25-under-25: The best of the rest
35. D’Angelo Russell, Brooklyn Nets
D’Angelo Russell’s ship has been on choppy waters almost from the moment he came into the league.
The Nick Young / Iggy Azelia locker room recording incident (a phrase that still makes me question our shelf life as a civilization) defined his rookie year, which is probably for the best. On the court, he wasn’t very good as either a shooter (50.7 true shooting percentage) or a distributor (21.2 assist rate, low for a point guard).
Freed from the shackles of the Kobe retirement tour, his sophomore season was a bit better but still below what you’d expect from a second-year player who’d been handed the keys to the offense. Shipped off to the Nets as the Timofey Mozgov tax last summer, Russell figured to benefit from a staff that exceled at developing talent.
He did…sort of. On one hand, his per-36 minute numbers were the best of his career and his assist rate was among the league leaders. On the other hand, his shooting regressed (32.4 percent from downtown) and injuries limited him to 48 games and just 35 starts. His incredibly high usage also makes his assist numbers a bit less impressive. A late-March benching never became a huge story, but it wasn’t exactly the type of thing you’d expect to see with a franchise player.
Whether or not Russell is a franchise-type talent is less in dispute than whether he’ll ever actualize that ability, but that’s not a distinction the Nets have the luxury of waiting much longer to figure out. Russell is currently extension eligible, and the two sides have reportedly not discussed a new contract.
The former Laker almost certainly fancies himself a max player or something close to it. With plenty of teams having cash to blow next summer, there’s a strong chance one of the league’s lesser lights will make an aggressive play if given the opportunity.
For Russell to justify the Nets matching, he’d have to elevate his game to heights that have thus far only come in spurts. At this point, simply establishing himself as the best point guard on Brooklyn’s roster would count as progress. Baby steps, indeed.