“My biggest goal is make everyone around me better,’’ Randle said. “Scoring 20 points, that’s not the hard part for me. I want to make everyone better and be an extension of the coach.’’
“I embrace it,’’ Randle said of his new role. “You have to have compassion for guys. Not being a leader by saying, ‘You do this, you do that.’ Guys can look at you and say you lead by example.”
“He was very vocal today,’’ Knicks coach David Fizdale said of Randle after Tuesday’s initial practice. “He does a lot by example. The way he works, the way he goes about getting in early, staying late, coming back in at night. Just even in our conditioning tests, he ran extra next to Mitchell [Robinson] to help pull him through. He’s not talking, he’s just doing.”
As solid a character guy as Thomas is, his game never matched up to that status. It is a better conduit to have Randle as the Knicks’ general because he’s also expected to be their best player.
“I’ve heard it before, but I’m not here to take what other people have judged guys on,’’ Fizdale said. “I’ve got to coach him to be his best. And that’s all I care about, making all these guys the best defensive players they can be.’’
Randle’s biggest priority is bringing along Robinson, the Knicks’ second-year starting center. A frontcourt of Randle-Robinson could be intriguing, a great defender, paired with a standout offensive force.
In the FiveThirtyEight website’s new DRAYMOND defensive analytic — based on opponent’s shooting data and named after Warriors defensive stalwart Draymond Green — Randle ranked 190th of 292 eligible players. Robinson was second.
“Mitch has no clue how talented he is, how good he can be,’’ Randle said. “Me being a leader of this team, I’m definitely going to push him to max his potential. I’m extremely excited to play with him day in, day out. He’s so long and athletic and gets into guys on the defensive end.”
“[Fizdale] wants it to be even more part of my game,’’ Randle said. “Heading into summer, it’s something I worked extremely hard on to keep improving. Last year was a great opportunity for me to display my shooting ability and along with that came confidence. It definitely will be part of my game. But I know what my bread and butter is and what makes me who I am as a player.’’
https://nypost.com/2019/10/01/knicks-julius-randle-knows-job-is-much-more-than-scoring-now/