Instead of locking up Russell with a rookie-scale extension before the season, the Nets will likely let it ride and let him hit restricted free agency. How he plays — and how his worrisome knees hold up — will steer GM Sean Marks’ season-long strategy. “He’s a talented guy. He’s got great court vision, incredible hand-eye coordination, really understands the game,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said on ESPN Radio. “He wants to be great. He’s been in our gym all summer. In the NBA, it’s not an obligation. You’ve got to want to be there. So he’s been there. He’s been really working on his body. He’s got to make strides there. He’s got to get stronger. He worked on his explosiveness. But he’s proven it to me by being there every day the offseason.”
D'Angelo Russell Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: G
Born: 02/23/96
Height: 6-5 / 1.96
Weight:176 lbs. / 79.8 kg.
Salary: $7,019,698
Born: 02/23/96
Height: 6-5 / 1.96
Weight:176 lbs. / 79.8 kg.
Salary: $7,019,698
Brian Lewis: Sean Marks added D’Angelo Russell has worked “extremely hard” on his health & body in the wake of midseason knee surgery, but adds he must continue to do so, Allen must improve his rebounding and #Nets must close out games as a team.
Anthony Puccio: Dudley: “You think about D’Angelo Russell and the talent he has being a lefty coming from the Lakers, everybody knows his scoring ability. I think for him, and I talked to him on the phone, is how you can make your teammates better.”
If the Nets want to sign Russell to a rookie-scale extension, they’ll need to do it before the regular season starts in October. So far they haven’t talked about doing so, seemingly content to extend the 22-year-old point guard a $9.16 million qualifying offer and let him hit restricted free agency next summer. “For now we’re going to see how this group plays together, how it all unfolds,” Marks said. “But — again, I’m not going to rule out anything — as we stand now, this is the group and we have no plans to make any crazy changes, whether that’s an extension or signing or trade anyone else. But things happen quickly.”
Anthony Puccio: Asked if it’s a big year for D’Angelo Russell, Marks says, “It’s a big year for everybody. It’s never about just one person.”
We interrupt our obsessive coverage of Nets free agency for a brief public service announcement. DLo’s “ice in my veins” is an international phenomenon! French TV cameras caught two of the stars of France’s World Cup champions, Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann, celebrating their victory by pointing to their wrists and telling the camera they had “ice in my veins” … then shouting out D’Angelo Russell.
