Los Angeles Lakers: 4 reasons to avoid signing D’Angelo Russell
By Robert Marvi
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.