The second phase of the CBA regular season is in full swing, and recently there has been a lot of talk about the Guangdong men's basketball team offering a quote for foreign guard Russell. After the rumored foreign aid of the Guangdong team, DeShawn Nix, returned to the G League Rockets, Zhu Fangyu and Du Feng urgently need to introduce a qualified new ball-handler to relieve Xu Jie's pressure and match the rising local players like Xu Xin. After defeating Qingdao in the last game and winning the positioning battle, the Guangdong team has now returned to the top eight in the standings with a five-game winning streak. However, the main guard of the Guangdong team, Xu Jie, is already at the brink of physical exhaustion, and Zhu Fangyu needs to introduce a guard who can share the ball-handling pressure.
In fact, including Huang Rongqi, Zhang Wenyi, Yang Yi, and others are not enough to rotate with Xu Jie. After the potential center Xu Xin gradually emerged, Du Feng needs to pair him with a qualified guard to further help him grow. However, Xu Jie currently needs to be paired with Jilunwate and Morand to stabilize the Guangdong team's record. The second lineup combination of Beizi and Xu Xin is good, but it lacks a qualified offensive initiator. Even if the star player Hu Mingxuan returns, this problem cannot be solved. At this time, Russell's team in the Turkish Super League is basically dismantled due to financial difficulties. This means that the Guangdong team does not need to pay a high price to sign Russell, and they can even pick up this top guard at a low salary.
According to statistics, Russell averaged 16.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.6 steals per game in the Turkish Super League this season, but his shooting percentages were not outstanding. The Guangdong team signed Russell more to quickly rotate Xu Jie and reduce the risk of injury. Russell is a small guard standing at 1.8 meters tall, almost the same as last season's foreign aid Waters from Hongyuan, and he cannot play with Xu Jie at the same time. Many fans believe that Russell is more likely to squeeze out Xu Jie's core guard position and help the Guangdong team through the difficult period when their star player Hu Mingxuan is injured and there are not enough guards.
If the rotation between Russell and Xu Jie can keep a qualified guard on the court for a long time, then Xu Xin has a great chance to emerge in subsequent games. As long as Xu Xin can fulfill his talent in the remaining games of this season, the Guangdong team can introduce an ideal wing guard foreign aid with heavy investment in the third stage of the regular season and the playoffs. Originally, this season was not the championship cycle for the Guangdong team, but Xu Xin's emergence is definitely worth taking a gamble. Therefore, one of the very important reasons for quoting Russell is to help Xu Xin grow faster. As long as Xu Xin can become a qualified local center and carry the No. 5 position of the Guangdong team, Du Feng can basically win the championship without much effort.
It must be said that the Guangdong team has gradually returned to the right track of the playoffs and will surely be able to challenge for a better ranking in the future. Whether Russell is just a transition for the current stage or the final answer for the playoffs, he is stronger than the Guangdong team's current roster with only three foreign players.