Should the Indiana Pacers pursue D’Angelo Russell in free agency?
How D’Angelo Russell can elevate the Pacers
If there’s any one trait that would be associated with D’Angelo Russell, it would clearly be his scoring ability. This past season, the point guard played in 48 games where he scored at least twenty points and remained a consistent scoring option for a Nets team that often struggled at converting on shots. Even more impressive, he scored 30+ points in 14 games, including three outings where he dropped 40 or more in regulation.
His quickness allows the guard to exploit mismatches and get to one of his favorite spots. With a keen ability at creating a shot for himself, Russell often settles on dishing up a floater 8-10 feet from the basket, many times to the dismay of the opposing teams center:
During a possession where a defender was able to keep up with the quick guard, Russell didn’t hesitate to display his craftiness when creating a good look for himself.
While he doesn’t receive the reputation as a consistent three-point threat, Brooklyn’s leader was able to increase his percentage from deep to a career-best while attempting 7.8 of these shots per game, which was also the most in his four seasons:
Over 92% of his three-point attempts came in a similar fashion from above the break, and the All-Star converted on 35.9% of these shots. This statistic isn’t particularly stunning, but he sank 37 of his 71 corner-three attempts (52.1%). Albeit a small sample size, the conversion rate is promising and hopefully the 23-year-old can practice these shots and become comfortable attempting more of them.
This would be even more vital if he’s playing in Indiana, as Russell would likely find himself in more off-ball situations next to Oladipo, opposed to being the primary ball-handler and leading the Nets in shot attempts.
Regardless, acquiring Brooklyn’s point guard immediately improves the Pacers spacing. Russell isn’t a dead-eye from deep, but he commands attention from defenders around the arc due to his reputation of not being bashful when shooting above the break.
In fact, Russell took 1.8 more three-point attempts per game last season than any Pacers player – Victor Oladipo led the team with 6.0 attempts per game, Bojan Bogdanovic averaged 4.8 shots from deep.
As he’s shown improvement on his deep-ball, the guard has already been refining his touch from mid-range. He shot 48.2% on his 2-point attempts in 2018-19, also marking a career-best. If Indiana wasn’t anticipating a shift to an offense with a heavier focus on three-point shooting (as they’ve said for many years), Russell’s high volume and efficient shooting from 10-16 feet would have been a pretty good fit for past Pacers offenses.
In many cases, Russell was able to showcase his ball-handling ability when driving inside the arc:
Russell was also able to highlight his passing ability in a more visible fashion last season, either in a pick-and-roll scenario or a lob to a soaring teammate. He totaled the most assists of his career, despite taking an average of 18.7 shots per game, as the Nets depended on his scoring above play-making for teammates.
Creating for others was just an additional way for the 23 year old to show off his creativity with some swagger:
His usage in Indiana would likely be lower than Brooklyn, but he also probably won’t be taking almost 19 shots a game. Not relying on the point guard to be the primary scorer could unlock an even more consistent level of distribution without turning the ball over. As he enters his fifth NBA season in October, it’s not outlandish to believe his passing ability will continue to get better.
As is the case with many young point guards, there are some flaws that come along with Russell’s game as well.