WOJ: Julius Randle 3/63M (Team Option)

[Rafer24]

In his last season in L.A, he actually played pretty good defense. He has the tools to be a good defender, i´m sure he will improve in NY.

[gorz]

He is a unique talent a 6'9 big who can handle the rock like a wing, good passing ability for a big, very good scorer in the post/low block, has improved his range and can shoot at a decent clip from the outside, good rebounder, high motor bring tons of energy. Defense needs to improve but he has shown glimpses of it in his last season with the lakers. I don't see what's not to like. Knicks got a tremendous discount for a player of his caliber. Better version of Ben Simmons.

[GONYK]

I will ask an honest question. I am not trying to troll. How different is Randle compared to Kanter? I haven’t followed his career much. I went through their advanced stats and didn’t see anything that is particularly striking in Randle’s favor. He seems to have put numbers but it didn’t provide wins. The only difference seems to be his assist rate in his favor. Other stats like rebounding (especially offensive) is in Kanter’s favor. Any insights from those who followed the dude?

Kanter couldnt play a lick of defense and was a complete liability on the pick n roll. As Devin Booker once said "pick n roll at 00 every time".

Don't think thats the case with Randle. While his defensive numbers last year werent all too impressive read this quote from a Lakers blog about Randles play in the 2nd half of 2018.

Defensive Impact

Besides being an elite offensive force, Randle has been a very impactful defender over the course of the season. Randle is second on the team in contested 2s per game and 4th overall in contested shots. Inside of 6 feet, Randle is second on the team in shots contested behind Lopez and players shoot 4% worse there than they normally do when contested by Randle. He has been solid helping in the paint all year despite his "T-Rex arms". His mobility, quickness, and positioning allow him to recover off his man to help the helper.

Randle's biggest contribution on defense is his ability to guard almost any player at any position. Some bigger guys like Embiid can take advantage of his lack of size, but Embiid will bully just about anybody. Julius does a great job at switching that often leads to an iso possession. According to Synergy, he allows just .854 PPP when defending isos which is in the 57th percentile. That may not seem great, but considering he defends that play type more than any other besides guarding the screener in PNRs, it is mightily impressive. Isolation plays are on average one of the least efficient play types in basketball.

With his ability to protect the paint well enough and switch onto smaller players on the perimeter, Randle puts himself in rare company. That is highly valuable in today's NBA because very few elite defenders have that combination. We are talking Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Paul Millsap, Draymond Green, Kevin Durant, Al Horford, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and maybe one or two other guys. That is about it. While Randle is not quite elite at both skill sets, he is very good at them and that alone makes him highly valuable. Sometimes it is better to be a B+ at every aspect instead of an A+ at a couple and a D+ at others.

Obviously, defense is far more complex than just switching and protecting the rim. It also includes closeouts, communication, boxing out, shading/playing angles, etc. According to Synergy in each play type that Randle defends a significant amount that includes P&R ball handler (whether it is defending the big or guard), isolation, P&R roll man, spot ups, post-ups, and off screens, Randle allows only above .9 PPP in one of those (spot ups at .942). That is incredible considering the worst offense in the NBA, the Sacramento Kings, average 1.013 PPP in total. Again, Randle's versatility allows him to defend multiple levels which makes him one of the most valuable defenders in the league.

This really only applies to Randle at the 5

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[Clyde_Style]

Dude hung numbers on all the western conference Monstar big men...he’s 24 and improving every year.
The coach clearly has designs on how he’d use him.
The negativity is killing me man. We didn’t get a 29 year old with bad knees. We didn’t trade away picks to starphuch. Second year with this set up: not one bad contract. None of y’all are used to that because it’s never been the case as Knick fans. And y’all acting all nose up snobby like we’re too good for good players who aren’t statnerd perfect.

The kid is going to be great here. The rubber is hitting the road at the right time with this group.

Everybody went full LolKnicks on their signings and trades this summer while we have arguably the deepest team in the division now and the flexibility to do anything we want whenever that anything presents itself.
Stay woke.

I'll take 3 years of production from peak Randle at $20M per year over a damaged post-prime KD at $40M+ per year every time

[K_ick_God]

Technically KD is getting like $60M per playing year.

[iLLmatic860]

Technically KD is getting like $50M per playing year.

50 per year?

How?

[K_ick_God]

Technically KD is getting like $50M per playing year.

50 per year?

How?

Actually more like 60 for his 2 healthy years (I edited it). 40 per year for 3 but only 2 healthy.

[Adelheid]

Technically KD is getting like $60M per playing year.

How??? The contract equates to like, 41 per year

edit: Ok I get it...He aint doing schit this year bec of rehab.

[Adelheid]

He is a unique talent a 6'9 big who can handle the rock like a wing, good passing ability for a big, very good scorer in the post/low block, has improved his range and can shoot at a decent clip from the outside, good rebounder, high motor bring tons of energy. Defense needs to improve but he has shown glimpses of it in his last season with the lakers. I don't see what's not to like. Knicks got a tremendous discount for a player of his caliber. Better version of Ben Simmons.

Not that unique. Lamar Odom and Dray Green does that too.

[bearadonisdna]

Dude hung numbers on all the western conference Monstar big men...he’s 24 and improving every year.
The coach clearly has designs on how he’d use him.
The negativity is killing me man. We didn’t get a 29 year old with bad knees. We didn’t trade away picks to starphuch. Second year with this set up: not one bad contract. None of y’all are used to that because it’s never been the case as Knick fans. And y’all acting all nose up snobby like we’re too good for good players who aren’t statnerd perfect.

The kid is going to be great here. The rubber is hitting the road at the right time with this group.

Everybody went full LolKnicks on their signings and trades this summer while we have arguably the deepest team in the division now and the flexibility to do anything we want whenever that anything presents itself.
Stay woke.

I'll take 3 years of production from peak Randle at $20M per year over a damaged post-prime KD at $40M+ per year every time

Seriously, this is a pretty good signing.
The next best big i can recall in FA is horford and it was to play the 4.
Goes without saying i like randle better as a 4 , better contract as well so good signing all the way around.

[Clyde_Style]

Dude hung numbers on all the western conference Monstar big men...he’s 24 and improving every year.
The coach clearly has designs on how he’d use him.
The negativity is killing me man. We didn’t get a 29 year old with bad knees. We didn’t trade away picks to starphuch. Second year with this set up: not one bad contract. None of y’all are used to that because it’s never been the case as Knick fans. And y’all acting all nose up snobby like we’re too good for good players who aren’t statnerd perfect.

The kid is going to be great here. The rubber is hitting the road at the right time with this group.

Everybody went full LolKnicks on their signings and trades this summer while we have arguably the deepest team in the division now and the flexibility to do anything we want whenever that anything presents itself.
Stay woke.

I'll take 3 years of production from peak Randle at $20M per year over a damaged post-prime KD at $40M+ per year every time

Seriously, this is a pretty good signing.
The next best big i can recall in FA is horford and it was to play the 4.
Goes without saying i like randle better as a 4 , better contract as well so good signing all the way around.

Randle is a better signing than Horford for many reasons. I think Al is a quality player, but Julius still hasn't entered his prime whereas Al has passed his already. Based on contracts alone, the value we're getting is much better. I'm expecting Randle to outperform almost every mid-tier FA that signed for more money than him.

I don't think Randle was Plan B really. There's a reason the FO signed him as soon as free agency started. They already knew long ago Plan A was toast after KD was hurt and they had no chance at Kahwi. They clearly identified Randle as the best player at the best price on the market and at this point I'd agree with them.

[Adelheid]

Personally, I think Randle would work best at pf. Let Portis/Meetch play the C.

[Clyde_Style]

Personally, I think Randle would work best at pf. Let Portis/Meetch play the C.

I think the idea to use him at C is strictly on a match-up basis, not as his default positional role.

Generally, I asume he will probably be considered a PF by the coaching staff

[HarthorneWingo]

Technically KD is getting like $50M per playing year.

50 per year?

How?

Actually more like 60 for his 2 healthy years (I edited it). 40 per year for 3 but only 2 healthy.

Exactly. The Nets just got KG'd and Pierce'd again.

[cgmw]

Randle added to USA Basketball training camp. Mitch on Select Team.

We could end up with 2 Olympians in 2020

[DrCoach]

He is a unique talent a 6'9 big who can handle the rock like a wing, good passing ability for a big, very good scorer in the post/low block, has improved his range and can shoot at a decent clip from the outside, good rebounder, high motor bring tons of energy. Defense needs to improve but he has shown glimpses of it in his last season with the lakers. I don't see what's not to like. Knicks got a tremendous discount for a player of his caliber. Better version of Ben Simmons.

Not that unique. Lamar Odom and Dray Green does that too.

So mentioning a guy that is retired from the game and a player who is a outlier is not considered Unique?

[DrCoach]

Randle added to USA Basketball training camp. Mitch on Select Team.

We could end up with 2 Olympians in 2020

3

RJ

[BLACKFEET 2010]

Randle added to USA Basketball training camp. Mitch on Select Team.

We could end up with 2 Olympians in 2020

3

RJ

4
Iggy

[Ray Williams]

He is a unique talent a 6'9 big who can handle the rock like a wing, good passing ability for a big, very good scorer in the post/low block, has improved his range and can shoot at a decent clip from the outside, good rebounder, high motor bring tons of energy. Defense needs to improve but he has shown glimpses of it in his last season with the lakers. I don't see what's not to like. Knicks got a tremendous discount for a player of his caliber. Better version of Ben Simmons.

Not that unique. Lamar Odom and Dray Green does that too.

Neither one has his post up skills

[gavran]

Randle added to USA Basketball training camp. Mitch on Select Team.

We could end up with 2 Olympians in 2020

3

RJ

4
Iggy

5 if Frank doesn't suck.