I agree that Steph was the best shooter I have ever seen at the college level. But Russell is lights out as well. Just making a point about the %s and he will only improve as he gets older.
Just pointing it out because it is necessary to have your point guard be able to knock down shots from deep and Russell can do that with the best of them in addition to contributing in a number of different ways. It is hard to find a modern point guard who would be able to flourish in the triangle because of how different NBA offenses are nowadays. The Emmanuel Mudiay/John Wall types wont get it done under this system as good as they might be. I could obviously see Curry doing it but obviously we arent getting him. I could see Brandon Knight having success in the triangle as well as Dragic but both of them would be difficult to get.
D'Angelo Russell is not only an incredibly gifted player/prospect, he is pretty much everything that we could ask for in a point guard to play in the triangle offense in today's NBA. We are going to need a PG like this to run this team moving forward and Russell would provide exactly what we need. He has the skillset to do so and his leadership/maturity cannot be understated as well. He is the kind of player who could step in right away as a 20 year old kid and take command of this team and earn the respect of an established star like Melo. That is the kind of player we need on this team. His shooting ability is just part of what makes him such a great fit for this team.
No he is not as good of a shooter as Curry was, but he is pretty lights out himself. In addition, he is bigger and probably a more complete PG than Steph was coming out of Davison and HE IS ONLY 19. Dont see why it should be some sort of given that we should take Okafor over Russell just because he is a center. This would imply that centers have been more successful in the NBA than skilled combo guards like Russell, which has not been the case at all. Quite the contrary actually.
Steph Curry was quite a polarizing prospect coming out of Davidson. Some really liked him as a prospect because of his clutch shooting, others doubted his ability to thrive in the NBA because he wasnt a pure PG and wasnt athletic enough to make it in the league. Regardless, absolutely nobody expected Curry to be the MVP-caliber player he is right now. A lot of players were taken ahead of Steph Curry, and I highly doubt he would even be brought up in the discussion to be drafted ahead of Jahil Okafor if they were in the same draft class. Yet I cant think of a player in the NBA right now I would prefer to be on the Knicks more than Steph Curry. Just in terms of the caliber of player he is and how well he would fit into this system, city, and next to Carmelo.
D'Angelo Russell shows me a lot of similar characteristics to Steph at Davidson, and I kind of view drafting Russell like getting the shot we missed out in 2009 with Curry. I also see a lot of similarities in Russell with both James Harden and another prospect I loved, Brandon Roy, 2 other prospects that went on to be extremely successful top 10 caliber NBA players in their prime despite not being labeled as "cant miss" prospects because they were guards without Derrick Rose/Russell Westbrook level of athleticism. I mean Hasheem Thabeet was drafted ahead of both Harden and Curry because he was a center and numerous big men that went on to be busts were drafted ahead of Brandon Roy like Bargnani, Tyrus Thomas, and Shelden Williams. Im not trying to compare Okafor to any of those players because I think he is far and away a better prospect than any of them were and also more established as a freshman, just pointing out that in all of those cases Curry, Harden, and Roy were undervalued as prospects and I see something similar occurring currently with Russell.
Yes, people are recognizing how skilled Russell is and how complete of a prospect he is. He has been possibly the most productive freshman player in the country and nobody in their right mind has him outside of the top 5 in this draft. However, I think the notion that Towns and Okafor should automatically be selected higher than Russell because they are centers is a misguided point of view. Players similar to Russell's skillset are dominating the NBA right now. The top 3 candidates for MVP right now are Curry, Harden, and Westbrook who all fall into that class of highly skilled combo guards. The scariest part about this all is that D'Angelo Russell is probably the best prospect of all of them coming out of college and the only one of the bunch entering the draft at only 19 years old. Players with Russell's makeup should be valued just as much as a center.
I see some of the mistakes people made in undervaluing Curry in 09 being made with Russell right now. Just jumping to the conclusion that he is not as good of an overall prospect as Okafor just because Okafor is a center implies that centers have been overwhelmingly more successful than big skilled point guards like Russ, which hasnt been the case whatsoever. The way I see it is that I would rather the 6'5 PG who does everything we need a point guard to do on this team, than the 6'11 center with serious defensive issues.
We are going to need a PG on this team and I honestly cant think of any attainable option in the league I would prefer over D'Angelo Russell. He does everything that we need in a point guard. I couldnt feel more confident in a player becoming our new PG of the future under the toolage of Derek Fisher and Phil Jackson than D'Angelo Russell. I honestly mean that. I could think of a couple of options at center I would prefer to Okafor including Karl Towns and Marc Gasol.
Town or Russell on draft day. Sorry for the rants. Long weekend of college bball watching. Night