yes Lakers Russ was a terrible fit, but also unironically yes on the second point lol. it’s not like losing valiantly to the Suns is an achievement but wtf are you expecting from the guy leading a shallow Clippers team minus its two best players against a scorching KD, Booker, and CP3? prime Jordan would be lucky to avoid a sweep that series

Obviously there are more than 25 guys you’d take before Russ right now, but FWIW listening to the clip I think he’s more so talking about Russ as a top-25 floor raiser/engine which might be fair (if not super meaningful from a winning standpoint…). I’m not sure there’s 25 guys you could swap in for Russ after Kawhi and PG go down and get a more competitive Suns-Clippers series, and plenty of the 92 guys ranked higher than him wouldn’t have kept LA in those games