The Los Angeles Lakers need to take a page out of the Denver Nuggets’ playbook. Yes, you read that correctly.
The Nuggets are still working on their first trip to a Finals, meaning they’ve never won a title and probably never will come close to matching the Lakers’ 16 championships, even if the NBA is around for another 70 years. But when it comes to doing what’s right for their team, the Nuggets are the model now for the Lakers to follow.
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At the start of the season, Denver put its team in the hands of its 19-year rookie point guard, Emmanuel Mudiay. He’s had his ups and downs and has shown he’s every bit still a teenager, even if Jason Kidd already has tried to make the case for Mudiay eventually being better than he was. You can bet that Nuggets coach Michael Malone wasn’t very thrilled to hear Kidd’s comments because now he has to spend his time reminding all the gullible people out there that Mudiay hasn’t even turned 20.
But if the Nuggets could do it, so must the Lakers: It’s time to give the keys to their franchise to their teenage playmaker, D’Angelo Russell.
It’s all about the future, so the Lakers need to stop coddling Russell and stop worrying about killing his confidence. Just let him play — give him more than the 25 minutes a night he’s gotten through his first 11 games. Lakers coach Byron Scott needs to forget about Lou Williams and/or Jordan Clarkson and play Russell in the fourth quarters of games, regardless if he succeeds or fails.
Old-school as they come, Scott has tried benching Russell to make him pay for his poor play. He’s also tried to prod him into playing smarter by sending him messages through the media. When the Lakers recently were in New York, for instance, he stated that the Lakers “probably were a little wrong” in their scouting of Kristaps Porzingis — one of the other options they had when they picked Russell. After 10 games, he came to that deduction?
“This kid has a hunger to be really good,” Scott said of Porzingis, who went two picks after Russell to the Knicks. “The comparisons to Dirk Nowitzki because of his size and the way they can shoot the ball is pretty accurate, especially when Dirk first came on the scene. The kid is going to be really special one day."
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He hasn’t shown it yet, but Russell might end up being special, too. As much as everyone is fixated on how Kobe Bryant is going out — obviously with a whimper on those 37-year-old legs of his — it’s time to for the Mamba to pass the torch to Russell.
What do they have to lose?
Games.
That’s the idea, by the way. Yes, it’s far better if the Lakers lose, a lot, this season, than to win a little with Williams, who should be traded to a contender, and Clarkson, who will be a nice bench player on a contender. The more losses, the better. If the Lakers land one of the top three picks in the 2016 NBA Draft lottery, they will get to keep their first-rounder. Otherwise, it goes to the 76ers.
They desperately need to retain their top pick. However, if they don’t finish with the Sixers (book it) and Nets (looking good) among the trio of worst teams, then their pick goes to the Sixers.
“That’s why we want them to start winning,” one member of the Sixers’ brain trust told Sporting News.
And that’s why going with Russell for 36 minutes a night makes all the more sense. Judging from what he’s shown so far — suspect shooting, a poor assist-to-turnover ratio (less than 2-to-1) and a lack of effort of concentration and effort on defense — it won’t be a surprise if he flunks Point Guard 101.
“It’s the toughest transition to make in sports, coming in from college after one year and then playing point guard right away in the NBA,” former Mav and Knick playmaker Derek Harper, now a Dallas team broadcaster, told SiriusXM NBA Radio last week. “I think the only one that could be more difficult is coming into the NFL as a quarterback and starting as a rookie. When I came in, I was on a very short leash with Dick Motta, so I sat a lot and I had to watch and learn. These guys who are coming in and trying to lead teams when they’re 19-20 years old, that’s almost impossible to do. The only player I saw who could do that was Magic Johnson, but he had won a state title in high school in East Lansing and then he won an NCAA title at Michigan State.”
Speaking of Johnson, Russell couldn’t defend his statue outside Staples Center. Neither can Mudiay, but the Nuggets are living with that. They’ve made him Priority No. 1.
Just as the Lakers need to do with Russell.
Slam dunks
• The ice under George Karl is said to be thinner than ever after Kings management refused to suspend center DeMarcus Cousins for two games, per Karl’s wishes, and wouldn’t even levy a fine on their immature center after he directed a post-game tirade at Karl after a loss to the Spurs. Management’s mishandling of Cousins’ latest temper tantrum sends the worst possible message. “You lose credibility with the players when the front office doesn’t back you,” said one team source. “It just shows that Cousins has more power than George.” That’s beyond dangerous.
• New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry talks almost daily to his former boss, Steve Kerr, still sidelined after two back operations. “He just doesn’t feel great,” Gentry told Sporting News in New York before his team lost Sunday to the Knicks. “Joe Lacob is a tremendous guy, a great owner. He told Steve, ‘you need to stay out until you get yourself well.’ Steve will do that and like Luke Walton said, ‘These guys are on cruise control, anyway.’ ”
• As we suspected all along, the booing of DeAndre Jordan in his first trip into Dallas did not approach the venom or ear-splitting decibel level that Kiki VanDeWeghe used to endure back in the 1980s, after he was drafted by Dallas and refused to play for the Mavs. Those were the days.
• Minnesota thinks that Zach LaVine has a big future, and that’s the main reason they’re open to discussing a move involving Ricky Rubio.
Based in New York, Mitch Lawrence has been covering the NBA since 1986-87 and has been writing a column about the league since 1994-95. He also writes for Forbes.com and is a host on SiriusXM NBA Radio. He can also be found on Twitter at @Mitch_Lawrence.
