Brooklyn Nets: The Reintroduction of D'Angelo Russell

From the desk of:  THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

SUNDAY

NETS

vs.

Pistons

FROM

Detroit Rock City

Brooklyn Nets: Hello Again .. D'Angelo Russell Returns After Missing 32 Games.

D'Angelo Russell made his return to the line-up against the Miami Heat Friday at Barclays.  Nets fans anticipation of a better future with him, rather than without him, clearly remains strong.  After the Borough's promising young point guard missed 32 games while recovering from knee surgery, Brooklyn welcomed him back with a standing ovation.

However, there's still a very small measure of doubt lurking in the back of every one's minds.

Last season with the Lakers, he missed games in November and December due to a left knee injury.  In a Jan. 7, 2017 game against Sacramento, he rolled his ankle.  Then. right around this time last season (Jan. 20), he hurt his right knee in a game against Indiana.  His series of missteps didn't end there, as he rolled his ankle yet again in a March, 25 game against Denver.

In 2015-2016, he averaged 13.2 points and 3.2 assists through 80 games games as a rookie.  Despite injuries last season, he improved to 15.6 points and 4.8 assists, in 63 games played.  He was averaging 19.4 and 5.4 assists through his first 12 games of the season until going down after a Nov 11 game against Utah in which he scored 26-points in 32:38 minutes.

FRIDAY

HEAT   95

Nets     105

FINAL

Although it was nice seeing him on the floor again, his game is obviously still a few days away.  Nowhere near game speed, he went 0 for 5 from the field against Miami, with just a point from the charity line, and two assists during 14-minutes of floor time.

But one of the other knocks previously levied against D'Angelo is his defense.  The Nets have shown when they hold opponents under 100-points, they usually win.  In fact, scoring has really been their problem.  The Nets are still averaging 105.8 points.  However, they're still allowing their opponents a prohibitive 108.8 points per game.

One of the questions I have is how long before we see Russell and Jahlil Okafor together playing consistent complimentary basketball?  Akafor has been averaging near 11-minutes a game since Coach Atkinson started incorporating him into the line-up after New Year's day.

With the exception of Jeremy Lin, Coach Atkinson has a full compliment of players again.  I wouldn't mind seeing Okafor taking away minutes from Tyler Zeller.  However, Spencer Dinwiddie has made quite a name for himself in D'Angelo Russell's absence - as have Caris LeVert and Allen Crabbe.

Hopefully Coach Atkinson can start straightening out some of his rotations, which have seemed ponderous at times.  But I'm not complaining.  Injuries can do that.

Dare I say the near future is looking up ... again.