Lakers' Russell hopes to make playoffs this season, Finals next
D'Angelo Russell's inaugural campaign with the Los Angeles Lakers was one giant dark cloud. His team was mired in the worst regular-season record in franchise history, and he couldn't establish a rapport with former head coach Byron Scott.
Things are different this year, though. Despite the team's ongoing eight-game losing streak, this Lakers have showed promise under Luke Walton's tutelage, and with the young core now at the forefront. With plenty of optimism surrounding the organization, Russell has set his expectations awfully high for this season and beyond, motivated by his desire to avoid what he experienced a year ago.
"I don't want that ever again," Russell told ESPN's Baxter Holmes. "I don't want to come in with a losing record. I don't want to go to a losing team and you've got guys going every which way after practice - the chemistry just wasn't there. I feel like with this team and with this organization, people want to be a part of it. People want to be Lakers. There's just so much pressure, and some guys handle it and some guys can't.
"I've always been a guy that, I don't know, just attacks pressure. I want to be a part of this whole thing turning back around. I've seen what it was to be at its lowest point. I want to be a part of a playoff run this year ... next year, Finals."
Los Angeles is only 3.5 games back of the Portland Trail Blazers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, so it's not out of the realm of possibility for them to sneak in with so many games to go. It would subsequently end their three-year postseason drought, and give hope to a fan base that they can succeed in a Black Mamba-less world.
A trip to The Finals, though, is perhaps a bit too optimistic. Yes, it wasn't all that long ago when Los Angeles won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010, but that roster featured an elite Kobe Bryant, a nightly double-double machine in Pau Gasol, and a slew of quality parts surrounding them.
Today's Lakers aren't on that level, and not nearly as talented, but you've got to hand it to Russell for having that level of faith in himself and his teammates this early on.