Report: D’Angelo Russell Doesn’t Want to Play for Sixers, Says He Can ‘Thrive’ in Triangle Offense

The 2015 NBA Draft is going down on Thursday night, and there’s still a lot of suspense around the top handful of picks. Beyond the No. 1 pick, there is plenty of intrigue surrounding how the dominoes will fall when it comes time for the Sixers and Knicks to make selections at Nos. 3 and 4.

Ohio State PG D’Angelo Russell (who scored 19.3 ppg for the Buckeyes last season) is expected to be in the mix for both of those picks. But according to one report, Russell isn’t too keen on playing for Philadelphia, for a team that is in a long-term, unpredictable rebuild.

From Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times:

After trading point guard Michael Carter-Williams, the 2014 rookie of the year, to Milwaukee this past season, it would appear that the 76ers need a point guard.

 

But the buzz around the NBA is that D’Angelo Russell, a 6-5 point guard from Ohio State whom many see as a lesser Stephen Curry-type, doesn’t want to play for the unpredictable 76ers. Russell did work out for the 76ers last week.

And then there’s this from Ian Begley of ESPN:

D’Angelo Russell didn’t know much about the triangle a few weeks ago.

 

But he got a good look at the New York Knicks offense during a film session with team president Phil Jackson and other members of the organization earlier this month.

 

“Now that I look at it, Kobe had great success in it. The shots that he took, the shots that he made were in the same areas, all from the offense. So I think I can definitely thrive there,” Russell said in a phone interview on Friday.

Does all this add up to D’Angelo Russell falling to the Knicks at No. 4 overall, and the Sixers perhaps selecting everyone’s favorite international prospect, Kristaps Porzingis? Or will the Sixers take Russell anyway?