LOS ANGELES — Earlier this month, in a wide-ranging interview with USA Today's Sam Amick, Los Angeles Lakers part-owner Jim Buss spun the team's recent struggles with unmitigated positivity. For a franchise that has lost 116 games over the past two seasons and whiffed on superstar free-agent talent again this past offseason, the remarks seemed awfully far-fetched.
So why the rosy outlook, Mr. Buss?
The answer is obvious yet fraught with risk: D'Angelo Russell, a rookie who's played zero minutes of meaningful NBA ball. Here's Buss:
If you watched (Russell) work out, if you heard what our scouts said about him and what they said about Okafor and other players, it got to the point where we could not pass on him.