Scoring won’t determine Russell’s growth

INDIANAPOLIS — D’Angelo Russell may be the single biggest key to the Nets’ rebuild, and everyone from general manager Sean Marks to coach Kenny Atkinson agrees what he must do for the season to be a success.

It isn’t about scoring, but competing. It isn’t about buckets, but buying in.

“It’ll be clear to the fan base, it’ll be clear to everybody,” Marks told The Post. “D’Angelo specifically, is he competing? The questions that were out there about does he really give that 100 percent effort on the defensive end.

“Has he developed in other [ways]? It’s not just defense. Has he developed in his leadership qualities? … But that’ll take time, he’s 21.”

Russell, the second-youngest Net, already has had an eventful career: getting drafted No. 2 overall, having his maturity questioned in L.A. and being dealt to Brooklyn. Now that he’s here, what does he have to show?

“That he’s bought into the culture we’re trying to build,” Atkinson said. “That’s the object of this. I do think that’s going to take time. … So, just buying into our philosophy, what the coaches are preaching. … For right now, I give him an ‘A.’ He’s been great in terms of buying in.”

Contrary to Magic Johnson’s claims, Atkinson said he felt the Nets like playing with Russell.

“Yes, I do,” he said. “I feel that 100 percent because he can pass the ball. Now, the coach is going to jump in and say tighten it up, value the ball more. … But the feedback I got right away from them was, ‘Man, he’s fun to play with and gets other guys involved. He’s got a good feel, a good sense of the game.’ ” Marks backed that up. “It’s important when we bring in D’Angelo, that he has that chip on his shoulder, and has something to prove, and he’s buying in. Guys have bought into playing with him because he makes them better,” Marks told The Post. “The scuttlebutt was they were enjoying playing with him because he sees the floor really well, he makes us all better.

“But he’ll gain the players’ trust, his peers’ trust, by doing those [unseen] things. Does he take a charge? Does he dive on the floor for a loose ball? Does he fight over the ballscreen and give effort and compete on a nightly basis?”