Brooklyn Boro

Russell looks to change narrative in Brooklyn

Eager to Put Los Angeles in Rear View as New Era with Nets Begins

August 30, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
D’Angelo Russell is relishing the opportunity to change the narrative of his still-budding career during the upcoming 2017-18 campaign with the Brooklyn Nets. AP photo by Jim Mone
Share this:

Reggie Jackson was asked upon his much-ballyhooed arrival in the Bronx just over four decades ago if he came to New York to become a star.

“I brought my star with me,” the always loquacious Yankee slugger responded quite simply.

D’Angelo Russell can’t say the same about his upcoming debut season here in Downtown Brooklyn. 

Russell, unlike Jackson, doesn’t come here as a former league MVP with three world championships and six All-Star Game appearances on his resume,

In fact, the 21-year-old Louisville, Kentucky native’s coast-to-coast relocation was prompted by his inability to find a true niche in the Lakers’ organization despite being selected second overall in the 2015 NBA Draft and averaging career bests of 15.6 points, 4.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game during his second full season.

Even Lakers team president and L.A. icon Magic Johnson took a parting shot at Russell just before replacing him with another second overall pick, Lonzo Ball, back in June following the blockbuster deal that sent Russell and veteran center Timofey Mozgov here for the Nets’ all-time leading scorer, Brook Lopez.

“He has the talent to be an All-Star,” Johnson said of Russell.

“We want to thank him for what he did for us. But what I needed was a leader. I needed somebody also that can make the other players better … [somebody] that players want to play with.”

Ouch!

To his credit, Russell didn’t return any serious fire in the direction of the Hall of Fame point guard, who amassed five NBA titles for the Lakers during his storied career.

After all, he had earned at least some of the harsh verbiage based on an incident toward the end of his rookie season, when video he secretly shot on Snapchat of teammate Nick Young speaking about a tryst with a woman other than the one he was dating, pop and hip-hop star Iggy Azalea, went viral.

“There’s been some criticism and some doubts about him,” Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson readily admitted during Russell’s introductory press conference at the team’s HSS Training Center in Sunset Park back in June.

“But I think we’re a positive culture, we’re a positive coaching staff and we’re going to hold him accountable and be honest with him and coach him hard,” added Atkinson. “I think that combination of positive love and then holding him accountable and be honest with him, that’s how young guys get better.”

Russell is determined to leave la-la land in the dust, putting his nose to the grindstone and beginning a new chapter in his career here in Brooklyn, one he hopes will end with him being vindicated as not only a leader, but ultimately a champion.

Combining with newly acquired, and very hungry players like Allen Crabbe and DeMarre Carroll, Russell hopes to change the narrative for a Brooklyn squad that has gone a combined 41-123 over the past two seasons, including a league-worst 20-62 in 2016-17.

“Recently we’ve struggled. In the last few years … teams come in and say you can take nights off [in Brooklyn],” Russell said on the Nets’ website last week.

“I want to rebuild that and make it a place where people come and say ‘alright, we’ve got the crowd against us. It’s New York.'”

It certainly is.

And along with playing in New York comes the great responsibility of living up to expectations, especially the ones you heap upon yourself before you’ve played a single game in the Nets’ signature black and white uniforms.

Jackson spoke boldly, and then he went out and helped deliver back-to-back championships for the Yankees in 1977-78, highlighting his five-year tenure here with a World Series MVP performance for the ages during the ’77 Fall Classic.

All Russell has to do to make himself a household name here in Brooklyn is help return the Nets to relevancy, something they established quite quickly upon their arrival here in 2012 with three consecutive postseason appearances.

He’s certainly not shying away from that goal, even heading into a season where Las Vegas projects the Nets to finish with no more than 28 wins.

“I know I’m coming in with an edge,” said Russell, who figures to share back-court duties with veteran Jeremy Lin come opening night on Oct. 18 at Indiana.

“Allen Crabbe he’s coming in with an edge, DeMarre Carroll has an edge. We’re a confident team and we’re looking forward to doing what we do,” he added.

Whether Russell’s reputation as one who didn’t get along well with others was deserved or not in Los Angeles, the budding Ohio State alum will get another opportunity to prove himself here in Brooklyn this coming season.

And it is a chance he has been relishing all summer long during regular workouts at the Industry City practice facility.

“It’s up to everyone to make their imprint as a team,” Russell said. “Me coming in with a chip on my shoulder, AC coming in — I think that’s going to blend together, mesh together. As long as we’re making those strides, that’s all I can really ask for.”

Russell also knows that preseason chatter doesn’t amount to much without results on the court.

His unquestionable abilities and renewed focus and confidence will only provide value for the Nets if they resurface as a serious contender for an Eastern Conference playoff spot for the first time in the last three years.

“It’s easy to talk about it and talk about what you want to do for the team and this and that,” said Russell, who will get his first chance to show the Lakers what they are missing when he leads the Nets into Los Angeles on Nov. 3.

“When you get out there and play it’s a different story. So once we start playing, I think I’ll have a better feel. But I’m excited.”

 

Subscribe to our newsletters


Leave a Comment


Leave a Comment