The D'Angelo Russell experience is off to a rough start for the Warriors.
With the departure of Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson unlikely to play at all this season as he rehabs a torn ACL, Russell was to make up for many lost points and give the Warriors a dangerous offense in the same backcourt as Steph Curry. So far, not so good.
As NBC Sports' Tom Haberstroh notes in his latest column, Russell has the worst plus-minus for any player in the NBA this season, per NBA.com. The Warriors have been outscored by 74 points over 119 minutes with Russell on the floor this season.
The Warriors gave up a whole to add Russell in a sign-and-trade with the Nets when Durant decided he was headed to Brooklyn as a free agent. Golden State signed Russell to a max four-year, $117 million contract, traded Andre Iguodala to the Grizzlies and dealt their first-round draft pick to the Nets, which, luckily for the Dubs, is top-20 protected.
Through just four games -- yes, that's a small sample size -- Russell is averaging 16.3 points, 6.0 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game while shooting 39 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from 3-point range. All those numbers are down from when the 23-year made his first All-Star Game last season.
The Warriors' offense has stumbled with Russell on the floor. Golden State has scored just 96.3 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, the lowest figure for any of the 11 Warriors players that have played over 20 minutes this season, per NBA.com tracking.
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Russell always seemed like an interesting fit in coach Steve Kerr's ball-motion offense. The young guard relies on pick-and-roll, but that hasn't worked too often so far, especially when he was paired with Curry. He has assisted Curry only twice this season, and according to NBA.com player tracking data, he has passed the ball to the former two-time MVP a paltry 13.6 times per 36 minutes.
By comparison, Durant, one of the greatest 1-on-1 players ever, passed to Curry 17.2 times per 36 minutes last season.
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The Warriors have to press the reset button with Curry likely out for an extended period of time. It all starts with Russell, though. What do the Warriors have in the former No. 2 draft pick.
They have to find out soon. The early results aren't pretty.
