Lakers Coach Byron Scott Wants Julius Randle To Improve Conditioning

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Lakers Coach Byron Scott wants Julius Randle to improve conditioning

Julius Randle had a solid rookie debut Monday night, scoring 10 points with eight rebounds in the Lakers' 98-95 victory over the Denver Nuggets in their preseason opener.

While Coach Byron Scott was happy with some of what Randle accomplished on the floor, he would like to see more from the rookie.

"He's got to do a better job of setting screens," said Scott. "He's got to do a better job of getting up and down the floor. He does that in spurts.


"The biggest thing with him right now is that he has to get in better shape. He's in good shape but he has to get in great shape."

Scott has held a vigorous training camp, pushing his players to try to make the Lakers one of the best-conditioned teams in league.

"When you're not in great shape and you get tired, you lose focus, it's that simple," said Scott. "It's just a matter of getting him in great shape."

During the summer, the Lakers held Randle back slightly to make sure an old high school foot injury was fully healed.


The rookie power forward felt comfortable in his first game, which he said was a lot easier than the last week at Lakers training camp.

"Practice is way, way harder," Randle said.

The Lakers had a light practice Tuesday, primarily watching film. Afterward, Randle and the team's young players (along with veteran Ronnie Price) walked through the team's offense.

The team said Wesley Johnson, who had a minor left knee injury Monday, has improved and is expected to go through the full-contact practice scheduled Wednesday.

The Lakers will host the Golden State Warriors at Staples Center on Thursday night."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/laker...ndle-improve-conditioning-20141007-story.html

 

He's a little bit lazy, and I say that not to hate on him. He just is. There's a good bit of evidence for it already - he did look like he was gassed a bit in that preseason game, he slacked off in drills when I watched, and Kobe and Scott have both called him out for lack of conditioning or cheating in drills already.

It's not the end of the world, he has plenty of time to get in shape, but I do see it as a minor issue. It's just another reason he won't play 30+ MPG as a rookie.

 

Yeah, Scott is absolutely right. Now, I can't say I expected 19-year old Randle to show up looking as an all-star right away... I'm sure he will work on his conditioning. But I like what I see right now. The talent is there, for sure.

 

I"m so glad we've got a coach that sees exactly what a bunch of us saw. That feels amazing. I remember the last two years tearing my hair out because we'd see so many problems with what either Brown or D'Antoni did and yet they didn't fix anything.

Julius certainly looked gassed out there. It's to be expected for big guy who's only 19 years old. The laziness is a problem. I see a lot of the confidence that Kobe has/had in him, but I'm not sure I see the same drive. That's to be expected too, but I hope Scott and Kobe can push him a bit.

 

I think he does. It's unfair to expect anybody to be Kobe and that's been one of our major problems in finding "the next great Laker". Just because he's not on the scene with the strongest killer instinct in the League doesn't mean he isn't a gamer and a winner. We saw in the Summer League how willing and able he is to take over. In extremely limited sample size he's shown that he really can't be guarded one on one.

Really all of the complaints that we have are 100% typical of 19 year old kid. The good news is that his ceiling after Summer League hasn't fallen at all. In his first ever action as a professional he put up nearly a double-double in 27 minutes of work. Not bad for a kid.

It'll be fun to watch him develop. I hope he takes all these lessons to heart. It's really amazing he ends up here instead of being one of these other rookies ending up in a situation where they have little leadership and no help. Jabari Parker comes to mind.

 

Then he could not be in a better situation than being pushed by Byron & Kobe. If there is a drive for greatness in there to be unlocked, they have the key.

 

I agree with everyone of you and what you have said about Randle thus far. I'm just glad that most of us Lakers fan on this forum see him for what he is at this time instead of doing what I think most fan bases would do it put too much pressure and expectations on the kid right away. He isn't going to be like Kobe was in his early years of playing for the Lakers with that lazer like focus and dedication.

I also thought @trodgers made a great point about Julius being a little lazy at times. I too saw bits and spurts of it in training camp as well.

Just like trying winning a Rings, let's just enjoy the journey of watching Julius grow and take the good stuff with the bad. He's great a great family and head on his shoulders and the maturation process should be fun and will hopefully ease the pain of Kobe retiring when that time comes.

 

^^^ This. I love it. Totally agree. I am so happy that Scott is our coach instead of 'Antoni and Brown. Brown drove me insane but it was small potatoes compared to 'Antoni. Scott is the guy who can really get the best of young players, and I love that he and Kobe are on the same page together. I love the direction that Scott has taken so far. Most of all, it just MAKES sense whereas the last two coaches over and over made me scratch my head.

 

I agree with coach, but my fear is he'll end up in the doghouse. Scott is old school and is tough on rookies (much like he was by the veteran Lakers when he was a rookie).

With our talent level, we need Julius playing and learning on the court.