The Los Angeles Lakers have made some major changes this offseason, including bringing in Marcus Smart to give themselves some backcourt depth and point of attack defense. Smart takes over for D'Angelo Russell, who was traded back to the Brooklyn Nets last season, ending his second tenure with Los Angeles.
During his first stint with the Lakers, Russell got to play alongside the late Kobe Bryant during his final season in the NBA, and recently, the point guard took to his own Backyard Podcast W/D'Angelo Russell and shared some sage advice that the Lakers legend gave him, per Hoopshype.
“So once I seen Kobe's confidence and how he struggled when I was there, he wasn't shooting the ball good. He struggled,” said Russell. “And I remember going up to him as a 18-year-old rookie and I was just like, ‘Keep shooting. Keep shooting. You'll be all right…' He looked at me, he was like, ‘You think I'm worried about these shots?' He's like, ‘I got more shots that I've missed, more shots that I've made like that I could ever even imagine. So, I don't care if I go three for 20 or 5 for 15 or whatever.' He didn't care about that. His confidence stayed at this level. And I took a lot from that, honestly.”
Lakers fans may feel that Russell might have taken too much wisdom from Bryant, as Russell displayed a propensity to shoot Los Angeles out of games with poor shot selection on nights when he didn't have it going.
Russell has since signed with the Dallas Mavericks.
Did the Lakers upgrade?
Marcus Smart certainly doesn't provide the microwave scoring that Russell did, but he does provide a significant upgrade on defense, which is a much bigger area of concern for Los Angeles with Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic in their backcourt.
Injuries have been an issue for Smart over the last couple of seasons since leaving the Boston Celtics, but if he can give Los Angeles 60 plus games of elite defense and occasional shotmaking, it could be well worth the minimal investment.
Los Angeles' first game is scheduled for October 21 at home against the Golden State Warriors.
