If everything had gone according to plan, D’Angelo Russell would be way too good for my channel by now. He’d be averaging 23 and 7 on a fringe playoff team, looking at an All-Star spot for next season where he’d push his scoring even higher.
Things have not gone according to plan. He was actually looking pretty good at the beginning of the season except for, you know, all those turnovers. But that injury seems to have taken a lot of life after him; after returning, he was not good. He was good this game, scoring 22 in 12 minutes (and then not scoring in his last 4 but oh well), but before tonight, it was grim.
Dinwiddie has seized the starting PG role, and the Nets seem content to let Russell be their 6th man chucker off the bench for now. That sounds like a good idea to me; I don’t think Russell is fully committed to the whole idea of “passing”. He likes to score, I like to watch him score, if he can keep this up, he can be an All-Star in two or three years.