It's not a copout. I do not like Russ but I do not believe he can literally miss that elbow jumpshot the EXACT same way every time he shoots it. He believes he's aiming for the window on the glass when he's not. He's gone from having a serviceable midrange to that, that isn't simply "he doesn't work on his game" or lack of confidence.
Honestly, it took longer than it should have. His attitude is even worse than his game, which makes it next to impossible for this to end in any way other than a car crash. You can't tell dude shyt without him getting defensively sassy. Combine that with the putrid play on the court and it was only a matter of time. Now he's getting benched with the blessings of a front office that's desperate to move on from him and the fans are actively booing him. Him popping off at Magic was the death knell as a Los Angeles Laker with the way he's performing.
let's assume it's something medical. wouldnt it have shown in how he shoots during practices? also when did this condition develop? a person could argue that if it is something he had before coming to the lakers his trade could be fraud
It would be hard but nobody is untradeable
It probably does show in practice, we don't have practice footage and his teammates aren't going to air that out. I'm sure it did exist before coming to the Lakers and probably in the last 2-3 years with all those other trades as well since no one else has gone from 80+ to mid 60s from the foul line on top hitting the top of the backboard every single time.
Russ has always been a turnover machine, and always relied on power at the rim. I'm talking specifically about going from having a semblance of a midrange game to hitting the same wild miss every single time and steadily falling 15-20% in FT%. There's a bunch of players, All-Time peaks or not, who don't work on their game, have you seen this drastic of a shooting drop before?
