I’ll take “Things That Should’ve Happened A Long Time Ago” for $500, Alex.
After months of stunting the development of his prized rookie, Lakers head coach Byron Scott finally came to his senses on Sunday and announced D’Angelo Russell as the team’s starting point guard for the remainder of the season, per the Lakers’ official Twitter account.
Byron Scott says that D'Angelo Russell will start for the remainder of the season.
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 22, 2016
Russell, 19, was moved into the starting lineup against the Chicago Bulls and performed well with 15 points and 6 assists in 34 minutes, prompting Scott to make the change a permanent one.
The No. 2 overall pick in last June’s draft has had a rookie season to forget so far, spending most of it in Scott’s doghouse, coming off the bench behind Lou Williams. He has also been publicly blasted by Scott in the press for his perceived immaturity, his slow progress, and his supposed overconfidence. Furthermore, Russell has had enormous difficulty co-existing with Kobe Bryant in the latter’s final NBA season and was even the subject of trade rumors before this year’s deadline.
Thankfully for Russell though, the worst of it appears to be over as he finally is in line for the playing time he badly needs in order to grow. Russell may still have a lot of work to do in terms of playing off-the-ball, defensive instincts, and showing he can effectively run an NBA offense beyond just fancy passes. But fortunately, it looks like he will get the opportunity to shore up those weaknesses and develop his game for these last 25 regular season games now that Scott has mercifully relented and coughed up the keys to the car.
H/T Rotoworld
