Russell insists he'll be better leader, defender with Nets

D'Angelo Russell had a bumpy two-year tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers to start his career, but with a change of scenery that's brought him to Brooklyn, the 21-year-old guard feels he's ready to showcase the talent that got him picked second overall in 2015.

Lakers president Magic Johnson took a pretty pointed dig at Russell after trading him to the Nets in June, saying the team "needed ... a leader" and "somebody that can make the other players better and also that players want to play with."

Russell seems to simultaneously agree and disagree with the notion that he wasn't the best teammate in L.A.

"I think guys enjoyed playing with me," he told ESPN's Zach Lowe. "Now I'm going to make sure they do instead of not really taking it into consideration."

Russell also chalks up his defensive deficiencies in his first two seasons to the fact that the scoring-starved Lakers needed him to carry such a heavy offensive load.

"I wanted to play defense in L.A.," he told Lowe, "but I felt like I had to score every chance I got for us to be relevant."

It's unclear how much different things will be with the Nets, who if anything have fewer offensive creators than last year's Lakers did, but perhaps a new city and new attitude will make all the difference.