D’Angelo Russell Season Review: Brooklyn’s Budding Star

Future:

The 2018-19 season is a contract year for D’Angelo Russell. Brooklyn owes him $7 million after picking up his team option last October. Hopefully, he plays well and the Nets do everything possible to keep him around longer. The most prominent question, of course, concerns money. But if Brooklyn believes he’s their franchise player, there’s no reason for them not to give Russell a healthy salary.

Offseason Homework:

Russell has some areas to improve before his status as a star is justified. The biggest is shot selection, an area where most young players struggle. Russell had a brutal year from the perimeter (32.4 percent from three on 5.8 attempts) and often settled for long jumpers. His ability to create off the dribble is too pronounced for ill-advised triples. Once he figures that out, limiting turnovers is crucial. He averaged 3.1 giveaways a night, either from poor decisions or bad passes.

Grade:

D’Angelo Russell had a solid campaign. He wasn’t consistently fantastic or atrocious. But he’s still young and struggled with a major injury. Those two factors had an impact on his play, but the flashes are too bright to ignore. I feel comfortable giving Russell a B for this campaign, and there’s still an abundance of room for him to improve.

2016-17 Per-Game Stats:

• Minutes: 28.7
• Points: 15.6
• Rebounds: 3.5
• Assists: 4.8
• Field Goal Percentage: 40.5 %
• Three Point Field Goal Percentage: 35.2%
• Free Throw Percentage: 78.2%

2016-17 Per 36 Stats:

• Points: 19.6
• Rebounds: 4.4
• Assists: 6.0
• Field Goal Attempts: 17.2
• Three Point Field Attempts: 7.6
• Free Throw Attempts: 3.7

2017-18 Per-Game Stats:

• Minutes: 25.7
• Points: 15.5
• Rebounds: 3.9
• Assists: 5.2
• Field Goal Percentage: 41.4%
• Three Point Field Goal Percentage: 32.4 %
• Free Throw Percentage: 74.0%

2017-18 Per 36 Stats:

• Points: 21.7
• Rebounds: 5.5
• Assists: 7.3
• Field Goal Attempts: 19.6
• Three Point Field Attempts: 8.1
• Free Throw Attempts: 3.8