LA Lakers Rumors: D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle Finish Ugly 2015 Summer League
LA Lakers rumors about D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle at the 2015 Summer League are not good. The Lakers put together a terrible stretch of five games, losing four of the games and only beating the lowly Philadelphia 76ers. The final game of the session came on Friday (July 17), as the Lakers lost to the Utah Jazz.
In addition to scoring just 12 points in the first quarter, the Lakers finished with a 40.5 percent shooting percentage from the field. The team was also just 4-for-21 (19 percent) from three-point range. There was a bright spot, though, as Russell scored 21 points to mark his best performance of the Las Vegas Summer League. Through the first four games, he had scored only 39 combined points.
During an average of 30 minutes a game, D’Angelo Russell finished the summer with 11.8 points, 3.2 assists, and 5.2 rebounds per game. Those aren’t terrible numbers for a rookie, but what it took to get there certainly was, and it has already created a lot of LA Lakers rumors about just how many shots the team could miss this year. He shot just 37.7 percent from the field, 11.8 percent from three-point range, and 68.8 percent from the free throw line. He also averaged 5.2 turnovers per game, showing that he was not taking care of the ball very well.
Julius Randle averaged 20.5 minutes, 11.5 points, and 4.0 rebounds per game. In his second NBA Summer League, Randle shot just 39.5 percent from the field and 64 percent from the free throw line. His numbers were impressive when compared to rookie Larry Nance Jr., who averaged just 2.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Nance hit on just 29.4 percent of his shots, ranking him as one of the lowest percentage shooters in the tournament.
Jordan Clarkson fared a bit better, scoring 16.8 points per game in his second Summer League, but he also shot poorly from the field. Clarkson made just 41.3 percent of his shots, and just 23.8 percent of his three-pointers. The combination of Russell, Nance, Randle, and Clarkson helped the Lakers to shoot just 39.2 percent during the Las Vegas session. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, these players, along with Lou Williams, Nick Young, and Kobe Bryant, could put up some very ugly shooting percentages during the 2015-16 NBA season.
While there were many LA Lakers rumors that noted the team was adding talent this offseason, what the front office didn’t do was sign players that make a high percentage of shots. This might lead to a lot of rebounds for newly acquired center Roy Hibbert, making him a must-have player in fantasy basketball leagues.
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