Jeff Van Gully wrote:HarthorneWingo wrote:The first four parts, or so, cover Julius's history in the league from when he was drafted by the Lakers. It then covers his free agent signings with the Pelicans and then with the Knicks. The interesting parts of the video start at Part 5 which covers last season and the playoffs. It then covers this season up to the RJ/OG trade including the changes Julius has made to his game.
I think that once you watch it, you'll see how bad Randle's ankle was. It doesn't excuse everything but it provides enough context so that we shouldn't be burying him as a choke artist in the playoffs.
omg, i don't know if i have the time to watch a 40-minute randle doc. but i been saying you have to take the ankle into consideration for last season. man was going BRAZY last season until that happened. it's obvious he tried to play through it. randle ain't perfect, but i've never questioned his general/overall commitment, effort, and work ethic. all i really ever ask is he commit on defense and figure out how to keep his composure. even those things seem to be getting better. but we've also created a team environment conducive to maximizing him, which is nice to see.
I think he started showing signs of mental and physical fatigue before the ankle injury, but everything fell off a cliff after the ankle. I'm optimistic about him putting it all together this season for a few reasons:
- His decision-making and shot-selection are MUCH improved compared to prior years, even by his own admission in a Fred Katz article last week.
- He's been improving his temperament incrementally since the "thumbs down" season, and this year has been markedly better. I saw Jalen Brunson get between him and a ref this past week, and instead of shoving Brunson like he did with IQ last year, he accepted it and cooled off.
- The team is built better for him. The team Randle vs. team RJ nonsense boils down to Randle and RJ not fitting together. Everyone knew one of them had to go, but people picked sides instead of acknowledging that both guys would get better after a split. Randle will have better spacing and more defensive help to cover his flaws as a player, which overlap with RJ's (inconsistent shooting, lackluster defense, and losing their heads).
But i'm also not about to relitigate the past few seasons from Randle being problematic in a bunch of obvious ways. Anyone who grew up on 90's Knicks ball should recognize why older Knicks fans generally found his mentality off-putting. He's a great player, but the things he did poorly were particularly galling to people who grew up watching less talented guys get further by checking their egos.
But I'll repeat, Randle seems to have come around starting last season and especially this year. If you get the buy-in that guys like 90's players had under Riley but make them as gifted as Randle, it's a recipe that could be special. Playoff Brunson + THIS Randle with OG and the Center tandem defending...that's a tough 7 game series for damn near ANYBODY (the C's still feel like a bad match-up play for play, so they're my Eastern Conference exception).
we can do better.
