The image of D'Angelo Russell going down in the Lakers' exhibition game Tuesday against the Jazz evoked L.A. nightmares of Julius Randle going down in last year's season opener.
Russell will be fine, but Randle will be the Lakers' most pivotal player after a certain Black Mamba retires, according to a teammate, as reported by Lakersnation.com.
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Free agent center Roy Hibbert had nothing but praise for the Lakers' power forward, the No. 7 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, who had 15 points, five rebounds and four assists during the team's 117-114 exhibition loss to Utah.
Roy Hibbert on Julius Randle: "Julius is an animal. He’s the future of this team. He’s the future face of the NBA." https://t.co/iwhdsJEbRr— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) October 7, 2015
Russell, the No. 2 overall selection in the 2015 draft, took a nasty spill while playing on defense in the game. He had to be helped off the court by teammates, but was diagnosed with a bruised glute muscle.
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The point guard from Ohio State enters the season with added pressure because the Lakers were projected to take Duke center Jahlil Okafor. The Lakers have a history of winning with big men, and Russell now has to prove himself to be a better player than Okafor, who went to the 76ers with the third pick.
When the Lakers drafted Russell, draft analysts indicated that the Lakers thought the guard to be more of a franchise player than Okafor.
Hibbert's comments not only may be doing Russell a favor by taking some of the pressure off him, but also could explain why the Lakers didn't select another big man.
If Randle is capable of becoming that franchise player as a big man, Los Angeles had no need to draft Okafor.
Kobe Bryant himself said Randle was "(former NBA Sixth Man of the Year) Lamar Odom in (Grizzlies all-star) Zach Randolph's body," according to another lakersnation.com report.
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