4. He can’t shoot straight
At first glance, his 21.1 points per game this season looks pretty impressive. But when you take a closer look at it, it seems rather empty.
Russell had a great run around midwinter, averaging 23.8 points on 47.9 percent shooting and 41.3 from 3-point range in January. Other than that, however, he shot at least 45 percent in only one other month this season – April, which was for all of five games, not exactly a good sample space.
In addition, in three months this season – November, December and March – he shot less than 34.5 percent from downtown. Last season (2017-18), he posted a paltry 32.4 percent mark from beyond the arc.
Do you really trust a player like that to shoot at least 36 or 37 percent from behind the 3-point line and at least 45 percent overall consistently for the whole season?
Keep in mind that the Lakers were next-to-last in the NBA in 3-point efficiency this season at just 33.3 percent and only 24th in overall offensive rating.