game tells you very little. Would have been noteworthy if he had 21 assists.

LA now has 3 combo guards and no PG, from what I can see.

technomaster wrote:I would've loved to pair Russell with Calderon. :)

That is a defensive disaster in our bsckcourt

EnySpree wrote:Russell is a very selfish basketball player for a guy that showed great passing skill in college. He took shots trying to shoot himself outta his funk. That just showed what type of basketball player he is. He's absolutely not a point guard. He's very slow. No lateral quickness. His defense is poor and he can't get into the paint. He's soft and doesn't like contact. He plays like a 19 year old punk.

Now you can't throw him away at 19, but you need to see what the kid is now and be realistic about his future. He's a year or so away from seriously contributing. He's going to have a subpar rookie year unless they put him out there and let him shot when he wants to. Not sure if Kobe is going to deal with that. Byron Scott is an old school guy too so I dunno if he's going to allow that either.

One thing that can be said about the Lakers taking Russell is that they did their due diligence in making the selection.

OK4, Mudiay, and Russell were all brought in for second workouts. Remember reading that OK4's was worse than his first. Recall something about them putting Mudiay up against 2nd round talent and watching them play, but Russell and Mudiay never went 1/1.

I think the Lakers wanted any excuse to take OK4, but were disappointed.

They obviously did not see enough from Mudiay to take him at #2.

Time will tell.

Knicks1969 wrote:Is still the best player in this draft in my opinion. He went off for 20+ points and was a lot more decisive with the ball. If LA use him the way they should, he will be the ROY. It all depends on who he shares the back court with. Clarkston is not the ideal late for him, because he is not a PG

Good luck with that projection. He was by far the most disappointing top rookie in Vegas. Took 20 shots to get 20 points, I don't believe he even got to the foul line last night.

Big deal to me is he's a non-factor defensively. With KP the Knicks have both a big time offensive diamond in the rough and an immediate defensive impact.

earthmansurfer wrote:

meloanyk wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:Is still the best player in this draft in my opinion. He went off for 20+ points and was a lot more decisive with the ball. If LA use him the way they should, he will be the ROY. It all depends on who he shares the back court with. Clarkston is not the ideal late for him, because he is not a PG

21 pts on twenty shots, only 1 assist and three turnovers. So may people seem to want him to be a big star. Im happy with KP

No kidding, I noticed the 1 assist to. For a guy with great vision, don't tell me his teammates were missing.
Not saying he won't become a special player, but let's not make his summer league into something more than it is.

I take our very own Unicorn! (KP)

If you watched the games, you would notice how many times he passed the ball to his teammates and they either bricked or turn it over. That kid is a special player, and time will prove it. The makeup of the back court as it is currently constituted will not work.

Shame, since the Lakers will probably feed him to the wolves his first season, since they're desperate to appease Kobe in what could be his send off season.

I shudder at the amount of Bile Russell will have on his face the moment he passes over an open Kobe to shoot a contested jumper and bricks it...JLin could tell him all about it!