Friday afternoon provided a sigh of relief for Los Angeles Lakers fans watching Las Vegas Summer League. While the Lakers fell to the Utah Jazz in a tight 84-78 contest, their point guard prodigy and No. 2 overall pick D’Angelo Russell finally delivered a game that the fan base can truly be excited about.
The rookie showed off his smooth jumper while shooting 50 percent and accruing 21 points. He only finished with one assist, but he flashed his special distributing ability on pretty looks that his teammates failed to convert.
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While Russell’s 21-point performance in his Las Vegas finale was encouraging, his overall Summer League was a bumpy ride, to say the least. The Ohio State product was extremely inconsistent, and while Summer League should always be taken with a grain of salt, his struggles definitely raise some questions that weren’t necessarily there on draft night.
Russell is obviously young and has yet to take the floor in a meaningful NBA game. Thus, it’s not time to hit the panic button yet, but his play is worth looking at.
As Russell winds down his Las Vegas experience, let’s take a look at what the rookie has shown for both good and bad in his first looks as an NBA player.
D’Angelo Russell In Las Vegas: The Good
Russell was arguably the most skilled freshman in all of college basketball last season, and he flashed his elite playmaking in the Las Vegas Summer League. In five games, he averaged a stat line of 11.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.0 steals in 30 minutes per game.
While he only recorded around three dimes per game and turned the ball over far too much at 5.2 per game, his passing was better than the numbers indicate. At times, he looked a step ahead everyone else, slinging no look passes to cutters and full court passes to ignite fast break opportunities.
Sweet dime by D'Angelo Russell. (defense = meh) https://t.co/Jm1vOgufTV
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) July 16, 2015
Russell’s passing is what separated him from the rest of the scoring guards in the 2015 NBA Draft class. His court vision is remarkable for a 19-year-old, and his feel for the game is obvious when he handles the ball.
Can't fall asleep for a second when D'Angelo Russell has the ball in transition.
— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) July 12, 2015
In Las Vegas, Russell’s teammates often failed to anticipate passes and convert easy opportunities that would be converted by the likes of Roy Hibbert, Lou Williams and Kobe Bryant. While he is definitely not blame free for his turnover total, don’t expect the trend to continue in such a glaring manner.
Lakers assistant coach and summer league head coach Mark Madsen also did little to help the rookie with a particularly vanilla edition of head coach Byron Scott‘s Princeton-style offense. The team emphasized isolations with Russell, Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle, which seemed to kill ball movement and off-ball motion.
Thus, with better teammates and a real offense in the regular season, Russell’s passing should only get better as time goes on.
From a scoring standpoint, Russell wasn’t as dominant as his 19 points per game at Ohio State, but he showed glimpses of the smooth stroke that earned him the nod as a top prospect. Particularly when he could get his feet set, he thrived while shooting jumpers in pick and roll situations, which is something he excelled at in college.
No.2 pick D'Angelo Russell is pure for his first #NBASummer League points on @nbatv #NBASummer https://t.co/2bRfd5MA1b
— NBA (@NBA) July 11, 2015
Russell’s jump shooting was the focal point of his offense, but he also was able to get to the rim and finish with his left hand on occasion, which is encouraging considering he only converted 60 percent of his rim attempts at Ohio State while converting an ugly 47 percent of rim attempts against tournament-level teams.
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Rebounding was also a particularly bright spot for Russell in Las Vegas. At Ohio State, he was an efficient rebounder accruing 5.6 boards per game and proved to be a triple-double threat on every night.
In Las Vegas, Russell tracked down five defensive boards per game, which is a skill coveted in any point guard.
Defensively, Russell has looked better in Las Vegas than he did as a college freshman, as he used his length to bother ball handlers and create steals. He also posted a very nice 94.1 defensive rating in Las Vegas, which is definitely encouraging for Lakers’ fans.
D’Angelo Russell In Las Vegas: The Bad
For all the skill that D’Angelo Russell showed in Las Vegas, he also generated a lot of concern with underwhelming and at times sloppy performances.
Most notably, as previously mentioned, Russell really struggled taking care of the ball with over five giveaways per game. While many of his turnovers were arguably a product of poor play from his teammates, he was often overly aggressive and out of control, including instances where he dribbled off of his leg while driving into the lane and forced looks to his teammates.
Turnovers are always a concern for young players, but the statistics behind Russell’s turnovers are particularly disconcerting.
According to RealGM, Russell was the focal point of the summer Lakers’ offense with over a 26 percent usage percentage, yet his assist to turnover ratio was a brutal .62. This type of turnover rate is unacceptable for any player, but it’s exceptionally brutal for a lead guard.
D'Angelo Russell is averaging 10 points in #nbasummerleague. He's shooting 33 percent - 12.5 percent on 3s & has 10 assists and 20 turnovers
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) July 14, 2015
Russell’s offensive inefficiencies also carried over to his shooting. In five outings, Russell shot well below 40 percent from the field while shooting a dreadful 12 percent from downtown.
While his jumper looked smooth at times, he showed a lot of difficulty shooting over length and athleticism, especially on moving shots like step-backs. His lack of athleticism was apparent when attempting to separate himself from defenders with the dribble, as he struggled to get clean looks in iso situations.
The shooting concerns are common for young players, especially in Summer League, but Russell’s shooting woes date back to his college career.
On the surface, Russell appeared to be an elite shooter at Ohio State where he made 45 percent of his field goal attempts and 41 percent of his three-point attempts. However, the freshman’s numbers were somewhat inflated by a weak schedule, as he really struggled against good teams shooting 35 percent from the field and 31 percent from downtown against tournament-level teams, according to ShotAnalytics.
With the combination of frequent turnovers and poor shooting, Russell’s inefficiencies hurt his team more than his flashes helped. Analytically, he posted a brutal 7.42 Player Efficiency Rating and a net negative (-.58) in offensive win shares.
If Russell is going to be the impact player that the Lakers were expecting when they invested their No. 2 overall pick in him, he will need to adjust to NBA-level defenders and find a way to get clean looks against athletic defenders. So far, he’s been unable to do that.
D’Angelo Russell In Las Vegas: Keeping Perspective
Like most rookies, D’Angelo Russell had his struggles in Summer League, but Lakers fans shouldn’t be down on their rookie yet.
Wiz of Awes
For guys like Russell, the Summer League is simply an opportunity to adjust to the pro style, including the 24-second shot clock and NBA strategy. Stats in Las Vegas do not usually directly translate to production in the NBA, and struggles do not necessarily indicate that a player won’t succeed in the pros.
Russell’s play is certainly disappointing for fans that were expecting him to dominate inferior competition, but the rookie still has several weeks to review his film, work on his game and hit the weight room. Factor in that he was playing alongside several fringe rotation players like Jabari Brown and Tarik Black, and it’s hard to truly put stock into his performance.
According to CBS, Russell will also be working out with Phoenix Suns’ legend Steve Nash, whose elite blend of passing and scoring makes him a natural mentor for Russell. If just a little bit of Captain Canada’s magic rubs off on Russell, that’s a great thing for Lakers fans.
At most, Russell’s play should be taken as something to watch for when he takes the floor for training camp and preseason in September.
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