[D’Angelo Russell] “Last year they found a way to get me off the floor for not playing defense. [I want to] eliminate that… So I’m trying to be as dangerous as I can on offense and trying not to be a liability on defense, that’s what I’m working on.”
by AashyLarry
50 Comments
They also let Shroeder go meaning Dlo will be forced to play more
great self awareness now just apply it.
Never heard a player call themselves a liability on defense before lol. He’s not wrong just weird to hear
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It takes a lot of maturity to acknowledge that you’re a liability on defense. Good on you Dlo.
DLo has the size to be a solid defender. He’s not the fastest laterally but he isn’t slow. It’s about engagement and commitment. He’ll never win awards but more effort will go a long way and at least he’s showing some self-awareness.
If DLo was playing offensively like he did in the regular season or even in the first two rounds, he would have still gotten minutes. When your the weak link on D BUT also going cold, that was the issue.
Can’t really hate on him for this response. Good attitude to have.
DLo always flashed the little things but never consistently did them. Be cool to see just wish it wasn’t with the Lakers
nothing more ice in his veins then being put on ice skates on defense
He said this in Minnesota, too
Now that he’s off the Timberwolves he’s gonna actually try on defense huh?
He’s playing the best perimeter defense I’ve ever seen from him. I didn’t know he had it in him. It’s great to see.
He shot his way out of some games too
Correct attitude, admitting he’s a liability on defense is refreshing, you rarely hear this type of honesty from players. He has the size to not be run out of court when it comes the playoff time, he doesn’t need to be a good defender, just decent enough.
Bros mid at best
Dlo looking frosty
If he had this mentality with the Twolves and actually played defense. We would of been a decent team.
The maturity and self-awareness. DLOs come a long way and you can tell he loves LA and wants to fix his shortcomings to stay. Big year for him with a player option next year.
I love his attitude. Recognizes his weaknesses rather than just coming out and being like, “I’m Domin’Angelo”
How long this dude been in the league? Did he just figure out defense is necessary lol 🤣
Trying not to be a liability is a funny statement
You either try hard on defense or you don’t
Okay if Dlo has this level of self awareness and can commit to improvement, then I might just believe Wood will do it too.
So happy to hear he understands the situation. He’s extremely talented and I hope he succeeds! Would be very big for the Lakers if it happens.
“My defence needs work. So I worked on my offence.”
Pretty sure DLo said this after losing to Memphis in MN
I wish he would have figured this out about three years ago.
Bruce Brown really got to him 😂
He doesn’t want to be a good defender. Just not a liability.
>trying not to be a liability on defense
That isn’t a high bar trying not to suck. How about trying to be good defender?
Not be a defensive liability. Way to aim high
dude doesn’t get it, never will, highly over-paid.
Good for DLo admitting to his defensive liability and working to get better at it. Respect.
I’m so glad he’s back home with us 😭
He went cold and they hunted him, DLo can win you a playoff game when he’s on like he showed vs Memphis
I thought D’Lo gave some really good effort in the playoffs on D last year. He was out of position at times but he definitely tried.
A difficult challenge for him will be to get rid of the perspective that he’s a liability on defense. I saw refs use him as a scapegoat to make some questionable foul calls on. Also, if things are going bad, D’Lo just seems like an easy target for people to use for some reason.
I hope this season goes well because this man is dangerous. It was so awesome watching him chop up Klay last year. He had Klay looking embarrassed 😂
Y’all are complimenting him but I still can’t understand what he’s saying cuz it’s one of two options.
The quote says “for not playing defense” which makes it sound like his team was looking for a reason to sit him and found it in his defense.
But he says “by not” so is he saying the other team sagged off him? So even though the reporter brought up defense it feels like he was saying he had to improve his offense and his defense just kinda is what it is. At least that would make sense about why he said he has to be dangerous on offense. Cuz he knows his defense is a negative. The feeling I got was that he got told that if he can’t score he’s deadweight on the court.
Who the fuck is “they”? He’s trying to give “them” a reason to keep him on the court… I feel like that has to be the coaches but then why the fuck is he talking about offense when the reporter talked about an emphasis on defense?
How tf do you quote this vague shit?
Dude gets no credit from me talking about… well, they wanted me to get better at defense so I took extra swings in the batting cages so I’d be extra deadly at the plate.
Bruh. Fill a role.
Refreshing, but if I’m a Lakers fan I need to see it to believe it. Even some of the worst defenders play passable in one-on-one situations, but once a screen and/or off-ball movement come into play, they fold quickly.
Hopefully he figures it out, but I can’t recall many (if any) one-way players suddenly figuring out complex defensive schemes.
Don’t make me buy your jersey Dlo
In the Conference Finals they didn’t take him out of the game though. The Nuggets were cookin’ him and even making fun of his play post game. This apparently tricked Hamm keep playing him despite the terrible plus/minus. I don’t know if this was a pride thing with Hamm trying to not get punked or something but it was a very poor decision.
In contrast I remember one sequence where Christian Braun checked into the game and quickly blew an assignment. Malone called a time out immediately to sub him out and he didn’t get back in until the next game.
It was just last year lol
He should try trying.
Love to see it! I wish the media placed more emphasis on +/- and defense, instead of “this guy dropped 40 last night”. If he gave up 45 to whoever he guarded then who cares, that’s not good for the team…
But in today’s NBA, points = $
Hilarious that these professional basketball players can only play on one side of the floor.
Imagine only being able to do half your job.
I remember reading an article that called him the Draymond Green of Minnesota, it was WILD
wasn’t his defense praised in the Wolves? Maybe I’m remembering it wrong
At least he is self aware
Way more self aware than I thought he was.
It’s hard when you are constantly picking up the slack of your teammates!
So practicing defense is out of the question. More offense.