The D'Lemma: Deal or no deal for D'Angelo Russell?

To the casual fan it seems like a no-brainer to sign D’Angelo Russell to a maximum contract, but in reality this is much more complex than it seems.

Will D’Angelo Russell be offered a maximum contract? That is the question and it is a D’Angelo D’Lemma for Brooklyn. It is indeed a tricky question that general manager Sean Marks will be forced to address in the Brooklyn Nets upcoming offseason.

Under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, a maximum contract for a 2015 draft pick coming off his rookie deal is a figure worth close to $28 million per year, as 25 percent of a team’s salary cap for a player like D-Lo with less than six years’ NBA experience.

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D-Lo is a restricted free agent. There is no team or player option on his current contract. The Nets can make an initial qualifying offer for no less than $9,160,705, but such an offer would be far less than his perceived market value and an insult to him as a player considering his talent level.

The qualifying offer is a formality to allow Brooklyn to retain right of first refusal on any offer sheet another team may sign Russell to.

But it’s relatively safe to say the Nets will offer much more to keep him. The question will be how much will it take to retain his services without insulting him with a low-ball offer?

To further complicate matters, it is very likely another NBA team will offer D-Lo a maximum contract in which case Marks will be forced to either match that offer or risk losing him.

There are other alternatives such as trading him or using a sign-and-trade, but those alternatives make a complicated situation even more complicated. D-Lo is a fan favorite in Brooklyn and he is the primary reason they had a successful season this year.

His relationship with the Nets organization is overwhelmingly positive and virtually no one wants to see him leave.

However, when it comes to signing players to maximum contracts, a certain degree of shrewdness is required since giving a max contract to the wrong kind of player can cripple a franchise for years.

Look no further than what happened in the signing of Deron Williams to a maximum contract, a debt the Nets are still paying off and will continue to do so next year as well (roughly $5.5 million).

Also consider the last few years of the Jason Kidd contract, which did not end so well either (and he was without question a max-level player worthy of every penny).

I am of the opinion that maximum contracts should be reserved for players who are unquestionably franchise players who serve as cornerstones for a championship-caliber team.

This begs the following question: Is Russell a franchise player and cornerstone for a championship-caliber team?

It hurts me to say this, but he just isn’t. I think it would be a mistake to sign him to a maximum contract. I am fully aware this is an unpopular opinion amongst Nets fans, but I will explain my reasoning for this line of thinking.

As prolific a scorer and 3-point shooter Russell has shown to be, he is still a “tweener”. He is not a true point guard and he is also not a true shooting guard since he is not a good catch-and-shoot player. He is a combo guard in every sense of the term.

I can’t think of a combo guard franchise player that led a team deep into the playoffs in the history of the NBA.

He only shot 43.4 percent from the field (missing more than 10 shots per game) and his seven assists per game are misleading, as these are mostly a product of the Nets good ball movement during the season.

Make no mistake about it, D-Lo has a shoot-first mentality and is not regarded as a top facilitator in the NBA. He also averaged 3.1 turnovers per game, which is high for a player who looks to shoot first.

Furthermore, next generation stats show some glaring deficiencies in his offensive game. His overall Player Efficiency Rating is only 19.48 and ranks him 47th in the league.

As good a 3-point shooter as he is, he is largely ineffective from both baselines. He is also a poor catch-and-shoot player with most of his shots coming off the dribble. This style of play can stagnate an offense. He is also not a good finisher around the rim.

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He does have a good mid-range pull up jumper, but as a driver he is average at best.

I would be remiss to not mention he is also a poor defender. Defense is half of the game and Russell is not good at playing passing lanes, getting steals, drawing charges or even playing good man-to-man defense when isolated.

He is a lazy defender who lacks hustle in transition defense and getting to 50-50 balls.

However, when he gets hot from the field he is an excellent scorer. Unfortunately for him he is a streaky shooter. In today’s NBA scoring is one of the easier statistics to acquire in free agency as well which makes the potential departure of Russell a little easier to cope with.

After comprehensively analyzing every aspect of his game, I cannot say he is worth a max contract. In my crude estimation I believe Russell is worth closer to $14 million-$17 million per year at most, but I fear that such an offer won’t be enough to keep him in a Brooklyn uniform.

Bloated contracts are the norm in today’s NBA.

One last thing to be mindful of is the fact that this was a contract year for D-Lo. NBA history is full of players who give a lot more effort to acquire that maximum contract pay day and then the following years are nothing but diminishing returns.

I don’t suspect that’s the case in this circumstance, but is worth pondering.

Another important thing to consider is this: Is Russell the kind of player that other NBA stars who are worthy of maximum contracts gravitate to as an attractive sidekick to join in pursuit of a ring? I suspect not as Russell is not a true playmaker.

This is crucial to consider given the amount of salary cap flexibility the Nets will have in the upcoming offseason.

It will be an interesting offseason for Brooklyn and I am curious to see how Sean Marks handles this D’Angelo dilemma. I have faith in Marks regardless of the outcome, but whatever decisions are made regarding Russell it will not be without drama.

Next. Mock Draft: Nets look for size, shooting. dark

Get your popcorn ready.

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The D’Lemma: Deal or no deal for D’Angelo Russell?

By Evan Decruz | Apr 21, 2019

To the casual fan it seems like a no-brainer to sign D’Angelo Russell to a maximum contract, but in reality this is much more complex than it seems.

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