The big story surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers this season has been the potential mishandling of rookie D'Angelo Russell. Russell has often been stapled to the bench in the fourth quarter and many people think that since the Lakers are not going anywhere this year Russell should be on the court learning through experience. Russell has been frustrated by his lack of opportunity to play at the ends of games but it may be his defense that is holding him back from playing in the fourth quarter, according to Baxter Holmes of ESPN.
The Lakers as a team play the worst defense in the NBA and Russell is certainly part of the problem as he has struggled on that end as well but they don't have any better options than him on that end anyway. None of the guards the Lakers play consistently have played good defense so far this season so while Scott may use that as an excuse it is one that does not have any merit. Scott did add that he doesn't want to just throw him in there before he is ready to play in the fourth quarter.
"I'm not going to throw him to the wolves, per se, just because he's the No. 2 pick. When he's in there and he's playing in the last quarter of the game, it's going to be because he's totally prepared," said Scott.
The truth is that Russell hasn't exactly earned the right to be on the floor in the fourth quarter as he has not played well on offense to go along with his struggles on defense. While Jordan Clarkson and Lou Williams have also struggled on defense they have at least played well on offense to offset their pourous defense. Russell is shooting less than 40 percent from the field and has a PER of 11.1 which is the lowest of any of the Lakers regular rotation players.
While Russell has certainly struggled to start off his NBA career there is a reason why the Lakers drafted him second overall before Jahlil Okafor and that is because he is an extremely talented player that the Lakers think can be a star. The lack of defense argument with Russell is one that bears no fruit for Scott as all of the Lakers have struggled at that end. The argument could be made that Scott is mishandling Russell but it could also be made that Russell hasn't earned the right to play in the fourth quarter, it is impossible to know which side is right but in the end Russell can put these debates to bed by just playing better.
