With training camp for the 2023-24 season just days away, the Los Angeles Lakers are preparing to hit the court for what could be an exciting and very successful season for them. They appear to have a stacked roster, and therefore an 18th NBA championship is a realistic goal for them once it’s all said and done next summer.
To accomplish that goal, a number of players will need to play up to their potential. Therefore, we have identified three goals for each Lakers player that, if attained, will help the team win it all.
Buy Lakers TicketsGuard D’Angelo Russell is already a real good player, but if he attains these three goals, he can become perhaps a borderline All-Star while securing himself as a major part of L.A.’s success.
Shoot well on a consistent basis
Last season, Russell averaged 17.8 points and 6.2 assists a game while being very efficient. He shot 46.9 percent from the field and 39.6 percent from 3-point range, which included 48.4 percent overall and 41.4 percent from downtown in 17 regular season games with the Lakers.
However, his shooting efficiency has fluctuated from year to year. During the 2021-22 season, he was at just 41.1 percent overall and 34.0 percent from beyond the arc, and last season was the first time he shot above 43.5 percent for an entire campaign.
If Russell regresses back to something close to his career mark of 42.6 percent from the field, it would be a big problem, and he could even be in danger of losing his starting job to Gabe Vincent. But if he keeps up last season’s high accuracy, he will greatly ignite the Lakers’ offensive attack.
Improve defensively
Russell has a reputation as a lackluster defender, and this issue was never more apparent than during the 2023 Western Conference Finals when Jamal Murray lit him up. In that four-game sweep, the Denver Nuggets star put up 32.5 points a contest on 52.7 percent field-goal shooting, as opposed to his regular season average of 20.0 points a contest on 45.4 percent shooting.
No one is saying Russell needs to become a standout defender on the level of Marcus Smart or Jrue Holiday. But he needs to at least become a neutral defender on a consistent basis, especially come playoff time.
Russell needs to play up to his potential in the playoffs
Coming into the 2023 postseason, the point guard had a poor history and reputation in the playoffs. To that point, he had never shot as high as 45 percent in any of his 11 career playoff games.
In last season’s playoffs, he was inconsistent, but he did show some improvement. He went above that 45 percent mark in six of the Lakers’ 16 playoff games, and he had some strong moments, such as the fourth quarter of Game 4 and all of Game 6 in the first round versus the Memphis Grizzlies.
But for some reason, he virtually disappeared against the Nuggets. He averaged just 6.3 points and shot 32.3 percent overall and 13.3 percent from downtown, which led to him losing his starting job in Game 4.
Another disappearing act like that could cause Russell to perhaps permanently lose his starting job, and it could even cast doubt on his future with the Lakers.
