Memo to the Lakers: Complimenting other players you could've drafted in June won't exactly endear D'Angelo Russell to fans.
Los Angeles coach Byron Scott admitted the team erred in its evaluation of Knicks center Kristaps Porzingis, whom the Lakers worked out during the summer and were considering drafting with the No. 2 pick in the June draft.
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"I liked him because he's athletic, can shoot the ball. From what we saw, he was able to shoot it from 3-point range pretty easily," Scott said Saturday, according to ESPN. "He's a young kid that in the workouts that we had really didn't show any fear.
"[We] just thought it was going to take him some time [to develop]," he added. "Obviously, we were probably a little wrong about that because he's playing pretty well right now."
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Porzingis had 12 points and 10 rebounds in the Knicks' 99-95 win over the Lakers in Madison Square Garden on Sunday. For the season he is averaging 12.3 points and 8.6 rebounds for New York.
"Man, he's a good player," Scott said of Porzingis. "This kid has a hunger to be really good. The comparisons to Dirk Nowitzki because of his size and the way they can shoot the ball is pretty accurate, especially when Dirk first came on the scene. The kid is going to be really special one day."
Scott could be guilty of hyperbole because he recently compared Russell to Lakers Hall of Famer Magic Johnson.
Russell is averaging 9.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game through L.A.'s first six games. In his first games of his rookie season, Johnson was averaging 20.8 points per game, according to Basketball Reference. He also averaged 7.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game.
The other player the Lakers could've had is 76ers center Jahlil Okafor, who is averaging 15.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.
Other than Scott's comparison to Magic, the Lakers have preached patience about Russell's development, but that might be hard for Lakers fans of a 1-5 team watching future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant's career wind down.
But Bryant, too, was rather complimentary of what the Lakers could've had that New York now has.
"From what I've seen so far, he looks pretty damn good," Bryant said. "He's skillful, he can do a lot of things. He seems to be very competitive, too. He has a good competitive spirit about him."
Good luck, D'Angelo.
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