Minnesota Sports Forum

KiwiMatt wrote:I'm against trading the 5th pick for D'Angelo Russell.

Irrespective of the whole Nick Young fiasco I am concerned as to why the Lakers would want to trade Russell after one season. There's no doubt in my mind that Russell's development was stalled by the Kobe farewell tour, but if the Lakers are prepared to give up on him this early I see this as a major red flag.

Not to mention Russell isn't a good fit here. I'd prefer Dunn, Murray or Hield.

Agreed. And I just don't see a good teammate here, I see a more selfish, less talented James Harden (it's fun to judge!)

I'm torn on this one. I still think Russell is very talented. But i see a big red flag in the Lakers' willingness to part with him for a #5 pick after only one season.

I'm torn on this one. I still think Russell is very talented. But i see a big red flag in the Lakers' willingness to part with him for a #5 pick after only one season.

http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2016/6/17/11964266/la-lakers-dangelo-russell-instagram-karl-anthony-towns-best-friends

Ill leave this here as well.

BizarroJerry wrote:

KiwiMatt wrote:I'm against trading the 5th pick for D'Angelo Russell.

Irrespective of the whole Nick Young fiasco I am concerned as to why the Lakers would want to trade Russell after one season. There's no doubt in my mind that Russell's development was stalled by the Kobe farewell tour, but if the Lakers are prepared to give up on him this early I see this as a major red flag.

Not to mention Russell isn't a good fit here. I'd prefer Dunn, Murray or Hield.

Agreed. And I just don't see a good teammate here, I see a more selfish, less talented James Harden (it's fun to judge!)

I don't disagree with you guys that it seems odd on the surface for the Lakers to give up on the #2 pick after just one season. But if you dig into the Russell/Young issue from last March, and learn that Russell's teammates isolated him the rest of the season and the Laker fans sometimes booed him, it's clear that the Lakers need to trade him. And how are they going to get value back for a guy who now has a "snitch" reputation around the league? By finding a team that has a lottery pick they are willing to trade and also employ Russell's best friend...Karl Anthony Towns. It's a dream scenario and possible way out for the Lakers, and they are going to be motivated to make this trade happen. With the Wolves holding the best hand here in that they don't have to make a deal, they need to ask for more (as another poster suggested above). I think the Lakers are in such a dire position here that they would be willing to give us their 2016 2nd round pick (#32) plus next year's second rounder. Russell, #32 (Thon Maker or Ben Bentil?) plus a 2017 2nd would be grand theft larceny for the Wolves.

We don't know what happened in this incident, but by any explanation, Russell screwed up. The Lakers were a known prankster team last year (lots of laughs but very few wins), and I believe Russell when he says he was just fooling around and has no ideal how the video got leaked. His apology was sincere and mature. But regardless of the actual facts, he will always have a bad reputation with this group of Lakers, and he needs to go. But I'm not going to hold this against him...I'm sure I did stupider things when I was 20. And when a guy like KAT calls him "one of the best human beings on this planet", that tells me a lot about Russell's character. Read the attached and see if it makes you think of Russell more positively:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&y1=2015&p1=lavinza01&y2=2015&p2=wiggian01&y3=2016&p3=russeda01&p4=&p5=&p6=

So KAT and Russell are best friends...sounds like he would fit in well with Wig and Zach too, and wouldn't it be fun to watch these four play together for several years. The Wolves have the Lakers by the short hairs here. Offer #5 for Russell and 2 second round picks...get 'er done!

Edit: Sorry crazysauce...didn't see that you had posted the same link :oops:

It all depends which bridges are burned in LA. If it's all the older vets they'll keep him and just let them all move on to other teams. However, if guys like Clarkson and Randle are not able to move past the snitching they have to deal him because those are long-term assets he'd be stuck with for the next several years. It's not a hard pill to swallow either if they like Clarkson because there are two natural SG's who might be sitting there at 5 (at least 1 will make it to 5) that would be better fits next to Clarkson than Russell who is more of a ball dominator. It's pretty easy to move on from Russell if you can say you came away with Ingram and Murray or Hield next to Clarkson/Randle/Nance Jr. That's a promising start to a rebuild. If you can keep him though, a Russell/Ingram rebuild is more promising in my opinion.

...and Iggy broke up with Nick Young today. No chance Russell and Young can be on the same team next year.

Russell was just too bad defensively, limited athletic abilities, poor effort, bad attitude .. i do not see Thibs trading for him and giving him minutes

khans2k5 wrote:...and Iggy broke up with Nick Young today. No chance Russell and Young can be on the same team next year.

Well, any organization that had to choose between Young and Russell....and chooses Nick Young....well, I am not sure what to say here. Even the Lakers won't make that mistake.

If we could get Russell for the #5 why the hell not? He is way more talented than what we are trying to talk ourselves into at the 5 spot in my opinion.