I saw that too, but I hope that's not true. For one, Julius deserves a better pay day and for two, that would mean the rumor of us keeping him on the bench to stunt his payday is true. That's a d*** move by the FO to save a million or so dollars. Luckily for them Kuzma is playing well enough to keep that starting role away from Julius.
He is playing really well now; comes off the bench, brings great energy, scores the ball and his defense is so much better now. I kinda feel bad for Jules, because I am not sure what the FO really wants to do. But I hope they are not lowballing him, he does not deserve that kind of treatment, and it's not the Lakers way.
I don't think they are low balling him. If I remember correctly, they talked about him and his agent knowing the contract situation was going to be impossible to resolve until the end of the season. His cap hold will be less than the max (what Julius probably think he deserves), and they can't extend the qualifying offer until after the season.
it's whatever the trade market fetches, imo. we've seen other teams do this: they'll get the two stars to agree to sign based on a worst case scenario (ditching rights, etc.), then try to salvage on the back end. for example, say george and cousins agree to come to the lakers for what's left after stretching deng and letting randle walk. maybe once that's decided, the lakers field calls for s&ts or other roster moves that can happen in conjunction with those additions. might even involve trading for both players instead of signing them outright, negating the use of cap space in its purest sense. in other words, the threat of cap space is what's necessary.
Absolutely great showing from Randle. He was engaged the entire game and it made a difference on both ends. He finally played next to Ball and BroLo and you can tell how much better we are for it.
To piggyback on what abeer said, I honestly believe Presti is savvy enough to get something out of this instead of having both George and Melo walk away for nothing. If the end game was to lock up Russ, then mission accomplished and everything else is a bonus. Woj has come out and pretty much said this is a 1 year ordeal since Russ is already locked up now. There is no way Bennett pays nearly $300M (combined team salary and luxury taxes) to keep this team as is. On top of that, Melo hasn't really partook in the type of lip service George is giving the OKC media and the way Melo is built, I think he finds a way to Houston (exactly the way CP3 did it this summer) by opting in and having Presti gain some assets. No way he stays in OKC. When it comes to George, I think he too could do something along the lines of what CP3 did and get to LA in that manner. George is trying hard not to be the bad guy in getting to LA. Its why he gave a heads up to Indy, so that they can gain some assets and not be "Decisioned" as a result. I think he tries to take the same route with OKC, if they are willing. And that is where Jules contract really gets interesting. With teams limited in cap this coming summer, teams that are interested in Jules will have to trade for him cause they can't sign him outright. Maybe Presti finds a way to make that deal for Jules. Now that Jules is married with baby, money more than the "scene" is going to be the driving force in a decision. George and Jules share Mintz as an agent and maybe Jules gets an inside track at how OKC is as a city via George's experiences through their agent. A S&T between LA and OKC makes it that much more simpler if Mintz handles all the dirty work between both his clients in a swap. Recall that the rumor was George for Randle/JC/27/28 (and thankfully Pritchard balked at any offer that didn't involve #2/BI cause we all need a little Kuz in our lives)...but with that rumor, you can speculate that Mintz was okay with sending Randle to another small market team as long as George gets to LA. Jules via the LA market has already locked up a Nike deal. His other client, DLo, also locked up a Nike deal. Recall that all 3 of his clients (George, DLo, Randle) were at the LA Nike-NBA affiliate unveiling. So maybe Jules is fine with relocating to a small market like OKC, when Indy was probable before Pritchard got his tighty whiteys in a bunch. With George opting into his $20.7M player option, LA acquires his bird rights and can either offer an extension or a max contract in the summer of 2019. So essentially with that 20.7M cap marker, stretching Deng and keeping Clarkson, LA will have a team salary of roughly $62M, giving them about $40M in cap. That can be used on LaBron and maybe a 2nd or 3rd tier free agent. And if we dump Clarkson for a pick, that gives us about 53M in cap with George already sitting on the roster. Our most favorable route is to trade for George and have him opt into that player option for just 1 year and then pay him max money on the back-end. Maybe that has been the plan all along and when Indy got wind of it, they stunk up the joint with the tampering allegations...and obviously some of it stuck....meaning 2018plan...Legit!
Can Randle keep this up though, always had consistency issues. Great game though last night. Loved the passing back and forth between him and Kuzma.
When it comes to rebounding, playing hard and being a hard-nosed defensive player - yes, he can bring it consistently. Scoring wise... who knows. Probably not.
Can he keep up scoring like that? If he could we wouldn’t even be discussing letting him go. The other stuff though, he’s been one of our most consistent players this season all things considered. He’s averaging 8 less minutes per game than last season and he’s only dropped off by 1 point and 2 boards per game, and he’s up in blocks. That’s pretty impressive. You’d have to believe if he were still at 28 mpg instead of 20, he’d be averaging a double double again. 15/10 isn’t crazy considering he was at around 13 and 9 last season.
Very good regular season player right now, but I predict he’ll continue to get his weaknesses exposed in the playoffs. He struggles against length, has mediocre touch around the basket, and still struggles going right. When we can run, a lot of those weaknesses are hidden. But in the playoffs, when good teams can slow the pace, I think we’ll be just about as frustrated as ever with him. The bench role is perfect for him, but since his ego won’t allow him to see that, he’s as good as gone IMHO.
This guy is fool's gold and the numbers prove it: Some numbers Last year, Randle turns the ball over 5.3% to the time on drives while turning the ball over 16.2% of the time overall on 100 plays. This year, Randle is averaging turning the ball over 13.2% of the time on drives, while turning the ball over 18% overall.
These numbers tell me almost nothing without context. They're also strangely specific. Seems like nothing.
but he plays really hard when doing it and I bet his offensive fouls are down too but all joking aside, his energy and defense have been outstanding. I'm just not sold on him as a front line starter on a championship team. Super Sub I'm sold on, but I'm 99.9% he's not sold on that as his ceiling.
Randle does consistently show energy but he makes far more mistakes than others. For every great play he makes, he does the same bone-headed charge into the paint and either loses the ball or draws a charge. He still refuses to use his right hand, and he's still terrible from the perimeter. His perimeter defense has improved from previous years but his interior defense has been atrocious all season. Honestly, I think coming off the bench is his main role. He’s a good perimeter defender against wings and bigs, and he can rebound, get some fast-break buckets or put-backs. Once it comes down to a half court set, his flaws are MAGNIFIED.
Julius's numbers are through the roof right now. I'm not sure what statistical basis you could find that shows flaws in his game this season. 2016/2017 in 28.8 minutes: 13.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 0.7 steals, 0.5 blocks, 48.8 FG%, 27% 3PT, 2.3 TOs 2017/2018 in 20.8 minutes: 12.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.8 blocks, 55.2 FG%, 28.6% 3PT, 2.2 TOs 2017/2018 adjusted to 28.8 minutes: 16.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.6 steals, 1.1 blocks, 3.1 TOs 2017/2018 adjust to 36 (starters) minutes: 21.1 points, 11.6 rebounds, 3 assists, 0.7 steals, 1.3 blocks, 3.9 TOs Those are great numbers. By the way, he's played in only one game over 30 minutes and he was great: 24 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists. 4 turnovers. a +/- of +27. His TS% and PER are higher than they've ever been. His block percentage is more than double last year's. His defensive rating is the lowest it's ever been while his offensive rating is almost as high as it was last season.
Yeah, I find no fault with Julius at the moment, but hope he chooses to keep the "pay me" tshirts at home. If you are great over any extended period of time, you WILL be handsomely paid. And the Lakers have proven they take care of their own. Just do the work, and be consistent. Make yourself indispensable. And preferably don't play the same position as a pending max free agent acquisition we have our sites set on.
