3 Ways D’Angelo Russell will change the Golden State Warriors (Film)

1. Iso-Scoring

The Golden State Warriors usually pride themselves off of superb ball-movement. Team effort is always a priority in their attack. However, in recent years, the Dubs have taken a slight step backward into a more iso-oriented style of play.

This was largely due to the presence of Kevin Durant. With a player as offensively gifted as Durant, it would be silly not to run some isolation offense. However, with Durant gone, will the Dubs still cater to isolation?

Well, this might be a good way to get D-Lo going offensively. He is a talented one-on-one player with the potential to create his own shot or set up a teammate.

Once Russell gets the favorable matchup he was looking for, he wastes no time delivering a deadly hesitation crossover to beat Zach Collins to the rim.

Here, we see how Russell’s threat as a passer opens up lanes for him to score:

Electing not to use the screen, Russell drives into the heart of the defense, but is able to cleanly put up a floater as a potential pass to Jarret Allen is enough to distract Jusuf Nurkic.

The Dubs are going to love allowing Russell to operate like this and take a load off of Stephen Curry. We already saw how opponents are willing to blitz Curry if there isn’t another offensive threat on the floor. Hopefully, Russell will terminate that game plan.

Last season, Russell averaged a career-high 21.1 points per game. Expect him to have similar scoring numbers this year as the Dubs look for him to create his own shot consistently.