The Case for Russell

[bleedspeed]

Russell is awesome.

[bleedspeed]

UPSIDE
Layne Vashro wrote a similar piece for Canis Hoopus last year, in which he examined the average growth curves of both highly skilled and highly athletic prospects. Vashro found that, "unsurprisingly, the players who were better at a given skill in college were better at all ages in the NBA." This was not universally applicable, but it generally holds that players who begin as more proficient will maintain that superiority in most areas, while also improving abilities in secondary areas.


DEFENSE
In a comparison of more than 50 recent point guard prospects, Russell places above average in every defensive statistic. He is a phenomenal rebounder for a point guard, placing in the 90th percentile, rebounding 15.4% of misses. His steal and block percentages are not outstanding, but neither are they poor, as he places in the 55th to 60th percentile in both areas. None of these stats necessarily promise great things on the defensive end (and, indeed, they are not necessarily informative about current defensive ability, let alone future ability), but Russell's satisfaction of a base threshold is encouraging, nonetheless.

More promising still is his solid showing in Defensive Box Plus Minus, where he lands in the 70th percentile, at a score of 3.0. This is a good, not great showing, but considering his age, it is, again, encouraging. DBPM doesn't indubitably indicate defensive prowess, and scoring in the range that Russell did seems not to actually make any definitive statement in either direction of defensive competence. But scoring poorly in DBPM is consistently a flag that a player may not be productive in the NBA, and Russell easily scores above the threshold that would make him worrisome as a defensive prospect. It's not an enormous win for him, but it does, at the least, suggest greater ability than his reputation does.

In the case of Russell's potential, both as an overall prospect and as a defensive one, none of this provides concrete evidence that he will be great. But it does suggest that he should perhaps be evaluated slightly more optimistically than is frequently the case in both instances.

From - http://www.libertyballers.com/2015/5/23/8648417/dangelos-russells-upside-defense

[TRKO [enjin:12664595]]

Great vision and passing ability. Nice stroke. Didn't have a Winslow, Jones, Stein, Lyles, or Booker around him. He was the show and still dominated in a very solid basketball conference. He good upside. His confidence is either going to be fuel to greatness or a cancer. That needs to be researched more. I wish he were a more explosive jumper. If he had a little more explosion he would have some separation between himself and the bigs.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I still think we take a big, buy I do like the prospect of a Russell/Lavine backcourt splitting ball handling responsibilities. That's one thing I've never been a fan of Ricky's is without the ball he doesn't add much to your team so he pretty much has to have the ball in his hands to be effective. Because they both can shoot, Russell/Lavine would be nice offensive complements with one being an elite athlete and the other having great IQ and skill. It'd be a unique 1-2 punch that would be tough to stop because they both do different things that make them tough to guard and they can both shoot.

[Coolbreeze44]

Russell is awesome.

This is my favorite post of the year. :d

[GymRat [enjin:6592663]]

Russell is awesome.

This is my favorite post of the year. :d

Simple. Informative. Persuasive.

[Coolbreeze44]

Russell is awesome.

This is my favorite post of the year. :d

Simple. Informative. Persuasive.

Hahahaha, I know right?

[bleedspeed]

Russell is awesome.

This is my favorite post of the year. :d

Simple. Informative. Persuasive.

I spent a week on that one. I am glad you guys have been able to appreciate it.

[TRKO [enjin:12664595]]

Russell is awesome.

This is my favorite post of the year. :d

Simple. Informative. Persuasive.

I spent a week on that one. I am glad you guys have been able to appreciate it.

You can say more in one sentence than I can in an entire 8 paragraphs. What a wordsmith.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Great vision and passing ability. Nice stroke. Didn't have a Winslow, Jones, Stein, Lyles, or Booker around him. He was the show and still dominated in a very solid basketball conference. He good upside. His confidence is either going to be fuel to greatness or a cancer. That needs to be researched more. I wish he were a more explosive jumper. If he had a little more explosion he would have some separation between himself and the bigs.

Yes, if anyone deserves credit for being the focal point of the offense, it's Russell. He carried a pretty huge load offensively. While Okafor was double-teamed regularly, he had a ton of help. That wasn't really the case for D'Angelo at OSU.

In terms of size, his combine measurements put to rest any concerns about him playing the 2. While he's not a big 2 by NBA standards, he's right there with guys like Beal, McLemore, and Oladipo in terms of his size/weight/length.

I'm not sure he dominated enough to justify taking him #1. Ties go to the bigs in this case, but it wouldn't surprise me a ton if he or Hezonja ended up being the best players out of this class when it's all said and done.