Nets news: D'Angelo Russell's return to point guard started with coach

Brooklyn Nets guard D'Angelo Russell says his coach, Kenny Atkinson, pushed him to rededicate himself to playing point guard.

Brooklyn Nets guard D'Angelo Russell has had a spectacular breakout campaign in his fourth season in the NBA. Before this season, however, many had doubted Russell's ability to be a lead point guard of a franchise after falling out with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Surely, he has proven that this year, as his stellar play and leadership as a point guard earned him a nod to the NBA All-Star game. He looks much more confident as the primary ball-handler and playmaker for the Nets. And according to Michael Scotto of The Athletic, much of this confidence started with head coach Kenny Atkinson.

“I think the big thing I heard — you know, character things I kind of ignore that — but just from a basketball standpoint I think the big thing I heard was he was not a point guard,” Atkinson said. “’He’s a combo guard, he’s a shooting guard, you can’t play him at the point. He has too much of a scorer’s mentality.’ I think Sean scouted him in college and felt that wasn’t the case. He said, ‘He’s got elite passing skills.’ Then, when I watched him, I thought he had those (skills). Why can’t he be a point guard? That was kind of from Day 1 here. We didn’t mess with that. We didn’t say, ‘Oh, he’ll play some two, and he’ll play some one.’ No. You’re a point guard. This is what you are. I think that really helped making it clear for him in his development.”

Russell entered the NBA with elite passing and ball-handling skills, as Atkinson alluded to. He played point guard in his first season in Los Angeles. However, in his sophomore season, the Lakers experimented with the Ohio State product's position.

They perceived Russell as too slow for modern NBA point guards, and tried to shift him to the two, where they thought he would thrive most. But the 6-foot-5 guard clearly struggled to show any real improvement in his sophomore season as he didn't have a clearly defined role with the team.

After drafting former UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball in 2017, the Lakers gave up on Russell and traded him to Brooklyn, where he eventually found his home and success as the lead point guard.

Atkinson's belief in Russell from day one has surely paid its dividends. This season, Russell has turned the corner and is every bit the kind of player we saw back in Ohio State – a great shooter and shot creator, and an excellent playmaker and ball-handler.

Now, the next step for the first-time All-Star is to improve further on some of his weaknesses such as defense and getting to the rim more consistently.