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Lakers: 3 Things D'Angelo Russell Must Improve to Succeed

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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All things considered, D’Angelo Russell had a solid rookie rookie campaign for the Los Angeles Lakers. Still, doubts surrounding his future as an NBA point guard remain

Despite having to endure the four-story tall radioactive waste pile that was the Lakers’ 2015-16 season, D’Angelo Russell enters this year with some considerable hype.

After dominating Summer League in epic fashion, the 20-year-old guard will look to continue his hardwood redemption. Armed with another year of experience, a supportive head coach, and freedom from the crushing albatross of Kobe Bryant‘s farewell tour, he looks primed to take a big step with the Purple and Gold.

He averaged a blistering 21.7 points per game on 47.7 percent shooting during his most recent Las Vegas stint, and while those stats contain all the usual caveats associated with Summer League play, they’re leaps and bounds better than his 2015 Vegas performance.

Still, there are some glaring holes in Russell’s game that he’ll need to address if he wants to fully shed the “bust” label.

Here are three major improvements he will need to make to truly reach that next level.

Dec 7, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Los Angeles Lakers guard D Angelo Russell (1) makes a move to the basket against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors beat the Lakers 102-93. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

Off-Ball Awareness

Nothing about the Lakers’ defense was good last season but Russell’s off-ball lapses still stood out.

To a certain extent, this was to be expected. After all, he was a touted offensive rookie on a team with zero defensive identity. Yes, he looked lost on numerous occasions last season and more than occasionally fell asleep while his man scored on a back cut, but that says more about coaching than it does talent for a kid his age.

More from Lake Show Life

Sure, Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard are all below-average perimeter defenders, but their individual roles and surrounding rosters allowed for more leeway than what Russell could afford.

Seeing as teammates Julius Randle, Roy Hibbert, Kobe Bryant, and Jordan Clarkson all ended the year with worse defensive ratings, the 6’5″ sophomore guard will need to be a factor defensively whether he likes it or not.

On ball, he actually showed nice improvement over the course of last season. Over time, he learned to utilize his height advantage and quickness to compensate for his lack of elite athleticism. Considering the complete absence of lockdown ability between backcourt mates Clarkson and Lou Williams, there is nowhere for Russell to hide from the onslaught of point guard talent that the Lakers will face next season in the Western Conference.

And this  is truly why his help-side defense becomes so important. When Curry, Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul are darting around screens and penetrating through the Lakers’ defense, it will be Russell giving chase.

Taking a backseat on that end of the floor won’t be an option. The second-overall pick will need to learn how balance those responsibilities with his leadership role on the offensive end.

Limiting Turnovers

It’s only natural for young, ball-dominant players to struggle with the turnover bug, but tolerance for giveaways can only run so thin.

When looking at Russell’s stats from last season, his low assist average and (relatively) high turnover rate instantly jump out as concerns. Those numbers , however, hardly tell the story of what transpired on the floor.

The Lakers, being the 17-win team they were last season, made a ton of unforced errors, and often times Russell was the victim, not the perpetrator, of these miscues. Dropped passes, easy misses, and botched spacing plagued the Purple and Gold, and Russell’s ability to fit unexpected passes through impossibly small windows only exacerbated that issue.

His teammates too frequently fumbled interior looks, failed to rotate to their spot on the floor, and left the rookie’s stat line out to dry by blowing open jumpers and rim rolls. Put Russell on a league-average team and you’d quickly see his assist numbers rise and turnover totals fall.

But these hypotheticals only get us so far, and Russell will continue to be judged by the realities of his current situation. Regardless of who’s sharing the floor with him, he’ll need to learn when to take risks and when to play it safe.

At the end of the day, he’s the team’s facilitator and if the coaching staff can’t rely on him to take care of the basketball, he’ll have a hard time developing a proper point guard mentality.

If it sounds like a tall task, it is, but that’s what will realistically be expected of a prospect with his potential.

Leadership Ability

Considering the public scrutiny he endured last season, it’s safe to say that Russell’s introduction to the mental burden of NBA life was a trial by fire.

And while the white hot national spotlight has dimmed following the conclusion of Kobe’s farewell tour, things won’t get any easier for the 20-year-old guard.

The case for D’Angelo’s leadership ability got off to a rocky start with last season’s bizarre social media scandal, but as Nick Young‘s tenure in Los Angeles quickly approaches it’s merciful end, most Laker fans have since brushed off any notion that Russell’s reputation would be permanently damaged.

Either way, he’ll have a tall task ahead of him as he prepares to grab the leaderships reigns of a hallmark franchise at it’s absolute lowest point.

Does Russell have the maturity and disposition to lead this rebuilding Lakers team? Will other young studs like Randle or Brandon Ingram assume leadership roles themselves? Will Russell gain the respect of established veterans and new coach Luke Walton?

These questions will continue to follow the young guard even if his on-court play begins to speak for itself.

Thus far, we can only speculate into what kind of leader Russell will become, but how he’s handle his adversity thus far bodes well for his future.

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