D'Angelo Russell's new China vlog says he was never the shoot-first guard people think

D'Angelo Russell has started a YouTube series about playing in China, and the first episode includes a pitch about his own reputation. "It's easy for you to think that I'm coming in here like I'm about to take this over," Russell says in the video, posted October 30. "I ain't never been that guy, but that's the guy they perceive me to be. I'm so selfless."

The 8-minute video follows his first Chinese Basketball Association game with the Shanghai Sharks, the defending champions. Russell joined Shanghai this fall as one of its three import players, along with JaVale McGee and the re-signed Brandon Goodwin, who led the CBA in assists last season and was Finals MVP. Russell played 26 games for Dallas last season and averaged 10.2 points.

The case he makes

Most of the video is Russell and Goodwin talking about how to share the backcourt. Russell's version is simple: whoever is hot plays the fourth. "If it's your night, I'm like, 'Bro, go,'" he says. He points to Steph Curry and Klay Thompson encouraging each other's big nights, and to his Brooklyn years with Caris LeVert. He also tells Goodwin he'll need the local players: "That's the only way you're going to win a championship." The two note that only one of them can be on the floor in the fourth quarter, so they talk through who closes.

Goodwin tells Russell the team doesn't have many scorers who can create off the dribble, so he wants him aggressive from the start "no matter if it's falling or not."

What the box score said

Russell took that advice. Xinhua's recap of the October 16 opener has him scoring 21 points on 7-of-23 shooting in a 102-68 win over Shenzhen. Goodwin led Shanghai with 22 points and nine assists, and the Sharks outassisted Shenzhen 22-10. Twenty-three shots is a lot for a guard who calls himself selfless. That was also the job Goodwin gave him, and Shanghai won by 34.

Russell says the adjustment is real. "Everything kind of felt foreign," he says, pointing to the ball and the 3-point line, and he says the CBA ball is heavier than the NBA's. Away from the court, he and Goodwin talk about how safe China feels, with kids riding bikes in the park at night.