d'angelo russell threading the needle from the top of the key
perhaps the most underrated passer in the league today
in 2018-19, the brooklyn nets won 42 games and made the playoffs, a huge accomplishment considering they'd gone 28-54 the year prior. one thing that leaped off the screen every game for me was how incredible of a passer d'angelo russell was:
russell has always been able to read the floor well (since his high school days at montverde), but one of his unique gifts is his ability to effectively deliver the ball to his intended targets.
it's not enough to just know who to pass to and when; you also have to be able to get the ball there consistently with the correct pass choice (lob, bullet, bounce). d'angelo is a master at delivery, and has a propensity to complete what to the vast majority of players would be high risk/high reward passes, within the flow of a set.
the one specific thing i want to highlight is his thread-the-needle bullet pass from the top of the key to cutters in the paint.
look at this laser to rondae hollis-jefferson against the orlando magic:
like seriously? look at where everyone is when dlo is about to make this pass:
the magic defenders are all in great position. 99 times out of 100, the ball-handler in that situation should pull it back out, reset, and try to initiate something else with 12 seconds left on the shot clock.
but dlo isn't the typical passer. he creates easy scoring opportunities for his teammates seemingly out of nothing all the time. eric paschall doesn't convert on the dunk here, but the pass to set it up is absurd:
again, if we could freeze it to where everyone was right before the pass was thrown:
another similar play, but this time paschall does finish:
three important things to point out about these passes that aren't so apparent to the typical basketball viewer:
there's a deceivingly-long distance between the top of the key and the paint; you have to really put some zip on the ball if you want to give your pass a chance to make it
passing the ball from the top of the key into the paint gives the passer a terrible entry angle; that's why coaches advise to never do it - there are so many limbs in the way and passing lanes are minuscule
because of the amount of power you have to put on the pass, the low trajectory, and the angle, these aren't easy balls to catch; which means the touch on them has to be perfect
here's russell hitting joe harris on a backdoor cut:
d'angelo one-handed side-arm bullet to allen crabbe:
and perhaps the most absurd one of them all - dlo to damion lee:
just filthy.
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