IF LAKERS' RUSSELL MADE AVAILABLE, C'S COULD 'PIQUE INTEREST'

There's probably writers for 20 teams who are writing similar articles about their team trading for Russell.
The Lakers might be tempted by the #4 pick and Smart for Russell, but I still don't think LA would make that trade.

This was a mistake by Russell. The video was not supposed to be made public. Russell has apologized to the team and Nick Young. This will be a big time lesson learned for Russell.

bob,

I have to disagree about the future of the Lakers.
There was a report out recently about some unnamed execs from other teams and they agreed that Russell is a potential star while Randle will be in a supporting role.

That was a very needed win for the Lakers last night especially after the Utah blow out and the D'Angelo mess.

This will blow over soon and it will help D'Angelo grow up quickly.

The little that I've watched the Lakers, Randle hasn't impressed me. He seems undersized, not particularly athletic, and overwhelmed against better players. Russell has seemed hot and cold, capable of bursts of really good offense but afflicted by a lack of defensive effort and consistent play overall, which I suppose is to be expected for such a young rookie.

This video mess will taint Russell's career for a good long while, but I do think it will eventually blow over, at least to the point that he can resume his career. Nick Young will be gone, Russell will stay, and the other players will have to adapt to that reality or they'll be gone, too. What other choice do the Lakers have? They can't get decent value for him in trade, because they'd be looking for a franchise building block in return.

I agree that Randle has not yet looked like a franchise savior, but he is still very young and may eventually become a great player for the Lakers to build around.

Thoughts on the Cs trading anything but maybe James Young and a second round draft pick for Russell goes above my interest in this guy.

If he is not the ultimate prima donna so far in his career he is certainly off to a GREAT start to earn this trophy.

I understand that he may be able to learn to adjust his ways as (if?) he matures, but with the Cs looking to compete for banner #18 within the next few years, I do not want them to be the team that has to "teach" this guy how to be a good teammate and pro player. Marcus Smart may never be Russell's equal at the offensive end, but I will take him on my team every single day over Russell.

the Nets pick AND Smart?


good one

way to try to stock your team at the Celtics expense there.....LOL.

I know, you have to try!

kdp59 wrote:the Nets pick AND Smart?


good one

way to try to stock your team at the Celtics expense there.....LOL.

I know, you have to try!

If the Lakers traded Russell to Boston, who would be the Lakers point guard of the future?
Kris Dunn? No thanks.
Marcus Smart is not Boston's point guard of the future.

tjmakz wrote:

kdp59 wrote:the Nets pick AND Smart?


good one

way to try to stock your team at the Celtics expense there.....LOL.

I know, you have to try!

If the Lakers traded Russell to Boston, who would be the Lakers point guard of the future?
Kris Dunn? No thanks.
Marcus Smart is not Boston's point guard of the future.

Rondo!

Laker fans booed Russell from the start of last night's game, but when he made a big bucket to help secure a win over Washington, they cheered him. Time, and playing well, will lead to forgiveness from the fans. Who knows, maybe this whole episode will accelerate his maturation process.

Whether he stays with the Lakers will be determined by his play more than anything. An offseason below the radar and a fresh start next season will do him wonders.

Great idea..we are in desperate need of another point guard.

Dboss

BobH: "Scott, or one of his staff, should have stepped in and pulled Russell aside and told him he needed to fix this IMMEDIATELY."

There's no easy, or even possible fix for such a bad transgression. Total scumbag move on Russell's part. And there were already huge "trust issues" with Russell even before this. One could argue "maturity" had little to do with it, or at least that there are underlying character issues that go way beyond immaturity. Obviously not a natural leader. Like Rondo, who slept with his teammate/roommate's girlfriend in college. No wonder nobody in Kentucky had anything good to say about him.

The first huge red flag for me with Russell was when he declared himself the best player in last year's draft. Most people thought that was a sign of great confidence, but I thought it was a sign of great arrogance. He's not even really an NBA level athlete.

Then he shows up to Summer League and Training camp out of shape, thinking he's already made it and the NBA is going to be cake. No clue that his athleticism wasn't nearly up to snuff, and unfortunately for him, it probably never will be.

Russell wasn't even on the draft radar screen when his college season started. But he had a hot start against non-conference opponents, and a good season the rest of the way. But he struggled against nba level defenders, and we've seen him struggle on both ends of the court against good athletes/defenders.


Now, Ben Simmons is close friends with Russell, and they played together in high school. I have the same big questions about Simmons' intangibles as I did about Russell's. I don't think Simmons has a leadership bone in his body. Even the Australian National team doesn't like him, and he's their best player.

Simmons basically quit on his LSU team, stopped playing defense even in do-or-die games, and couldn't leave LSU fast enough.

Just about the worst thing for a team is a ball-dominant guy who is a terrible leader who teammates don't play all out for. We saw this with Rondo both before the Big 3 era and from 2012-2015, when it became "Rondo's team". The Celtics played better without Rondo in three straight seasons from 2012-2015. After Rondo's knee injury in 12-13, before Rondo's return in 13-14, and after Rondo got traded in 15-16.

Now Rondo is back to playing zero defense but putting up stats in SAC. It's like he has a deal with Karl that Karl won't ask Rondo to play defense, and Rondo will support Karl and lobby for him not to get fired.

Now, maybe Stevens can reach Ben Simmons and all would be well if we drafted him, but I've seen more than enough warning signs to make me doubt that the TEAM performance over multiple seasons would actually improve with Simmons playing a big role. Even though Simmons would put up good stats like Rondo did. Plenty of triple doubles, but how many wins? How hard would the rest of the team play on defense? How well would the ball move with Simmons on the team?

As far as Russell, I don't want him. Let him put up empty stats elsewhere. He's already shown he's an MVP level chemistry destroyer.

Bone, The Celtics won a championship and contended for a another with Rondo running the point.  Ball dominance and leader are two mutually exclusive concepts.

I do agree that Rondo plays zero defense except for averaging 2 steals per game.  I assume someone just accidentally throws him the ball a couple of time per game and the  6 rebounds he averages, 4.9 off the defensive glass is sometimes considered a defensive stat but I am sure that in his case it is him stealing rebounds from his teammates

And you can see that without him slowing down the pace the Celtics have turned into a high scoring efficient offense except for the fact that the Kings score more points per game than we do and they shoot at a higher percentage.

As far as the kid Russell is concerend, he made a mistakes.  It is not the end of the world and he still seems to have enough talent to become an outstanding PG.

Also Simmons only went to LSU because the assistant coach played ball with his father.  Besides, if not for the stupid restriction on letting high school ballers play in the NBA, he would not have gone to college in the first place.  I do not know how many LSU games you watched but that is a very poorly coached team.  Despite questions about his attitude Simmons did quite well for a freshman averaging 19.2 PPG, 11.8 Rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.0 steals.

dboss

SAC's offense and defense are both better with Rondo off the court vs on the court. Especially their defense.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/rondora01/on-off/2016/

That's why Rondo has one of the worst +/- on the team:
http://stats.nba.com/league/player/?ls=iref:nba:gnav#!/?Season=2015-16&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=1610612758&sort=PLUS_MINUS&dir=1

If your idea of good defense is gambing for the steal every time, and coming up with a couple steals a game, you probably wish Rondo was still here, putting up triple doubles while we win 33% of our games.

Simmons, like Rondo and Russell, shows no heart on defense. Surround Simmons with 3 hall of famers and he'll probably be fine. Anything less, and he'll show no heart, in all likelihood.

And while he might put up stats and triple doubles, his team's actual record will likely suck, just like his pre-season top 25 LSU Tigers.

arambone wrote:SAC's offense and defense are both better with Rondo off the court vs on the court. Especially their defense.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/rondora01/on-off/2016/

That's why Rondo has one of the worst +/- on the team:
http://stats.nba.com/league/player/?ls=iref:nba:gnav#!/?Season=2015-16&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=1610612758&sort=PLUS_MINUS&dir=1

If your idea of good defense is gambing for the steal every time, and coming up with a couple steals a game, you probably wish Rondo was still here, putting up triple doubles while we win 33% of our games.

Simmons, like Rondo and Russell, shows no heart on defense. Surround Simmons with 3 hall of famers and he'll probably be fine. Anything less, and he'll show no heart, in all likelihood.

And while he might put up stats and triple doubles, his team's actual record will likely suck, just like his pre-season top 25 LSU Tigers.

Calm down buddy..take a deep breath.  I was kidding about Rondo's defense.  But you did say he plays zero defense which is actually not factual.  Every player that tries to steal the ball is gambling.  That is not the problem with his defense.  the problem is that he refuses to put himself within 5 feet of the offensive player.    Rondo used to be a very good defensive player and I think he made the all defensive team before.  That had nothing to do with the 3 hall of famers particularly considering that 2 of them never played defense either (Pierce and Allen)

In all likelihood you have no earthly idea how Simmons will play.   And it is too early to predict how Russell will play although i suspect he will not be a great defender.  There are a lot of players in the NBA that do not play good defense.

dboss

my bad

bone

We both agree that rondo is a horrible defensive player.

dboss