D'Angelo Russell will be fine

Calm down. It was his first game.

The Warriors started out their brand new season in an 123-101 loss to the Lakers to kick things off in the brand new Chase Center. Immediately the Warriors looked like a new team trying to figure out how they were going to work. They lacked height against the bigs like Anthony Davis, Javale McGee and Dwight Howard. They lacked interior rim protection, and just overall they didn't make their shots. One area that was singled out by many viewers was the play of D'Angelo Russell. Russell only played 18 minutes in the game and looked a little out of sync with the team. He had 4 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assists and was a -19 on the floor.

After that showing, many (and yes I mean many) were convinced just after one half of play - D'Angelo Russell would not be a great player for this Warriors team. Russell was getting called for being "lackadaisical" to "useless". There were some bright spots with Russell's performance. For instance, he looked as if he knew how to balance scoring and passing though his only assists came on a Stephen Curry three pointer. The pick and roll with him and Draymond Green is a work in progress but it did free up Russell a few times for open looks - which he missed but they will start falling eventually. Steve Kerr after the game noted that Russell looked good but clearly didn't look as if he was use to the game speed just yet after not doing a lot of open runs during the summer. It was the first ever preseason game. Things will begin to click soon.

Moving away from Russell - as noted before, the Warriors lacked height when wanting to guard opposing team's bigs. Draymond Green is the only defensive big on the team until Kevon Looney and Willie Cauley-Stein return from their injuries. Omari Spellman is not a great defensive presence. Marquese Chriss has potential - he just needs to have a better reaction timing. As for their depth - it made pretty clear to me that the Warriors don't have a good depth off the bench. Rookie Jordan Poole was the most impressive player off that bench. Note that the Warriors also were without Alec Burks and Alan Smailigic. Poole can be a nice scorer off the bench to assists Stephen Curry and D'Angelo Russell. A little to be the poor man's Klay Thompson.