I am meh on Russell. I think he is either a role player or an inefficient stats/pts guy
I wouldn't give up much, at all, to move up for him.
Curious as to why you say this & don't understand the role player comment (unless you mean a complimentary starter rather than 1 of the team's star players), although I do understand the inefficient stats/pts guy as he seemed to force a lot of shots/attempt to create opportunities that weren't there (somewhat understandably, due to the lack of talent around him). Personally, I see his worst-case scenario as being a taller, slightly better version of Monta Eliis, without character issues. I think he has a very good chance at becoming a special offensive player.
I think this team is a 20+ ppg, starting caliber player away from being ready to legitimately compete (not to say that Russell will be that from day 1, but this team's weakness is clearly offense & imo Russell has the most potential on that side of the ball in this draft & thru the draft is this team's best opportunity to acquire that type of player).
The only other players who I see as having that type of potential (20+ ppg) is Okafor, Hezonja, & maybe Mudiay & Porzingis. Russell would be my 1st target followed by Hezonja. Obviously, you have to set a limit to how much you're willing to trade for him but personally, I would have no problem with trading #10/11, Burke, (1 of) Burks/Hood, & the OKC 1st. Maybe it's too much, but I don't see us being able to draft a starting caliber player @ #10/11 & other than Hood, don't see any starting caliber assets being traded away (maybe Burks, but I still see his ideal role as a 6th man, especially on this team), in order to acquire (imo) the ideal 5th starter alongside our core.
The whole (that we're trading away) may be greater than the sum of the part (that we're receiving), but you have to take into consideration the overall affect of the trade. Hood could be a good enough starter for us to be competitive but I think we lack a go-to-scorer, which Russell may become & Hood likely will not. As a small market team, we are going to have to force our way into the conversation by acquiring as many potential all-stars thru the draft, similar to OKC (although we've had to take the quantity over quality version of this strategy). If we are ever going to win a championship, we will need to either draft a generational talent, or put a starting 5 on the floor consisting entirely of all-stars/fringe all-stars, who compliment each other's games well & help hide one another's deficiencies (along with a deep enough bench, which although any trade would lessen, can be rebuilt via FA- which is likely not an option when it comes to finding our 5th starter & go-to-scorer).
To me, the question isn't whether or not we should attempt to move up for him, but instead if the cost of moving up for him vs acquiring him outweighs the cost of moving up for Hezonja vs acquiring Hezonja. We need an elite scorer if we're ever going to win a title & Russell (followed by Hezonja) seems like the best bet to become that & the most realistic option for us to acquire.
