It may not be the terrifying collection of superhumans he’s used to working with in Golden State, but newly-hired Lakers head coach Luke Walton is nevertheless excited about the roster he is set to inherit.
Speaking with reporters over the weekend, Walton had high praise for 20-year-old guard D’Angelo Russell.
“He has very high potential. To me, he can be a perennial All-Star,” Walton said of Russell per Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. “He has the vision that you want your point guard to have. He sees the floor. Once they put him in the starting lineup, he naturally got a little more aggressive.
“I think, there’s so much natural ability there that if he puts in the work and is committed to wanting to be great, he can be a great point guard in this league.”
Russell, the No. 2 overall pick in last June’s NBA Draft, averaged 13.2 points per game, 3.4 rebounds per game, and 3.4 assists per game in his rookie season. All things considered, those are excellent numbers given that Russell had to deal with the constant scorn of the now-ousted Byron Scott, an ugly secret recording scandal, and the absence of a functional offense thanks to Kobe Bryant’s season-long farewell tour.
But with all that now firmly in the rearview mirror, the future looks incredibly bright for Russell. His ceiling may be hampered by his below-average defense and his relative lack of athleticism and quickness. But as an elite playmaker with insane floor vision, superb instincts in the pick-and-roll, and the ability to score from almost anywhere on the court, Russell has always had the talent necessary to live up to Walton’s assessment. Perhaps he’ll now have the environment to do so as well.
H/T Rotoworld
