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*The NBA offseason is cooling down, but the takes at OTG aren't. This month, we are hitting you with the Hot Take Marathon. Check back every day for a spicy NBA take!*
The Brooklyn Nets should make some significant strides next season. Their offseason has been widely praised by fans and pundits alike. However, a lot of their success hinges on the form of 4th year point guard, D’Angelo Russell.
D’Lo showed some nice glimpses of potential as franchise piece for the Nets. He still has plenty of kinks to iron out before he becomes the focal point for the franchise but the early signs are promising. Over the first twelve games before his knee injury the budding guard averaged almost 21 points to go with 5.7 assists and 4.7 rebounds in only 27.7 minutes of game time. Those are quality numbers for any player let alone a young player still finding his footing with his new team.
Russell’s pre-injury numbers are clear evidence of a possible future All-Star. His efficiency still needs work. To go with those per game stats above, he also averaged 4 turnovers per contest. Conversely, the shooting numbers weren’t too shabby.
One thing that should give D’Lo further motivation is the fact that Bleacher Report curated a list of the Top-25 Players Under 25 and the Nets’ guard was snubbed. There’s no doubt the former Laker would’ve seen that and will be keeping it in the back of his mind as he looks to prove his naysayers wrong.
In terms of voting for the 2018 All-Star Game, Russell accumulated 38,712 votes from the fans, good enough for 18th in fan voting. That number no doubt will jump significantly because his injury last season occurred so early on. There’s every chance he cracks the 100k mark, health permitting.
Funnily enough, Miami Heat point guard Goran Dragic made the team as an injury replacement though only racked up a tad over 63,000 votes from the fans. The Slovenian star was able to make his first All-Star team with pretty tame per game numbers of 17.4 points, 4.8 assists and 4 rebounds. If the Nets take a leap as a team and D’Lo does as well with his form, then he’s every chance of making his first All-Star team.
All stats provided by Basketball Reference