D’Angelo Russell takes the blow up his chin and moves forward! The Los Angeles Lakers guard has had a bad start to the season, struggling to find his rhythm. Before he could find his groove back, the 28-year-old came under Coach JJ Redick’s scrutiny. The 40-year-old rookie coach not only fired shots at him in the media but also benched him for the Friday night game against the Sixers. Even though D’Lo has gone through a similar period under Darvin Ham’s coaching, he had a composed response to Redick’s decision.

Speaking about coming off the bench for tonight’s game, Russell said, “I just want to win. However it happens, however, the conversation, relationships. Maybe try to be professional and be a part of winning. As simple as that. I left all my baggage at the door this summer. Once we changed coaches and new staff came in, I was committed to whatever it takes, so that’s just what y’all see now.”

Heading into tonight’s game, D’Angelo Russell had all the attention on him. Especially after a video of JJ Redick violently reacting to D’Lo’s missed shot from the last game went viral. Above all, Coach JJ benched him after delivering a harsh criticism in the media, saying, “Just level of compete, attention to detail, some of the things we’ve talked with him about for a couple of weeks… And at times, he’s been really good with that stuff. And other times, it’s just reverting back to certain habits.”

Stepping on the floor tonight, Russell definitely seemed to have left the baggage outside the door. He entered the game with four minutes left in the first quarter and put up an impressive performance from the bench, scoring 18 points. It’s important to note that DLo went through a similar phase under Ham’s leadership.

JJ repeats Darvin Ham’s strategy involving D’Angelo Russell

One of the biggest criticisms laid on Darvin Ham was his starting lineups. Up until the first half of the previous season, the Lakers unit toyed around with multiple lineups, and of course, lost games too! Notably, between November 12 to December 13, the Lakers went 4-12, clearly struggling to win games. At that time, Ham made a strong decision to push Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell to the bench and promoted Cam Reddish and Taurean Prince to the start in the backcourt.

However, it didn’t work out well for Ham, as he had to return to the original backcourt at the latter end of the season. When it came down to JJ Redick, he confidently announced the team’s starting lineup way before the start of the season. Unfortunately, the poor run forced him to change only 8 games into the season.

Now that the Lakers have managed to win the game with a huge margin, the question is, will D’Lo continue to come off the bench? Nevertheless, the team is paying the price for not making any notable additions in the off-season, leaving Anthony Davis and LeBron James to once again carry the franchise with not much support. Should the Lakers rope in a star guard to improve the odds for the season? Let us know in the comments below.