Especially around draft time. Last year at the All American game, all you heard was Okafor, much more than Towns and Russell. Then Okafor won a NCAA championship, yet he still didn't solidify his #1 status.

There were plenty people in both camps, but because of Steph Curry's Ring run, most people were saying "it's a PG's league now" "Big slow centers are outdated and not essential to winning" "The Lakers need a PG who can run with the PGs in the West." Regardless of how slow or unathletic folks may have said Russell was, he basically got that #2 spot by default.

With that....the even bigger agenda should really be Mudiay vs Russell. And most folks would have NEVER picked Mudiay as high as a #2 or #3, and everyone said he wasn't impressive enough in China. Yet, seeing that the Lakers would be better off with a super strong PG than a pretty strong C, I still think this agenda would burn more. Especially with Hibbert appearing to be solid so far.

As for me? I feel Russell has a high ceiling overall, but will never be a dominant offensive PG, which will be fine if he can turn into a light skinned Steve Nash-lite, or even Rod Strickland.....he's surely not going to be a superstar 1.5 like Westbrook, Steph, or Iverson, though.