I applaud your stauchness tada. I am probably Randle's second biggest supporter here. I think he's a stud. I am however quite sick of 20 win seasons. If he can help us get Paul George, then I'm open for business. I'd say the same for any kid on our roster. Let's get winning again.
I'm tired of losing too, but I think we have something special brewing with our big 3. I think all of them will pan out to be allstars or close to it. We have an opportunity to build a dynasty similar to the Spurs/Warriors, and trading one of them for George would shorten our window of opportunity by half, with a steep drop-off as he declines. It's never a good idea to trade young studs when in rebuild mode. It just seems like a desperation move to me.
I'm with you tada. I wouldn't trade Randle for PG either, although of our big 3, Randle concerns me the most. I think Randle has the biggest chance of being either a dominant force or a "relative" bust. He's so strong and talented sometimes no one can stop him, and other times it seems like he's too dense to put it all together consistently. But I lean much more towards thinking he'll figure things out, so I think we'd end up regretting it if we traded him.
The lapses will improve. Take someone like Stephen Jackson who was one of the dumbest and most inconsistent players earlier in his career. He turned into a servicable player later on. I'd say he was a borderline allstar. Julius is more talented than Jackson. Julius is very coachable, has much better character, and he's a student of the game. Jackson + those qualities is an allstar imo.
Whats a relative bust? What he's shown so far even without consistency, still shows he could have a long career in the league as avg to above avg role player, no worse than say Kwame
Julius has the talent to be as good as any PF in the game, but he hardly ever shows it out there. He's a mismatch nightmare and should dominate the glass. It didn't feel that way today and often it doesn't. Tonight he was 21/12/3 with 2 blocks. Stat line looks great, but like Clarkson I see so much more potential. Julius is frequently a step late and while it's encouraging he makes the right reads now, you'd hope he made them quicker by now. There's definitely still time for him to get it, but I just wish he showed it more often. Also, given the speed of his hands and feet, he should have a steal every game. I know it's sort of arbitrary to throw a stat like that out, but there's no reason he shouldn't be more effective in the passing lanes. That being said, he's showing small signs of growth in all the areas we want. His reads are at least late now instead of nonexistent and he's at least taking the three the last couple games. He can't make them if he doesn't take them. I'd give him a B- for this game.
I thought he had a good game tonight. But I agree, not a great one despite the awesome stat line. Just wish he would have made a couple buckets down the stretch to pull out the W.
Key note is Laker Film Room did not make this, and actually out of all the young players we have gets most frustrated by Randle's play. He's by no means a Randle hater or anything I just know his feeling toward his play by listening to his podcasts and him answering watches during the Laker game telecasts.
I still don't think Randle will ever be a star, let alone a superstar. He has big games here and there but overall on a bigger picture, he is not good on offense (bully ball) and he is not good on defense. There is a snowball's chance in hell that he overcomes all the weaknesses. If we can have PG13, Randle is certainly not going to be a deal breaker. He has had better games lately, credit where credit is due. But a few good games aren't going to change the eye test of 2 years.
I wonder if having a clear vision presented to the team vs the fog from the previous regime ends up giving the team some direction and accountability on a game by game basis. There is enough improvement in play of key prospects lately, I'm thinking this change is beneficial to all involved. (Minus Jim, Black, and Mitch of course) I'm curious how much turnover in the front office there will be when all is said and done. We are probably only aware of a fraction of the changes that needed to take place.
His performance was so forgettable nobody even came in here to hate on him. What bothered me most about his game tonight was how disengaged he was off the ball. Just unacceptable. Walton is right: a kid that age should never feel like this is an obligation. Playing in the NBA? Making millions to play basketball? For the Lakers? That's a gift. If you're not willing to come in with a positive attitude, get out. That goes for all the kids, but I'm sick of the sort of attitude I see behind the plays with Randle. Get right or get out. I don't have the patience anymore for pouting children in my Laker uniform.
The Beast was back tonight. At one point he had 30 points and 7 boards in 22 minutes. He was on fire in the first half with 22 and kept rolling. That was an impressive offensive showing this evening. No one could seemingly stop him. 13 of 17, 32 points career high, 8 boards, a couple dimes and some nice screens. Good stuff kid.
This is the Randle I can get behind - high motor, working in the paint, and getting points in bunches. I don't want him initiating the offense or standing around holding the ball. Move, pound the glass, and you can honestly be a 20 PPG scorer in the NBA. And there's nothing wrong with 20/8.
Luke on Randle just now "Loved his game offensively. Uh, and defensively..I told him he needs to be better than that, he needs to. He's too good of an athlete and he's too good of a basketball player to make some of the mistakes he makes, whether it's closing out on a shooter with his hands down, things like that.."
Why can't the public comment stop with the praise? Why can't the negative be spun into a positive? "We will continue to work to put players in the right position on defense, teach them to make the right reads, and with the experience, they'll be in the right position and make the right reads. That's something we're working on as a team."
He continued to praise his offense after that quote, I just stopped typing it up. Luke was really pissed in that interview, he said as much multiple times. He was happy with Randle's offensive game, but he's clearly tired of guys not doing the right things in other areas.
Weird; I guess coaching the best regular season team in NBA history is a little different from coaching a bunch of kids...who'd have thought?
