The Nets bet big on D’Angelo Russell. They gave up their all-time leading scorer Brook Lopez, a first-round pick that became Kyle Kuzma and tons of cap space to carry Timofey Mozgov, all to land Russell. They’re banking on not just the player the 22-year-old guard is today, but what he’ll become tomorrow.
Russell has already overcome knee surgery to take a quantum leap offensively. And he had 14 points, seven assists and five boards in Monday’s 118-115 victory over the Grizzlies at Barclays Center, the Nets’ first back-to-back wins since January. But it’s the other end of the court where the Nets must develop him.
“Defense is first and foremost, way above everything else,” coach Kenny Atkinson said before the game. “He’s shown improvement. That improvement — like with a lot of young guys — is going to come with his physical improvement. He’s got to get stronger, he’s got to move a little better. The IQ is there, he’s got all the attributes. He’s 6-5, he’s a tall guy so he can match up with ones and twos.
“Taking care of the ball better at the end of games. … It’s huge valuing the ball at the end of games.So those are the two big [goals] for him.”
The most auspicious development is that despite his hot scoring, Russell is focused on shoring up the other end of the court. He was a team-high plus-12 Monday with two blocks and two steals, including one in the decisive 12-1 fourth-quarter run.
“It’s not the offensive end for me. I’m really trying to focus on the defensive end and making the correct rotations and being there for my teammates when I need to,” Russell said prior to facing Memphis. “Offense is really not my focus right now. Just following the game plan, knowing my matchup every night and going into every game really studying the player I’m guarding and knowing what they like and what I can do to take that away. Just the game plan, how can I be there on the rotation for my teammates. Watching film, you see those plays.”
Much of that is just reining in his gambling nature. He knows it’s a point of emphasis.
“Yeah, definitely, you could say that. As far as knowing what the focus is and knowing what I’ve got to get better at,” Russell said. “You get a visual of that seeing the first half of the season. Going through it, you know what you need to work at … so that’s what I tried to put my mind to.”
That’d make Nets brass happy. The team already picked up next season’s option for $7 million, and improvement on defense would make his $9 million qualifying offer in 2019-20 look like a bargain considering his offense. He’s averaging 20.4 points in his past five games and 17.1 in his last 15.
“You put in work, you trust your craft, and the basketball gods make it go through,” said Russell, who is hitting 38.2 percent from deep since the All-Star break, and 40.3 percent in March.
Catch-and-shoot 3-pointers are easier than the pull-up kind, so it’s no shock Russell has hit 37.9 percent of the former but just 28.7 percent on the latter. But he’d sabotaged his smooth stroke with shady shot selection … until now.
Through Feb. 7, catch-and-shoot 3s had accounted for just 13.1 percent of his attempts. But in the last 15 games, he’s boosted that ratio to 30.1 percent, and shot .431 on them. And hitting only .300 on his harder pull-up 3s, he’d culled those tougher shots to just 18.5 percent of his attempts.
“I love his shot selection, I love that he’s shooting the catch-and-shoot much more,” Atkinson said. “He’s getting to the rim more, his finishing is improving. A lot of good stuff there.
“But we want perfect. That’s coaches: We want it perfect.”
