DeAngelo Russell secretly films Nick Young - creates huge rift

[RMO]

If this had happened earlier in the year, I could imagine that somehow his teammates devise a way for Russell to do penance, like a series of public humiliations similar to hazing, along with a rituals that cleanse Russell of the sin of snitching and a team re-commitment to loyalty team ceremony, etc. But with so little of the season remaining, there's no time, he's just going to be iced out until the season's over, and the Lakers will be forced to solve the problem with transactions where the Lakers are dealing from desperation. All the while, Russell will probably be booed by his own crowd. Plus away crowds, lol. And this will put a wet, smelly blanket on the Kobe retirement finale, spoil whatever passing-of-the-torch from Kobe to D'Angelo vibe there might have been. Sigh. Couldn't happen to a better franchise, lol.

Something like, starting for the LA lakers?

[Boris Badenov]

If this had happened earlier in the year, I could imagine that somehow his teammates devise a way for Russell to do penance, like a series of public humiliations similar to hazing, along with a rituals that cleanse Russell of the sin of snitching and a team re-commitment to loyalty team ceremony, etc. But with so little of the season remaining, there's no time, he's just going to be iced out until the season's over, and the Lakers will be forced to solve the problem with transactions where the Lakers are dealing from desperation. All the while, Russell will probably be booed by his own crowd. Plus away crowds, lol. And this will put a wet, smelly blanket on the Kobe retirement finale, spoil whatever passing-of-the-torch from Kobe to D'Angelo vibe there might have been. Sigh. Couldn't happen to a better franchise, lol.

Something like, starting for the LA lakers?

Or, like starting for the Lakers...and then getting benched halfway through the year.

[Rondo9]

If this had happened earlier in the year, I could imagine that somehow his teammates devise a way for Russell to do penance, like a series of public humiliations similar to hazing, along with a rituals that cleanse Russell of the sin of snitching and a team re-commitment to loyalty team ceremony, etc. But with so little of the season remaining, there's no time, he's just going to be iced out until the season's over, and the Lakers will be forced to solve the problem with transactions where the Lakers are dealing from desperation. All the while, Russell will probably be booed by his own crowd. Plus away crowds, lol. And this will put a wet, smelly blanket on the Kobe retirement finale, spoil whatever passing-of-the-torch from Kobe to D'Angelo vibe there might have been. Sigh. Couldn't happen to a better franchise, lol.

Something like, starting for the LA lakers?

Or, like starting for the Lakers...and then getting benched halfway through the year.

And then starting again, only to be in a scandal that involves your teammates ignoring you! 

[GreenFaith1819]

I'm sure that DeAngelo will learn from this and grow, but MAN he HAS TO realize that he plays in HOLLYWOOD....

[GetLucky]

Alex Kennedy on Twitter now says it was supposed to be a SnapChat "prank" that no one would see, but Russell got "hacked"... 

BS

That's a complete lie. Snapchat videos are a max of 10-15 seconds.

I bet he sent it to the wrong guy/gal. Then they sold it.

If you're joking, I ^^ this post 

If you're not joking, that is pretty much impossible. Speaking as a person that uses Snapchat, the whole concept is sending a max 10-second flash of a picture or a max 10-sec video to someone that then "disappears" after they view it once for said duration. There is no way to save the videos without others apps, and even then, the recipient needs to use the "saver" app before they view the picture on the regular app, which makes the "sent to the wrong person" possibility improbable, as an unintended recipient would have opened the video without any expectation of tabloid-able news. Also, Snapchat intentionally lowers photo/video quality compared to regular phone cameras, making the picture and audio quality of the Russell video unlikely. Combine that with the length and continuity of the video (it takes awhile to choose recipients and send snaps, making a longer-than-10-second, continuous video impossible), and I can't see how Snapchat was involved in this at all. It just seems like an excuse that will be easily dismissed by the public (because the 85% of the population that doesn't use Snapchat is so used to hearing about and dismissing youthful escapades that were failitated by the app; basically, it becomes a "well he thought it would go away and it's an accident" thing rather than a "snitch" thing for most of the general public).

EDIT: Technically, the videos are still saved on some internal memory on the device and in Snapchat's database, making them recoverable with the right tools/expertise. However, as I mentioned above, the continuity, quality, and length of the video make me think that even that extreme case is unlikely.

[mmmmm]

Russell made a dumb mistake. Young is the one cheating on his future wife. I get the bro code thing from a team loyalty standpoint, i.e., I can see why the Lakers themselves are shunning Russell. But I don't understand why complete outsiders are giving Russell a harder time than Young. Some people are acting like Russell hurt Iggy. Uh, nah. Young hurt Iggy.

p.s. Regarding the "Felger might be right" post, see my signature. The dude thinks everything Felger says about basketball is right. He's a Felger fan more than a Celtics fan.

Young definitely comes across as a scumbag in this story too but I'm guessing most people are numb to the infidelities of athletes at this point.

I wonder what percentage of NBA players cheat.  For non-married players in "committed" relationships, my guess is at least 80% have cheated at least once.

In a regular life situation, who is worse: the guy that cheats on his fiance, or the person that rats on him.

That the Lakers unanimously sided with the cheater says something about what type of people NBA players are.

Wow.  We've got some pretty [dang]ing sweeping characterizations here.

We are guessing that 80% of non-married players in committed relationships cheat.
And the Lakers players behavior says something about what type of people all NBA players are.

Ouch.

My starry-eyed sports-hero worship just went into the toilet.

[mmmmm]

Russell made a dumb mistake. Young is the one cheating on his future wife. I get the bro code thing from a team loyalty standpoint, i.e., I can see why the Lakers themselves are shunning Russell. But I don't understand why complete outsiders are giving Russell a harder time than Young. Some people are acting like Russell hurt Iggy. Uh, nah. Young hurt Iggy.

p.s. Regarding the "Felger might be right" post, see my signature. The dude thinks everything Felger says about basketball is right. He's a Felger fan more than a Celtics fan.

Young definitely comes across as a scumbag in this story too but I'm guessing most people are numb to the infidelities of athletes at this point.

I wonder what percentage of NBA players cheat.  For non-married players in "committed" relationships, my guess is at least 80% have cheated at least once.

In a regular life situation, who is worse: the guy that cheats on his fiance, or the person that rats on him.

That the Lakers unanimously sided with the cheater says something about what type of people NBA players are.

The guy who secretly records people and airs their dirty laundry publicly is worse.

In general, they person who purposely tries to start problems for people is worse than the person with vices, but who never intended to hurt anyone.

So ... cheating on your significant other is a "vice", but not an action "intended to hurt anyone"?

If I drive drunk, it is also a "vice", right? I'm not "intending to hurt anyone".

[mmmmm]

If this had happened earlier in the year, I could imagine that somehow his teammates devise a way for Russell to do penance, like a series of public humiliations similar to hazing, along with a rituals that cleanse Russell of the sin of snitching and a team re-commitment to loyalty team ceremony, etc. But with so little of the season remaining, there's no time, he's just going to be iced out until the season's over, and the Lakers will be forced to solve the problem with transactions where the Lakers are dealing from desperation. All the while, Russell will probably be booed by his own crowd. Plus away crowds, lol. And this will put a wet, smelly blanket on the Kobe retirement finale, spoil whatever passing-of-the-torch from Kobe to D'Angelo vibe there might have been. Sigh. Couldn't happen to a better franchise, lol.

Something like, starting for the LA lakers?

Oh!  Well played, sir!  TP.

[SparzWizard]

Spygate?

Just kidding, I always thought Russell was just a mole to help detonate the Lakers. 

[LarBrd33]

There are so many worse things a 19 year old can do than videotape their buddy talking about a girl. 

Russell has more potential than any player on that team.  His stats are pretty similar to Wiggins last season.  Unless they foolishly trade him (I'm rooting for it), he's the face of that franchise heading forward.   Let's see how freezing out the face of the team's future works out for those losers. 

Nick Young is a scrub who will not be on that team long-term.  Russell more than likely will.   If you're a journeyman on that team, it's probably not the smartest choice alienating the team's potential franchise player. 

[Denis998]

There are so many worse things a 19 year old can do than videotape their buddy talking about a girl. 

Russell has more potential than any player on that team.  His stats are pretty similar to Wiggins last season.  Unless they foolishly trade him (I'm rooting for it), he's the face of that franchise heading forward.   Let's see how freezing out the face of the team's future works out for those losers. 

Nick Young is a scrub who will not be on that team long-term.  Russell more than likely will.   If you're a journeyman on that team, it's probably not the smartest choice alienating the team's potential franchise player.

Tbh I don't see anyone but randel and Russell on that team long term. Well Nance is stuck there I guess. So at this point it doesn't matter what his team thinks of him.

[LarBrd33]

There are so many worse things a 19 year old can do than videotape their buddy talking about a girl. 

Russell has more potential than any player on that team.  His stats are pretty similar to Wiggins last season.  Unless they foolishly trade him (I'm rooting for it), he's the face of that franchise heading forward.   Let's see how freezing out the face of the team's future works out for those losers. 

Nick Young is a scrub who will not be on that team long-term.  Russell more than likely will.   If you're a journeyman on that team, it's probably not the smartest choice alienating the team's potential franchise player.

Tbh I don't see anyone but randel and Russell on that team long term. Well Nance is stuck there I guess. So at this point it doesn't matter what his team thinks of him.

Exactly.  Nick Young probably will not even be in the league in a couple years.  He's garbage.

That roster is a bunch of sitting ducks.  The only relationship that matters there is Russell and Randle.  Randle should be careful not to alienate his running-mate. 

[mahcus smaht]

There are so many worse things a 19 year old can do than videotape their buddy talking about a girl. 

Russell has more potential than any player on that team.  His stats are pretty similar to Wiggins last season.  Unless they foolishly trade him (I'm rooting for it), he's the face of that franchise heading forward.   Let's see how freezing out the face of the team's future works out for those losers. 

Nick Young is a scrub who will not be on that team long-term.  Russell more than likely will.   If you're a journeyman on that team, it's probably not the smartest choice alienating the team's potential franchise player.

Greg Anthony said that this was a big deal. A ten year vet in the league and he said this was a huge violation of trust. The reports have also said that he is pretty much despised by the team for violating the trust. Lou Williams didnt even want to be near him, the whole team is supposedly "isolating" him.

Its not that this makes Young a bad person, but now every FA knows that you cant trust the LA Lakers star point guard. I mean his coach just said he was like a 14 year old kid. Do you think any stars wanna go play with a talented 14 year old? not a chance.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2628927-greg-anthony-nba-players-will-never-forget-russell-violated-locker-room-code

the point is not that this group of players dont like Russell. the point is that his actions are now in the back of every NBA players mind.

[byennie]

I done purport to know what % of NBA players cheat on their spouses, or care to know, but the level to which Russell is being vilified above and beyond Young is pretty sad.

They're both nitwits, but one is a 30 year-old cheating with a teenager. The other made a stupid video of the other talking. The fact that 95% of what I see going around involves the word "snitch", just... SMH. Makes you wonder how many pro athletes are immature prima donnas and/or scumbags in their personal lives. I prefer to believe they're in the minority, but this doesn't help.

[Donoghus]

There are so many worse things a 19 year old can do than videotape their buddy talking about a girl. 

Russell has more potential than any player on that team.  His stats are pretty similar to Wiggins last season.  Unless they foolishly trade him (I'm rooting for it), he's the face of that franchise heading forward.   Let's see how freezing out the face of the team's future works out for those losers. 

Nick Young is a scrub who will not be on that team long-term.  Russell more than likely will.   If you're a journeyman on that team, it's probably not the smartest choice alienating the team's potential franchise player.

Greg Anthony said that this was a big deal. A ten year vet in the league and he said this was a huge violation of trust. The reports have also said that he is pretty much despised by the team for violating the trust. Lou Williams didnt even want to be near him, the whole team is supposedly "isolating" him.

Its not that this makes Young a bad person, but now every FA knows that you cant trust the LA Lakers star point guard. I mean his coach just said he was like a 14 year old kid. Do you think any stars wanna go play with a talented 14 year old? not a chance.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2628927-greg-anthony-nba-players-will-never-forget-russell-violated-locker-room-code

the point is not that this group of players dont like Russell. the point is that his actions are now in the back of every NBA players mind.

Yeah, pretty much the Lakers are going to have to ask themselves how long the implications of this could potentially last. 

If this thing cuts as deep as some people are saying, then it could takes years for the Lakers to recover from this, at least from a free agency standpoint if Russell sticks around.  Not to mention, his current teammate situation.  Are you going to cut 14 guys just to remedy the current situation which could still be a problem with new teammates who might not trust him?

If Russell being on the team is the difference between Westbrook or Durant going there or not, then that's a HUGE problem.

If the Lakers move him, they rid themselves of that problem but then you're given up on a kid who has show significant promise and potential. 

It's a tough situation for the Lakers.  Obviously, most of us are fine with "Screw 'em" but this incident has opened up a big problem for them.