Los Angeles Lakers: Handing The Keys To D’Angelo Russell
The Los Angeles Lakers can no longer depend on the greatness of Kobe Bryant. Instead, they’ll hand the keys to their young phenom, D’Angelo Russell.
The 2015-16 season for the Los Angeles Lakers was filled with bittersweet emotions. In one sense, the organization and fans wanted to sit back and watch Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour, appreciating everything he has brought to this franchise.
While Bryant gave a few more memorable performances (none bigger than the season finale 60-point performance in a win over Utah), the team struggled to say the least. Their 17 total wins ranked second-worst in the entire league.
There was a feeling surrounding the young players on this team such as D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, and Julius Randle, that this was a year they had to get through before actually becoming the foundation of this franchise.
As the 2016-17 season is set to begin in less than a month, the Lakers added Brandon Ingram with their No. 2 overall selection in this year’s draft, giving them even more promising youth for the future. But don’t let all of this youthful potential steer you in the wrong direction; The keys will be handed to Russell this season, and he won’t disappoint.
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If you try and predict his year two production based of his rookie season, you’ll likely be off by a big margin. He not only had to deal with looking for Bryant every time down the floor, but also was constantly looking over his shoulder at head coach Byron Scott waiting for him to send a replacement for Russell into the game for a mistake that was made.
I get it. Some of Russell’s decisions with the ball look questionable due to him trying to force a pass in a window that wasn’t there long enough, but he was a rookie. That’s what rookies do: make mistakes. Having as short of a leash as Scott did with Russell is the best way to cripple a great talent.
This season, Russell won’t have to worry about any of that. With a new head coach in Luke Walton who is known for giving his players freedom on the court to play their game and the fact that Bryant is gone after retiring, Russell can focus on playing his brand of basketball from the get-go.
Russell previewed what he had in store for this season during his second showing in NBA Summer League, where he averaged 21.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. A stat that also can’t be ignored was his 4.5 turnovers per game.
The argument against that though is that NBA Summer League is some of the ugliest basketball you’ll see at the professional level. Guys are constantly trying to make the home run play to catch the attention of the coaches that mistakes happen often.
The Lakers are by no means planning to contend for a championship. This is going to be a year-by-year building process that has the potential to eventually flourish into the Lakers becoming a feared playoff team like they were years ago.
Next: NBA Predictions: 2016-17 Win Projections For All 30 Teams
The good news is, they have one of the brightest young talents in the league set to take the keys to the franchise this season. Sit back and enjoy watching Russell grow into a future All-Star point guard.