Stephen Curry Escaped the Path D’Angelo Russell is On
The Golden State Warriors, once a perennial cellar dweller, now rule the NBA, seemingly switching roles with the once-mighty Los Angeles Lakers, who are drowning with no hope of reaching the surface anytime soon.
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The Warriors have a stable foundation build around point guard Stephen Curry, who has blossomed into (arguably) the best basketball player on the planet. On the other hand, the Lakers are stuck in an awkward transitional phase where the young talent, touted as the future, struggles for power with an over-the-hill legend. Trapped in the middle of this is second overall pick, point guard D’Angelo Russell.
Watching Curry shatter records and play with historic efficiency makes it unfathomable that anyone would ever bench such a talent. But it was only just a few years ago that a young Curry wasn’t playing valuable fourth quarters and had to concede to veterans who didn’t have a future on the team. It wasn’t an easy first few years for Curry who, thanks to owner Joe Lacob’s vision, was able to develop into what he is now. Unfortunately for Russell, the Lakers’ incompetence has him on a similar, yet more dangerous path.
As a rookie, Curry had to deal with Don Nelson, who notoriously opposed playing rookies. Then once he retired, he handpicked Keith Smart to succeed him. Smart and Curry had issues and, though the latter would never call out his coach, it was evident Smart was only holding the future MVP back.
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He would bench Curry in favor of Acie Law late in games, punishing his point guard for making mistakes.The promising young guard wasn’t getting the reps required for a player to develop. Smart was extra hard on Curry and, while he did it in hopes that he would improve, he only hindered his growth.
Ownership finally committed to Curry, firing Smart and trading Ellis, and gave the keys to the franchise to the Davidson Wildcat. They surrounded Curry with complementary pieces, emphasizing that the team belonged to him. And Curry made mistakes. But the franchise put faith in him that he was the guy. And now he’s developed into a once-in-a-generation type of talent, a player with a skillset never-before-seen in the league, ready to defend both his MVP and championship title.
November 24, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) passes the basketball to forward
(23, far right) against Los Angeles Lakers guard
(6), forward
(2), and forward
(30) during the third quarter at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Lakers 111-77. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Opposing Curry during Tuesday night’s historic victory was Russell, the young Laker fans have declared the savior. The weight of the Lakers’ championship pedigree is enough to scare anyone away (looking at you, Dwight) so it’s pretty difficult to imagine that weight landing on the shoulders of a 19 year old. They need to rebuild and develop young talent, something they haven’t had to do to this extreme in franchise history.
Lakers coach Byron Scott has no idea what he’s doing and Kobe Bryant isn’t helping. They’re hurting Russell, Julius Randle, and their young talent. Scott is hyper-critical of Russell’s play while he allows Bryant to throw up shots that would embarrass prime Kobe. Scott said that he’s more concerned with winning than developing players which is impossible to do if you don’t develop your players.
While it’s completely justified to be hard on a young player, there are growing pains that you have to let them work through. It’s reasonable to pull an inexperienced player in favor of a veteran during key games in a playoff push, but it’s not reasonable to do so when your playoff hopes were nonexistent from day one.
Russell most likely isn’t the next Curry. But their rookie numbers per 36 minutes are closer than you would think. Curry averaged 17.4 points and 5.9 assists while Russell is managing to put up 14 points and 3.9 assists. Russell, in a far worse situation, is, inexplicably, only playing 26 minutes per game, ten less than Curry did.
The Warriors have completed an absolute culture shift, excelling at everything and becoming the model for success in the league. On the other hand, the Lakers are far removed from the glory days. Owner Dr. Jerry Buss’ passing, his children’s failures, and Bryant’s deterioration have caused the once-dominant Lakers to become a laughingstock.
And in a point guard-driven league, the Lakers used their second pick on a First Team All-American. One that won’t thrive as long as Bryant is shooting 1-14 and Scott is benching him in the fourth. Scott is punishing him for making mistakes 19 year olds make and by forcing him to sit on the bench won’t help him learn. Russell most likely won’t win Rookie of the Year and he’s not going to become the point guard Bryant and his coach want him to be overnight. But they are playing with fire as the longer they put off his development, the closer they get to either losing him or, worse, ruining him.
The Lakers are not going anywhere this year and it would take a miracle for them to do anything next year. But the Warriors didn’t do anything either until Curry’s fourth year. Developing point guards in the modern NBA is difficult when they have to go up against great players on a nightly basis. The Lakers aren’t going to have a Joe Lacob come save the franchise so the changes need to be made internally. Scott and Bryant need to understand the game is different than it was when they played and the state of the Lakers is in uncharted territory. Kobe can’t shoot them back into this one.
Even the greats needed help and Stephen Curry is no different. He’s a special player who wasn’t able to put his talents on full display being held out of meaningless games. When finally the Warriors reassured him that mistakes were OK as long as he grew, he flourished.
No one knows what D’Angelo Russell’s future holds, but he won’t have a future as long as Byron Scott and the Lakers hinder him. As basketball fans, we should all hope that the Lakers figure it out. For Russell’s sake.