The Los Angeles Lakers are a team in rebuilding mode and they certainly know it. The Lakers have lost their first four games this season all to teams that are expected to be in the middle to bottom of the Western Conference. This season for Los Angeles should be about developing their young players but instead their first round pick, D'Angelo Russell, found himself on the bench in the fourth quarter on Tuesday night and he was reportedly not very happy about it, according to Bill Oram of The Orange County Register.
In Tuesday night's loss to the Denver Nuggets Russell picked up his fourth personal foul in the third quarter and went to the bench with five minutes left in the period. Russell though, did not get back into the game even though it was a close one and after the game he was reportedly very frustrated. Russell didn't say anything that would make it seem like he was really frustrated but he reportedly was obviously disappointed and at a loss. When asked what he has to do to get on the floor in the fourth quarter Russell said "I have no idea" and when asked if he was frustrated he said "something I got to deal with."
Russell was the second overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft and the Lakers view him as a future star so they should be doing everything they can to develop him this season when they know they likely won't be good. Head coach Byron Scott's job is to win games now so it is understandable that he played the red hot Lou Williams over Russell in the fourth quarter but the last thing the Lakers want to do is discourage a guy they think can be the future of the franchise early in his career and based on the reports he seems a little discouraged right now.
In fairness to Scott Russell has gotten off to a rough start this season as his PER (6.9) is extremely low and his other numbers are pretty bad including his low shooting numbers of 34 percent from the field and 24 percent from three. Russell has been handed the reins as the starting point guard and so far he hasn't been able to do much with it and as of right now he hasn't earned the opportunity to be out there in crunch time.
After the game Scott said that Russell "will have plenty of opportunities" to close out games so the chances are coming. Williams was having a great game so it's hard to fault Scott here especially when you consider Russell's struggles so far this year but Russell is the future of the Lakers while Williams likely isn't so it could become a huge problem if this situation becomes a trend for the rest of the year.
