Julius Randle IS a 'cornerstone' player

[BowlRips]

Randle at age 26 is entering his prime.
If he can continue his defensive play and shooting prowess, there's no way hes not a Top 30 player for his age 27-31 seasons.
Is that the definition of a cornerstone player? Not sure.
But - he is definitely someone you can build around if your goal is to be a playoff team. If you have higher goals he needs to be your number 2.

[3toheadmelo]

I think it's close tbh.

Melo didn't have to play with LeFraud either.

Felton played like Payton against Indiana though...

11 PPG 4 APG on 37/33/63 splits

Let’s not forget how garbage Kidd was against Indiana too.

0.0 PPG 1.7 APG on 0/0/0 splits. Shot 0-8 that series.

I don’t know, to me it looks like Randle has much better guard play, even with Payton. I guess we will see how our guards look in the playoffs for a better comparison.

No I know, but they weren't this LeFraudy during the regular season.

As you said (barring any disaster where we miss the playoffs), we'll see how they perform in the postseason. I'm not worried at all about Rose, and I'll live with Quickley's struggles if he does struggle against a defense that gameplans against him in a series. Burks is a good Felton candidate.

PS: That Indiana series was a nightmare

I was thinking Burks is a good JR Smith candidate, cause of how streaky they were. JR was also completely horrible against Indiana smh

I think Rose is gonna be fine. IQ is probably gonna struggle a bit but I see him having a game or 2 with 15+ points.

Payton... well he’s gonna put up felton numbers or maybe even Jason Kidd numbers unless he has a fake hot shooting streak

[FreeSpiritNY]

This should stop the debate.

People considered melo a cornerstone.
Randel is carrying a worse team @ younger with better efficiency with better all around stats.

Randel help is team get better while melo dragged his team down with his selfish attitude.

To make it simple randel had transformed into a winning player why everyone was always perplexed by why melo never won.

Randel is also becoming very clutch while melo was the opposite.

Randel shares the spot light with rj and gives credit to other teammates and plays good defense while melo complained and didn’t.

If you thought melo was a cornerstone and don’t think randel is then your just biased.

Melo had led the Nuggets to the playoffs every year since he was a rookie when he came to NY, including a WCF appearance.

The Knicks made the playoffs his first three years with the Knicks, and he led us to the #2 seed the one year he had a decent supporting cast and Amar'e was sidelined.

Randle is about to make his first postseason appearance at 26 years of age.

Melo was more of a winner than Randle's ever been. It's not even close. Randle is heading in the right direction though, but he has a lot still to prove before he can be considered on Melo's level. He's undoubtedly a better leader though, no question.

Have you seen randels teams he has been on?

Also melo had billups and iverson at different occasions.

Also never could get past 2nd round

[FreeSpiritNY]

This should stop the debate.

People considered melo a cornerstone.
Randel is carrying a worse team @ younger with better efficiency with better all around stats.

Randel help is team get better while melo dragged his team down with his selfish attitude.

To make it simple randel had transformed into a winning player why everyone was always perplexed by why melo never won.

Randel is also becoming very clutch while melo was the opposite.

Randel shares the spot light with rj and gives credit to other teammates and plays good defense while melo complained and didn’t.

If you thought melo was a cornerstone and don’t think randel is then your just biased.

Melo had led the Nuggets to the playoffs every year since he was a rookie when he came to NY, including a WCF appearance.

The Knicks made the playoffs his first three years with the Knicks, and he led us to the #2 seed the one year he had a decent supporting cast and Amar'e was sidelined.

Randle is about to make his first postseason appearance at 26 years of age.

Melo was more of a winner than Randle's ever been. It's not even close. Randle is heading in the right direction though, but he has a lot still to prove before he can be considered on Melo's level. He's undoubtedly a better leader though, no question.

It’s also arguable that Melo had a much weaker supporting cast that season.

Randle has RJ, Rose, IQ, Bullock, Burks, Mitch, Noel, Gibson, Payton

Melo had Felton, Tyson Chandler, Jr Smith Shumpert, corpses of Jason Kidd, Camby, Prigioni, Novak, K-Mart, Kurt Thomas, Sheed, Broken down Amare, Copeland


RJ, IQ, Rose, Bullock, Burks is better than Jr Smith, shumpert, Felton, Kidd, by a long shot to me.

What are you smoking? So jr was good with lebron and bad with melo? Tyson chandler coming off a dpoy. Canny always had good defense. Novak at the time the best 3 pointer in the league. Kurt Thomas was always solid. Rasheed was solid. Amare at his prime was a beast and even when he was hurt was still really good. Shumpert good defense. Jason Kidd amazing 3 point shooter and point guard. Still out best point guard since he left.

We have Payton worse player in the nba rj has been great but is still young and has his lapses. Rj bullock who is only good at three pointers.

Let’s be real iq is shooting 38% fg and rose is like 34. Rose has still been good but there are times he has his lapses.

How you going to say shumpert and jr were bad when lebron won the finals with them

[FreeSpiritNY]

Melo had led the Nuggets to the playoffs every year since he was a rookie when he came to NY, including a WCF appearance.

The Knicks made the playoffs his first three years with the Knicks, and he led us to the #2 seed the one year he had a decent supporting cast and Amar'e was sidelined.

Randle is about to make his first postseason appearance at 26 years of age.

Melo was more of a winner than Randle's ever been. It's not even close. Randle is heading in the right direction though, but he has a lot still to prove before he can be considered on Melo's level. He's undoubtedly a better leader though, no question.

It’s also arguable that Melo had a much weaker supporting cast that season.

Randle has RJ, Rose, IQ, Bullock, Burks, Mitch, Noel, Gibson, Payton

Melo had Felton, Tyson Chandler, Jr Smith Shumpert, corpses of Jason Kidd, Camby, Prigioni, Novak, K-Mart, Kurt Thomas, Sheed, Broken down Amare, Copeland


RJ, IQ, Rose, Bullock, Burks is better than Jr Smith, shumpert, Felton, Kidd, by a long shot to me.

I think it's close tbh.

Melo didn't have to play with LeFraud either.

Also my point is still very valid if you consider melo a cornerstone there is no way you can’t consider randel a cornerstone.


The league back then was more defense. The league now is more 3point each team was built for there era

You mention Melos team being so trash but as soon as they lost Kidd and Rasheed and camby what happen? They were out the playoffs. That was more a team effort than melo carrying because last time I remember Jason Kidd was the one making clutch shots. In a league with less talent.

[Chanel Bomber]

This should stop the debate.

People considered melo a cornerstone.
Randel is carrying a worse team @ younger with better efficiency with better all around stats.

Randel help is team get better while melo dragged his team down with his selfish attitude.

To make it simple randel had transformed into a winning player why everyone was always perplexed by why melo never won.

Randel is also becoming very clutch while melo was the opposite.

Randel shares the spot light with rj and gives credit to other teammates and plays good defense while melo complained and didn’t.

If you thought melo was a cornerstone and don’t think randel is then your just biased.

Melo had led the Nuggets to the playoffs every year since he was a rookie when he came to NY, including a WCF appearance.

The Knicks made the playoffs his first three years with the Knicks, and he led us to the #2 seed the one year he had a decent supporting cast and Amar'e was sidelined.

Randle is about to make his first postseason appearance at 26 years of age.

Melo was more of a winner than Randle's ever been. It's not even close. Randle is heading in the right direction though, but he has a lot still to prove before he can be considered on Melo's level. He's undoubtedly a better leader though, no question.

Have you seen randels teams he has been on?

Also melo had billups and iverson at different occasions.

Also never could get past 2nd round

Still made the playoffs in the West in 03, 04 and 05 without Iverson or Billups.

Melo is a legend whose legacy was ruined by Dolan's decision to force the Bargs trade and to veto the Lowry trade within 4 months.

[3toheadmelo]

Melo had led the Nuggets to the playoffs every year since he was a rookie when he came to NY, including a WCF appearance.

The Knicks made the playoffs his first three years with the Knicks, and he led us to the #2 seed the one year he had a decent supporting cast and Amar'e was sidelined.

Randle is about to make his first postseason appearance at 26 years of age.

Melo was more of a winner than Randle's ever been. It's not even close. Randle is heading in the right direction though, but he has a lot still to prove before he can be considered on Melo's level. He's undoubtedly a better leader though, no question.

It’s also arguable that Melo had a much weaker supporting cast that season.

Randle has RJ, Rose, IQ, Bullock, Burks, Mitch, Noel, Gibson, Payton

Melo had Felton, Tyson Chandler, Jr Smith Shumpert, corpses of Jason Kidd, Camby, Prigioni, Novak, K-Mart, Kurt Thomas, Sheed, Broken down Amare, Copeland


RJ, IQ, Rose, Bullock, Burks is better than Jr Smith, shumpert, Felton, Kidd, by a long shot to me.

What are you smoking? So jr was good with lebron and bad with melo? Tyson chandler coming off a dpoy. Canny always had good defense. Novak at the time the best 3 pointer in the league. Kurt Thomas was always solid. Rasheed was solid. Amare at his prime was a beast and even when he was hurt was still really good. Shumpert good defense. Jason Kidd amazing 3 point shooter and point guard. Still out best point guard since he left.

We have Payton worse player in the nba rj has been great but is still young and has his lapses. Rj bullock who is only good at three pointers.

Let’s be real iq is shooting 38% fg and rose is like 34. Rose has still been good but there are times he has his lapses.

How you going to say shumpert and jr were bad when lebron won the finals with them

What are you smoking? Did you forget Lebron had Kyrie and Kevin Love? Did you forget about Kyrie hitting the game winner over Steph in game 7?
Melo never had team mates like that on the Knicks. Stop it.

All the Knicks players you just named FOLDED against Indiana. It was Melo vs the whole Indiana team. That’s a fact. Go rewatch those games since you forgot.

[FreeSpiritNY]

It’s also arguable that Melo had a much weaker supporting cast that season.

Randle has RJ, Rose, IQ, Bullock, Burks, Mitch, Noel, Gibson, Payton

Melo had Felton, Tyson Chandler, Jr Smith Shumpert, corpses of Jason Kidd, Camby, Prigioni, Novak, K-Mart, Kurt Thomas, Sheed, Broken down Amare, Copeland


RJ, IQ, Rose, Bullock, Burks is better than Jr Smith, shumpert, Felton, Kidd, by a long shot to me.

What are you smoking? So jr was good with lebron and bad with melo? Tyson chandler coming off a dpoy. Canny always had good defense. Novak at the time the best 3 pointer in the league. Kurt Thomas was always solid. Rasheed was solid. Amare at his prime was a beast and even when he was hurt was still really good. Shumpert good defense. Jason Kidd amazing 3 point shooter and point guard. Still out best point guard since he left.

We have Payton worse player in the nba rj has been great but is still young and has his lapses. Rj bullock who is only good at three pointers.

Let’s be real iq is shooting 38% fg and rose is like 34. Rose has still been good but there are times he has his lapses.

How you going to say shumpert and jr were bad when lebron won the finals with them

What are you smoking? Did you forget Lebron had Kyrie and Kevin Love? Did you forget about Kyrie hitting the game winner over Steph in game 7?
Melo never had team mates like that on the Knicks. Stop it.

All the Knicks players you just named FOLDED against Indiana. It was Melo vs the whole Indiana team. That’s a fact. Go rewatch those games since you forgot.

When your this amazing player you makes players good around you. Also that was his only good individual play off series in a Knicks outfit. So I’ll give it to you yea he did good but didn’t help anyone else.

[The Box Office]

Would y'all trade Randle for Zion right now?

[cgmw]

I used to think Vucevic was better than Randle, and boy was I wrong. As solid as Vuc was tonight, Randle is in another stratosphere with his versatility and leadership.

A playoff run could permanently elevate Randle to superstardom. Gonna be super interesting to see how he responds.

[3toheadmelo]

Read on Twitter

[Chanel Bomber]

I used to think Vucevic was better than Randle, and boy was I wrong. As solid as Vuc was tonight, Randle is in another stratosphere with his versatility and leadership.

A playoff run could permanently elevate Randle to superstardom. Gonna be super interesting to see how he responds.

Defense really separates them.

Vuc is a center who can't defend in space or protect the rim. So he'll always hurt his team defensively, no matter how skilled he is on offense for a big. That's why his teams always seem to have that glass ceiling.

Randle has arguably been our best defender this season. Nobody could've seen this coming, to be fair.

[KnicksGadfly]

What are you smoking? So jr was good with lebron and bad with melo? Tyson chandler coming off a dpoy. Canny always had good defense. Novak at the time the best 3 pointer in the league. Kurt Thomas was always solid. Rasheed was solid. Amare at his prime was a beast and even when he was hurt was still really good. Shumpert good defense. Jason Kidd amazing 3 point shooter and point guard. Still out best point guard since he left.

We have Payton worse player in the nba rj has been great but is still young and has his lapses. Rj bullock who is only good at three pointers.

Let’s be real iq is shooting 38% fg and rose is like 34. Rose has still been good but there are times he has his lapses.

How you going to say shumpert and jr were bad when lebron won the finals with them

What are you smoking? Did you forget Lebron had Kyrie and Kevin Love? Did you forget about Kyrie hitting the game winner over Steph in game 7?
Melo never had team mates like that on the Knicks. Stop it.

All the Knicks players you just named FOLDED against Indiana. It was Melo vs the whole Indiana team. That’s a fact. Go rewatch those games since you forgot.

When your this amazing player you makes players good around you. Also that was his only good individual play off series in a Knicks outfit. So I’ll give it to you yea he did good but didn’t help anyone else.

There are some players, when they get on a team, they raise that team's level. The biggest example I can think of is KG, but guys like Butler, Draymond Green, and Lebron come to mind. Even Duncan...Pop got on Duncan more than anyone. I used to see Pierce as another Melo clone until KG arrived and all of a sudden, he could play defense because some guy was holding him accountable.

This is why I have so much hope for RJ and Randle. When your stars are willing to do the dirty work, passing, being unselfish, playing defense, every damn player needs to shape up. That team culture seeps through. We still have vets like Gibson, but he supports the leaders of our squad, instead of holding the burden. That's why I love this team a lot more than the 2013 team. We still might lose miserably in the first round because of talent, but I'll never believe it's because they gave up or were punked.

[3toheadmelo]

I used to think Vucevic was better than Randle, and boy was I wrong. As solid as Vuc was tonight, Randle is in another stratosphere with his versatility and leadership.

A playoff run could permanently elevate Randle to superstardom. Gonna be super interesting to see how he responds.

Defense really separates them.

Vuc is a center who can't defend in space or protect the rim. So he'll always hurt his team defensively, no matter how skilled he is on offense for a big. That's why his teams always seem to have that glass ceiling.

Randle has arguably been our best defender this season. Nobody could've seen this coming, to be fair.

hey sham, hope you're having a wonderful morning.

[Chanel Bomber]

I used to think Vucevic was better than Randle, and boy was I wrong. As solid as Vuc was tonight, Randle is in another stratosphere with his versatility and leadership.

A playoff run could permanently elevate Randle to superstardom. Gonna be super interesting to see how he responds.

Defense really separates them.

Vuc is a center who can't defend in space or protect the rim. So he'll always hurt his team defensively, no matter how skilled he is on offense for a big. That's why his teams always seem to have that glass ceiling.

Randle has arguably been our best defender this season. Nobody could've seen this coming, to be fair.

hey sham, hope you're having a wonderful morning.

... with Mitch out.

I'm not fighting your wars for you bro

Spoiler:

[3toheadmelo]

Defense really separates them.

Vuc is a center who can't defend in space or protect the rim. So he'll always hurt his team defensively, no matter how skilled he is on offense for a big. That's why his teams always seem to have that glass ceiling.

Randle has arguably been our best defender this season. Nobody could've seen this coming, to be fair.

hey sham, hope you're having a wonderful morning.

... with Mitch out.

I'm not fighting your wars for you bro

Spoiler:

:lol:

[cgmw]

I used to think Vucevic was better than Randle, and boy was I wrong. As solid as Vuc was tonight, Randle is in another stratosphere with his versatility and leadership.

A playoff run could permanently elevate Randle to superstardom. Gonna be super interesting to see how he responds.

Defense really separates them.

Vuc is a center who can't defend in space or protect the rim. So he'll always hurt his team defensively, no matter how skilled he is on offense for a big. That's why his teams always seem to have that glass ceiling.

Randle has arguably been our best defender this season. Nobody could've seen this coming, to be fair.

Yeah, but I'd say it's his foot speed and ability to move on both ends. It could be the extra conditioning he did, but he's affecting the game more like a wing. A very large, sturdy, and strong wing who can defend 3-4 positions. Vucevic or even Sabonis are immobile tree trunks by comparison.

Beyond defense, he also has the ball-handling, vision, creativity, and step-back jumper to play the Point Forward role (like a Lebron, Kawhi, Paul George, or Larry Bird), which is why I'm saying a playoff run could permanently elevate him to superstar status.

[cgmw]

Read on Twitter

Yeah so this is the better question right now: IS JULIUS RANDLE AN MVP CANDIDATE

To me, the difference maker is his workhorse durability. He's played 62 of 63 games, averaging 37.5 minutes per game.

Of the top candidates only Jokic is in the same ballpark. CP3 hasn't missed games, but he only plays 30 mpg. Steph missed a bunch of games. Luka missed a few games. Giannis missed 10+ games. Embiid and Lebron have missed way too much time to be MVP, IMO. Randle's durability has been awesome, and his sustained production under heavy usage is unbelievable.

Honestly, if the Knicks stay hot over the 6 game road trip and pull out wins vs. the Lakers, Clipps and/or Suns to finish with home court advantage, then I don't see how Randle doesn't get votes in the top 5 for MVP. Pulling the Knicks up from low pre-season expectations to finish as a top 4 seed would have to merit MVP votes.

If the season ended today, the only players CLEARLY above him in MVP are Jokic, Giannis, and probably CP3.

[Chanel Bomber]

hey sham, hope you're having a wonderful morning.

... with Mitch out.

I'm not fighting your wars for you bro

Spoiler:

:lol:

I did warn you not to trust me

[3toheadmelo]

... with Mitch out.

I'm not fighting your wars for you bro

Spoiler:

:lol:

I did warn you not to trust me