The SHOCKING Truth On The D'Angelo Russell Signing...

The shocking truth on the D'Angelo Russell signing all boils down to one thing, and some fans may not want to admit it. But the Dallas Mavericks have had a pretty good start to their offseason, although not many moves will be made, but the right moves have been made. And over the last several months, we've gone over every single point guard that the Dallas Mavericks could go after, as that was our primary need all summer long. And that need was fulfilled on the first day of free agency, when we went out and signed D'Angelo Russell. But we have new information and new reports coming out saying that D'Angelo Russell turned down other deals with other teams, possibly more money, to come to the Dallas Mavericks, and we now know why. So in this video, we're going to take a look at D'Angelo Russell. What does he provide to the Dallas Mavericks? Is there some way we can get the old D'Lo and not this new D'Lo? As well as why did he choose the Mavericks over any other team? How's it going everybody? My name is Marcel Martin, this is Mavericks Digest, bringing you the latest news on everything Mavericks related. And before we get started with today's video, we're currently sitting at 21,485 subscribers, getting oh so close to 22k. But if you want to be up to date on everything Mavericks related all summer long as we navigate through free agency, summer league, preseason, the rest of the offseason, up until the start of the regular season, make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on a single thing that we do. But the Dallas Mavericks had a need, one simple need, all offseason, we had until the start of the season to figure it out, but we decided to fix things pretty early in this offseason and that was to get a point guard. And yes we have Jaden Hardy, yes we have Brandon Williams, Najee Marshall, he can always slide down to the one and easily take care of business, but we needed someone to be our primary starting point guard and instead of just have a couple that we just flip through and see what works. And the reports came out the other day that showed that the Dallas Mavericks have given Dante Exum a one year deal, so he is for sure coming back. Although at the time of this recording, we don't know who is leaving as we are currently sitting at 16 players, but that will be fixed much much later. But we take a look at the first report that did come out just the other day, the first day of free agency, that free agent guard D'Angelo Russell has agreed on a two year $13 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks. Sources tell ESPN Mavericks officials and CAA co-heads of basketball Austin Brown and Aaron Mintz and Antonio Russell reached a new contract after free agency began. And so there we go, we got D'Angelo Russell, we got it done on the first day of free agency. Not many more moves to be made, like I said we do have 16 players now that we have Dante, so we gotta make room, so someone's getting traded. But getting D'Angelo Russell is a huge thing for the Dallas Mavericks, I've stressed it out in every single video I've talked about D'Angelo Russell because he brings so much more to the Mavericks than we really think. And before we get into the stats, just know that he's bringing ball handling, he's bringing defense. Believe it or not, he is a good defender. I will stand and die on that hill, D'Angelo Russell is a good defender. Not the cone that some of our players are, like a Jayden Hardy or a Spencer Dinwiddie, but he is a good defender. Maybe not like Dante, but still a good defender. He's a good playmaker and he's a good shooter. And to just put things into perspective, looking at the stats, the highlighted stats were his stats last year where he played in LA, then he got traded to Brooklyn, where overall for last season wasn't that good. 12 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, not that bad. However, he was shooting 31% from three on six attempts and shooting 39% from the floor on 11 attempts. Obviously, a down year, he got traded, playing with LeBron is like a whole other thing. So things really weren't going the way that D'Angelo Russell wanted to go last year. But if we take a look at just the year prior, as a better sample size, where he was averaging 18 points a game, 6.3 assists a game, 3.1 rebounds, while also shooting 41% from three on seven attempts. 41% from three on seven attempts as well as shooting about 45% from the floor at about 14 attempts a game. I don't think he's going to get about 14 attempts a game with the Dallas Mavericks, maybe, depending in the starting lineup of Cooper, Flagg, Klay Thompson, D'Angelo Russell, Andy Davis, and either Derek Leib or Daniel Gabber. Who knows how many shots everyone gets. But if we can somehow get the old D'Lo and not the newer D'Lo, we're actually in a very good situation. D'Angelo Russell is a good player. If you've ever followed him throughout his career, he's the type of player where if the situation is good, he's good. If he's in a good headspace, then he's balling, he's hooping. If things aren't really going his way, if things kind of fall apart, then he sometimes falls apart too. But we have players to help him stay afloat and not let him be the scapegoat. Obviously, Kyrie's going to be huge playing alongside D'Angelo Russell, Andy Davis, Max Christie, they're here. We also have Klay Thompson, where he did play with D'Angelo Russell briefly when D'Angelo Russell was on the Warriors. But the defense is something that no one's really talking about. Take a look right here. I'm all over the place. So here we go. Pause, and you may need to zoom in, but at the very top in ISO defense, there's D'Angelo Russell circled right at the top. Perimeter isolation defense percentile against his ball screen navigation percentile. D'Angelo Russell kind of had the pack, and Max Christie's up there as well. A few other players, again, if you want to pause and look. So at least to the advanced metrics, D'Angelo Russell isn't that bad. And if it's just in the isolation, that's cool. We can have him guard the other team's point guard. Good to know we have someone that can defend the ISO better than other players. And another thing, excuse me, another thing that we definitely want to take a look at is the fact that him and AD just play very well, very well together. D'Angelo Russell and Andy Davis are 72 and 43 as teammates with a 62.6% win percentage. If we can replicate that until Kyrie Irving comes back, I'm absolutely fine with that. If we can win two out of three games until Kyrie returns, we'll be in a pretty good spot. But I said it earlier in the video, the shocking truth as to why D'Angelo Russell chose the Mavericks over any other team is one that not many fans want to talk about. I just spent time discussing how good D'Angelo Russell is, trying to convince the few of you that just aren't sold on him. But if the Dallas Mavericks wanted him, if he wanted to come here, then obviously that means that something's going to work. But the reason why he chose the Mavericks, when he could have made more money elsewhere, when other teams wanted him, all boils down to Nico Harrison. I understand not many people want to admit that, but Nico Harrison has done a very good job of convincing players to come to Dallas. During a press conference just about a month ago, Nico Harrison said that a lot of players want to come to Dallas. Maybe not a month ago, it was a few weeks ago when Cooper Flagg was here. Nico Harrison did say a lot of players want to come to Dallas. It might be hyperbole, might be exaggerating it, maybe no one really believes him, but if you have someone like D'Angelo Russell who had a down year but still had good offers elsewhere, choose a Dallas Mavericks, well, Nico Harrison does know what he's doing. And this doesn't absolve him of any wrongdoings in the past, but if he can continue to make good moves like getting Kyrie Irving on a very team-friendly contract, Daniel Gafford on a very team-friendly contract, getting Dwight Powell to opt in and stay and not leave, these are good moves. Getting Cooper Flagg is a no-brainer. I'm not going to give him any credit for that. I'll give that to the players for getting us in that position. But still, Nico Harrison has been doing a good job so far. He's getting better coaches onto our coaching staff. He convinced D'Angelo Russell to take less money to come play a temporary starter and then be a backup for the Dallas Mavericks. And who knows? There may be other players out there that are willing to come to Dallas that maybe we won't see for another few weeks as more moves are bound to happen. But take a look at the actual reports. Like I said, D'Angelo Russell turned down other lucrative offers to play for the Dallas Mavericks. There you have it. But why specifically? Like I said, it all boils down to Nico Harrison. As Nico Harrison was the Nike rep that signed D'Lo out of college. Since then, they've had a good relationship. And I've seen the comments. I've seen it on Twitter, Reddit, everywhere that if they're a Nike guy, Nico wants them. Well, yes, I didn't want to admit it, but it is true. Nico Harrison has formed a lot of relationships while being with Nike, which is helping us now. Getting Anthony Davis. Getting Klay Thompson. Getting Kyrie. Now D'Angelo Russell. Again, doesn't absolve him of any wrongdoings in the past. But we can admit that he is making good moves now. And thankfully, because of his relationship with D'Angelo Russell, we were able to get him versus any other team. Any other 28 teams getting him for more money. And maybe, just maybe, there's other Nike athletes out there that are willing to come to Dallas for cheap. Let me know what you think in the comment section down below. Do you think that D'Angelo Russell made the right move? Do you think the Mavericks made the right move? Do you think I need to take some cold medicine? Because I'm obviously getting sick. Let me know what you think in the comment section down below. We'd have a conversation about it. But that's all I got for you guys today. Thank you for watching the video. Make sure to check out our Twitter and Discord. Links in the description below. And as always, y'all take care and drink water. Peace.