Tag: D’Angelo Russell

Dorian Finney-Smith is the perfect defender to make the Lakers a contender after his trade

Dorian Finney-Smith is one of the most versatile defenders in the NBA.

The Los Angeles Lakers made a savvy trade, acquiring one of the top targets available in Brooklyn Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith.

The main reason why the Lakers ought to feel especially excited about Finney-Smith is his defensive prowess. While he is shooting a career-best 43.5 percent on 3-pointers and will help relieve spacing for LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the most exciting element to his game is what he can provide on the defensive end of the floor.

Earlier this season, on November 26, the Lakers had the fourth-worst defense in the league. Even earlier this month, on December 5, their defensive rating still ranked worse than all but three teams in the NBA. It was a disaster on that end of the court for first-year head coach JJ Redick and Los Angeles.

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But between December 8 and December 28, they started surging and had the second-best defensive rating in the league in that span.

Already anchored by one of the best defenders in the world with Davis and a possible imminent return of Jarred Vanderbilt in early January, the addition of Finney-Smith can only help that identity.

Finney-Smith ranked in the 74th percentile or better in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus each season since 2018, per dunksandthrees.com, and also better than the 80th percentile in each campaign since 2020.

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What is most impressive about Finney-Smith, though, is that he is able to play well no matter who he is guarding. Finney-Smith currently ranks 94th percentile in defensive matchup difficulty and 89th percentile in defensive positional versatility, via BBall-Index.

Among those who have logged more than 1,900 minutes in a completed season, there are only 32 players in the league who have reached the 90th percentile or better in each threshold in the database. Finney-Smith has achieved it five years in a row, however, achieving as much in each season between 2019 and 2023.

That ranks solely as the most of anyone in that period. For comparison: The only other players to accomplish this more than twice in that span are Mikal Bridges, Herbert Jones, Jimmy Butler, Royce O’Neale, P.J. Tucker, and Andrew Wiggins.

Using the matchup data available on NBA.com, including the postseason, here are the players Finney-Smith has defended for the most possessions (in order): Paul George, Donovan Mitchell, DeMar DeRozan, Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker, James Harden, Brandon Ingram, Jayson Tatum, LeBron James, Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, and Chris Paul.

It takes a lot of confidence from a coach to assign a player to guard that caliber of opponent. But how did he do in those opportunities?

Let’s take a look at someone like Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, who the Lakers will assuredly play in the Western Conference. Booker has averaged 34.4 points per 100 possessions but is averaging 21.3 points per 100 when defended by Finney-Smith.

Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the best players in the NBA and has averaged 34.0 points per 100 as a pro with an eFG% at 53.6 percent. When guarded by Finney-Smith, he is averaging 23.0 points per 100 with an eFG% at just 43.0 percent. (Note: League average eFG% since DFS turned pro is 53.4 percent.)

MATCHUP POSSESSIONS POINTS PER 100 (NBA) POINTS PER 100 (DFS MATCHUPS) DIFFERENCE
Paul George 605.1 30.7 19.5 -11.2
Donovan Mitchell 551.8 35.7 27.4 -8.3
DeMar DeRozan 494.8 30.9 19.6 -11.3
Devin Booker 441.2 34.4 21.3 -13.1
Jayson Tatum 343.4 33.4 18.6 -14.8
LeBron James 319.6 36.6 22.8 -13.8
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 221.7 34.0 23.0 -11.0
Ja Morant 147.6 33.3 21.7 -11.6
Paolo Banchero 100.6 30.6 16.9 -13.7

There is superstar guard Ja Morant, who has averaged 33.3 points per 100 with an eFG% at 50.8 percent since he was drafted by the Grizzlies. He is averaging 21.8 points per 100 while recording an eFG% of 41.7 percent in his Finney-Smith matchups.

Or we can look in the Eastern Conference at a forward like Boston’s Jayson Tatum, who is averaging 33.4 points per 100 with a 53.4 percent effective goal percentage in his NBA career. But during Finney-Smith matchups, he is averaging 18.6 points per 100 with an eFG% at just 40.6 percent.

He has fared well against other bigger forwards such as Paolo Banchero (30.6 points per 100 in the NBA versus 16.9 points per during DFS matchups), Pascal Siakam (27.8 points per 100 as a pro versus 19.3 points per 100 for DFS matchups), and Lauri Markkanen (28.5 points per 100 in the NBA versus 20.7 points per 100 during DFS matchups).

DARKO

There are some players who give him a challenge, like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokić. But those assignments can go to his new teammate Anthony Davis, who is one of the best defenders in the world. For the most part, no matter what position he is guarding, he is able to make a positive impact.

For much of the season, Rui Hachmiura as well as Max Christie and Cam Reddish had to take on the most difficult assignments on the opposing team.

Now, however, Finney-Smith can play that role and ease the burden on his new teammates as they attempt to make a playoff push down the stretch.

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Social media reacts to Lakers trading D-Lo to Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith: ‘A perfect 3 & D role player’

While the rumor mill had Rob Pelinka being patient regarding trades before the February 6 deadline, the Lakers caught everyone off guard sending D’Angelo Russell to the Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. The Lakers got the wing depth …

While the rumor mill had Rob Pelinka being patient regarding trades before the February 6 deadline, the Lakers caught everyone off guard sending D’Angelo Russell to the Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. The Lakers got the wing depth they needed, sacrificing D-Lo, Maxwell Lewis, and three second-round picks. The Lakers still have flexibility below the second apron to keep adding help to the roster.

Check out some of the immediate reactions to the D-Lo trade.

JJ Redick criticized D’Angelo Russell for lacking competitiveness and attention to detail

This could be a BIG issue for the Lakers.

During a Los Angeles Lakers loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, head coach JJ Redick played starting guard D’Angelo Russell for limited minutes.

After the game during his media availability, Redick was not shy about why he made the decision. According to the first-year head coach, he did not see a level to “compete” and an “attention to detail” from Russell when he was on the court against Memphis.

Redick added that he has spoken to Russell about this for the past few weeks and noted that while the guard has been “really good” about this at times, he fell short and reverted to “old habits” versus the Grizzlies.

According to Redick, it wasn’t a “punishment” but rather an attempt to win the game.

Lakers guard Gabe Vincent replaced Russell after this defensive mishap in the third quarter:

It is worth noting that Vincent did not play particularly well either, finishing with 6 points (2-of-8 FG) and 2 turnovers and the second-lowest plus-minus of any player on the team.

After a strong start to the season the Lakers (4-4) are now at .500 and have not looked as sharp of late. They will have a chance to bounce back against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday evening.

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JJ Redick’s Lakers’ starting lineup shows how far the team has already come since Darvin Ham

These are exactly the five players that the Lakers should have in the starting lineup.

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick revealed the starting lineup for his team heading into his first season with the franchise.

During a podcast appearance with his former ESPN colleague Zach Lowe, the longtime NBA sharpshooter said that he already knows the first unit for the Lakers. It includes Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis.

James and Davis once again proved themselves as two of the best players in the world during the 2024 Paris Olympics, helping lead Team USA to win a gold medal against France. The rest of the starting lineup for Redick is well-suited to complement those two stars.

As noted by Redick, the five players mentioned above went “23-10” during their games together last season.

When he was head coach of the Lakers, per Basketball-Reference.com, Ham did not play this five-man group until January 21. That realization somehow took until more than halfway through the season.

But starting from when this group began playing together, it became one of the best high-volume five-man lineups in the league.

Los Angeles has outscored opponents by 9.46 points per 100 possessions in the 547 minutes that this unit has played alongside one another, via PBPStats. It is a data-backed group that performs well on both sides of the ball.

Redick is making the right choice to put these players together and we can only imagine how much better these past two seasons could have looked if fans saw more of it from Ham.

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D’Angelo Russell talks about playing in Kobe Bryant’s final NBA game

In Kobe Bryant’s final NBA game, everyone wanted him to shoot as much as possible, and D’Angelo Russell talked about that experience.

Kobe Bryant’s last three NBA seasons were difficult to watch. After tearing his Achilles late in the 2012-13 campaign, he didn’t even remotely resemble the player he had been for nearly a decade and a half, and he had trouble staying healthy.

In those last three years, the late Los Angeles Lakers great averaged 18.9 points a game on 36.6% shooting from the field and 28.5% from 3-point range.

But he left everyone with one last indelible memory of his greatness by pouring in 60 points and leading the Lakers to victory after trailing by 10 with 3:20 left in his last game. While he was relatively efficient, he took a whopping 50 shots, as everyone wanted him to shoot the basketball as often as possible.

D’Angelo Russell, who was then a rookie and in his first stint with the team, recalled how everyone always wanted the ball to go to Bryant in that game while on the “Run Your Race” podcast.

“Bro, when you got the ball and they boo you, you know what that means. Get that ball to that man. He was just trying to score. I remember Julius [Randle] was like, ‘Bro, I’m just trying to get on the board. I’m just trying to score. I ain’t trying to have zero.’ So everybody was just trying to get two, like just get two. He’s gonna get all the other ones.

“So that’s what it was. It was really us running around trying to get him the ball because they were trapping him. He was shooting tough twos like one-footed inside the 3-point line twos, like pull-ups. You just see his face he looked young. He just looked like he had it. I don’t know what was getting him through that [expletive]. He didn’t come out of the game. He was prepared, though. You could see it, mentally, he was prepared. Everybody in the world was at the game. Denzel [Washington], Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal), like everybody.”

In that game, only one other Lakers — guard Jordan Clarkson — managed to get into double figures, and no one on the team other than Bryant attempted more than 10 shots. Russell went 4-of-10 and scored nine points with five assists in 36 minutes.

In a purely sentimental sense, it may have been Bryant’s finest moment or at least fans’ favorite memory of his storied career.

D’Angelo Russell compares his abilities to those of Stephen Curry on social media

Does Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell truly believe his hot streaks are completely comparable to those of Stephen Curry?

D’Angelo Russell is a good basketball player, and at times, he can be a very good player. He just had what may have been the best season of his NBA career in which he averaged 18.0 points and 6.3 assists a game while shooting 41.5% from 3-point range.

His lows, especially come playoff time, can reach the depths of Death Valley. But when he gets hot, he raises the ceiling of the Los Angeles Lakers, as he often did during the second half of this past season.

After Stephen Curry’s outstanding play and searing shooting that helped Team USA win the Olympic gold medal, one fan on social media pointed out that Russell does tend to get hot just like Curry does. Russell then replied in an almost breathtakingly brazen way.

He later deleted that post.

The guard then followed up on that comment with another one in which he again shamelessly promoted himself.

Of course, Russell does have the same abilities to create and shoot off the dribble and hit in catch-and-shoot situations as Curry, CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard. But to suggest he’s on the same level as any of those three stars is laughable.

The fact that he doesn’t quite measure up to that level of productivity is one reason the Lakers have reportedly been looking to trade him this summer. But the rest of the NBA doesn’t seem to have much, if any, interest in him, whether it’s because of his poor play in the postseason, his lack of quickness and defense or possibly his seemingly inflated perception of himself.

D’Angelo Russell: Victor Wembanyama should’ve won several NBA awards

Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell couldn’t help but express how impressed he is with Spurs center Victor Wembanyama during a recent podcast.

The NBA is in very good hands these days, no matter what thinks about the league looking to move away from Turner Sports as a broadcast partner after this coming season. The league is awash in superstar talent like never before, and there are several young stars and superstars ready to take over for the older ones, like the many layers of teeth sharks have.

Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French phenom, just wrapped up an immense rookie campaign with the San Antonio Spurs. He averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and a league-high 3.6 blocked shots in 29.7 minutes a game, and he has barely scratched the surface of his potential.

He was named the Rookie of the Year and was voted onto the All-Defensive First Team. Some felt he should’ve also won the Defensive Player of the Year award instead of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert.

Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell is one of those who felt Wembanyama got snubbed in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. In fact, he said the 20-year-old should’ve won a few other league honors while on the “Run Your Race” podcast (h/t The Cold Wire)

“He shoulda been Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player [of the Year], Most Improved, All-NBA … MVP,” said Russell.

Many feel Wembanyama will become the best player in basketball within the next five years and consider him a generational talent. There’s also no doubt some Lakers fans are hoping he will make his way to the Purple and Gold sometime in the future, although that seems extremely unlikely.

D’Angelo Russell on getting instruction from Kobe Bryant as a rookie

D’Angelo Russell may not have understood it then, but he says he now understands the advice Kobe Bryant gave him when he was starting out.

Late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant went through an impressive metamorphosis throughout his 20-year NBA career. He started out as a young gun who hungered for knowledge and instruction, and he then became the best player in the world for about a decade before evolving into an elder statesman and mentor.

In Bryant’s final season, D’Angelo Russell was a rookie with the Lakers. Russell was then thought to be immature, but the opportunity to team up with and be around the Black Mamba left a lasting impression on him.

While on the “Run your Race” podcast, Russell said that while Bryant’s advice went over his head at the time, it eventually reached him and sunk in.

“Great time. I mean, once again I was just naive to his whole legacy at that time,” said Russell. “I’m 18 bro, so I’m young and dumb. Everything’s funny. Kobe Bryant, let me see if I can make him laugh, just young and dumb bro, so I got it the hard way. He wasn’t laughing, he was serious all the time. But he little bro’d me though, it wasn’t like ‘shoo fly’ it was like ‘lil bro, you shouldn’t do that, think about this.’ And I’m moving at 100 miles an hour and he’d be talking like he was Mr. Miyagi and I’d hear him, and then I’m moving again, and then you’ll get a text from him, and then I’m moving again. It was a blur for real for real, but little things come back and I’ll remember a lot of stuff he was saying.

“It was a good time bro, just to get that your first year. Kind of like being a rookie and getting drafted to a championship team and going on they run after they just won one like Denver, Boston. Those groom you for year four and year five in your career. You gonna know how to move, you gonna know how to approach because you remember dang, Jrue Holiday was doing this. Dang Jaylen Brown was doing this … But I was 18 so the knowledge [Kobe] was kicking was way over my head and I’m looking him in his face like [nodding] and not hearing nothing he’s saying until like years later.”

Partly because of his reputation for being immature, Russell was traded by Los Angeles in 2017 along with big man Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez and the draft rights to Kyle Kuzma. Afterward, Russell eventually grew and developed his game, and when he returned to the Lakers in February 2023, he was a much more refined player and man.

While the team is reportedly looking to trade him, an argument could be made that if it upgrades by getting a legitimate 3-and-D wing and defensive center, its best move could be to keep Russell, at least for now.

He’s entering the final year of a two-year deal he signed last summer that will pay him $18.7 million this coming season.

D’Angelo Russell was in Paris to support Team USA basketball

The Lakers may be trying to trade D’Angelo Russell, but it didn’t stop him from supporting teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

For months now, there have been many trade rumors involving Los Angeles Lakers starting point guard D’Angelo Russell. The Lakers reportedly tried to trade him several months ago for one-time All-Star Dejounte Murray, and after he opted into the final year of his contract a few weeks ago, they’re still looking to trade him.

He’s a very good player and 3-point shooter during the regular season, but his playoff struggles, as well as his lack of athleticism and defensive ability, have made him prime trade bait in the minds of many.

Yet Russell still made his way to Paris to support Lakers teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis and take in Team USA basketball’s blowout win over Serbia on Sunday.

Interestingly, Russell was seen sporting a blond hairdo at the game.

He averaged 18.0 points and 6.3 assists a game while shooting 41.5% from 3-point range this past season, and he was red-hot during the second half of the schedule. There’s an argument to be made that perhaps the Lakers shouldn’t be so aggressive in shopping him these days.

At the very least, he could have some real value closer to the trade deadline since his contract will expire after this coming season.

Russell will make roughly $18.7 million for the 2024-25 season.

Buha: Portland doesn’t want D’Angelo Russell in potential Jerami Grant trade

It won’t be easy for the Lakers to land forward Jerami Grant from the Trail Blazers.

Although the Los Angeles Lakers haven’t made any moves this summer other than to sign their two draft picks, there is still time for them to do something to upgrade their roster.

There do have a few rumored trade targets, including Portland Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant. Grant averaged 21.0 points a game this past season and has become a very good 3-point shooter, not to mention a very capable defender.

Right now, the one big trade chip the Lakers have in the form of a player is starting point guard D’Angelo Russell. Russell recently opted into the final year of his contract, and the team reportedly has been looking to trade him.

But Jovan Buha of The Athletic said in a recent episode of “Buha’s Block” that the Blazers aren’t interested in taking back Russell in a potential trade that would send Grant to Los Angeles (h/t Lakers Daily).

“I’ve heard Portland doesn’t want D-Lo because they have a million guards anyway,” Buha said. “So, it just doesn’t really make sense for them.”

Acquiring Grant would likely be very expensive for L.A., especially in terms of the draft picks such a deal would require. But that is the state of the current NBA, where good players who have never been All-Stars, such as Mikal Bridges, have recently been traded for lots of draft capital.