League Pass Favorites: D’Angelo Russell and the art of changing pace
D’Angelo Russell was drafted to be the next big thing. With Kobe Bryant’s career at its twilight, the Los Angeles Lakers selected Russell to takeover the mantle. However, that didn’t end up happening. The Lakers moved on from the former No. 2 overall pick this past summer. But Russell’s bright lights, big city days weren’t over as he landed with the Brooklyn Nets.
At both stops in his career, Russell hasn’t been disappointing, but he at times leaves spectators wanting more. Russell is very talented with the court vision and craftiness to create nightly highlight plays. Yet one of the biggest struggles for him has been meeting outside expectations. Coming out of Ohio State, the main comparison for him was future MVP James Harden. Aside from them both being left-handed and capable of playing either guard spot, the similarities between the two end there.
What Russell has in Brooklyn is an opportunity to change the general consensus on who he is as both a player and a person. Bring the Nets back to relevancy and suddenly his two years with the Lakers fly out the window faster than Ben Simmons’ phone in that Foot Locker commercial.
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That shouldn’t be a problem for D’Angelo seeing as switching gears is one of the best parts of his style of play. Russell has his own pace and tempo that he operates at. It isn’t as disorienting as Kyle “Slo-Mo” Anderson of the San Antonio Spurs, but Russell possess the ability to hypnotize defenders in one-on-one scenarios. This ability to treat defenders as pawns is the reason why Russell’s minutes with the Nets have become must-see television.
During his recent 24-point first quarter explosion, Russell was isolated at the top of the key against Toronto Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas. Russell sized up the 7-foot Lithuanian, and after a few crossover dribbles surged forward as if he was about to attack the basket, only to pull back his dribble to reset at the top of the key.
At first glance, one might question why Russell didn’t continue his drive to the rim. He would’ve easily gotten past Valanciunas and finished with an easy two points. Yet, the beauty of this simple faint by Russell was that it was never about getting past Valanciunas. Russell was simply probing the remainder of the Raptors defense to see how they would react to his drive to the paint.
The pullback dribble was used to observe what he had just done; like a child staring in amazement at a bubble they just blew. Russell didn’t stare at his work for long, though. Once he calculated how the Raptors would rotate and who would be the help defender impeding him from the rim, he launched himself back at both Valanciunas and the paint. Valanciunas tried to stop him off the dribble, but ended up fouling Russell.
This is a common occurrence for the former Buckeye. He is a master at beating defenses with the Death by a Thousand Cuts philosophy. A drive into the paint one possession is used to set up a stepback later on. A floater over a rotating defender becomes a drop off pass to an open teammate along the baseline. A jump shot off a curl screen soon turns into a pump fake and drive to the rim. Once a defender thinks they have figured out what Russell is going to do, he pulls the wool over their eyes.
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Given his past, some people might not think high IQ and Russell are terms that go hand-in-hand, but on the basketball floor, Russell is playing chess while defenses play checkers.