After helping guide the USA Team to victory in Friday’s Rising Stars Challenge, D’Angelo Russell pointed out that — while pleased with his and Jordan Clarkson’s performances — there are loftier heights that they want to reach.
“The task is sticking and being the cream of the crop of one of those guys,” Russell said after notching 22 points and seven assists in 16 minutes. “I can speak for myself on that; just trying to stay one of the top young guys in the league or get there.
“(But) ‘top young guys’ doesn’t really mean anything. The main event (All-Star Game) is where everybody wants to be. So I’m just trying to get to that point.”
The first- and second-year pros can take encouragement from the complimentary reviews given to them by several of the players who are currently at that level.
This crop of All-Star guards included Washington’s John Wall, who matched up against Russell on several occasions during the Lakers’ Dec. 2 meeting with the Wizards, in which the rookie tallied 13 points and a season-best four steals.
“I think he’s pretty good,” Wall said. “He’s a young player right now, but he can definitely shoot the ball. He has great passing skills. He’s just going to keep getting better and better learning the NBA game.”
At 6-foot-4, Wall also acknowledged that the 6-foot-5 Russell’s height can be a key tool to exploit against fellow point guards.
“Being that size, you can be able to post up smaller guards,” Wall said. “Use your length on the defensive end … getting into passing lanes and stuff like that.”
While Russell and Wall share a similar size advantage at their position, 6-foot-5 Clarkson and Boston’s 5-foot-9 Isaiah Thomas certainly do not. However, both turned their low draft selections into competitive edges early on in their careers.
Picked 46th overall in 2014, Clarkson has spoken in the past about how he has rewatched the draft broadcast several times to keep his motivation high. Thomas — the very last section in 2011 — said that keeping his draft status in mind helped in the beginning, though he has moved past it in his first All-Star season.
“I used to,” Thomas said. “But not anymore. This is my fifth year and I don’t really think about the draft anymore. But he should use that as motivation. It helps.”
Thomas went on to call Clarkson a “good player” with a bright future in the league. Of course, getting to that All-Star level requires building upon accomplishments like making the Rising Stars Challenge — and few know that as well as reigning Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry.
Currently on pace to win the scoring title and — in all likelihood — a second straight MVP trophy, Curry nonetheless knows how difficult it can be for rookie point guards in the NBA.
“Adjusting to a new system, new coaches and personalities,” Curry said of the challenges novice one-guards face. “Really how you navigate a game from a leadership standpoint and being able to control the tempo and the different reads you have to make as a point guard.
“There are a lot more decisions I think you have to make as an NBA point guard versus college. It’s a more complex kind of system.”
Though Curry himself enjoyed an unusually strong rookie campaign six years ago — averaging 17.5 points, 5.9 assists and 1.9 steals while shooting 46.2 percent — he highlighted the need to grow from the inevitable flurry of mistakes that come for first-year point guards, like Russell and Denver’s Emmanuel Mudiay.
“The more reps you get — especially for (Russell and Mudiay) to be able to learn on the job — it’s a humbling experience,” Curry said. “But I think it accelerates your career, because you get out there and try stuff and get better.”
