Julius Randle Discussion: MIP

Wow, bullet dodged. Very revealing that we are open to talks about Randle though.

 

I still love Randle. Monstrous energy tonight channeling his anger from sitting all but 8 against the Rockets. That's what you do. Get mad and get even. His third personal in the first half was dumb (the illegal screen) and as has been mentioned he tried to go one on three too many times but he was still a beast. He also got no love down there and was getting pummeled where we couldn't breathe on Durant without a foul call. Overall pretty damn fine effort and he knocked down two threes!! 21 and 10 in 24 points with 2 steals and a block.

 

agreed. Some of those defensive lapses make me so upset. It's a bummer because I trust Larry so much more defensively but when Randle has his energy and mind in the right spot he can be special.

 

I consider it a dodged bullet because I don’t want Noel anywhere near this team. That’s all we need is that rumor coming true, Noel finding his way here and then LeBron coming along holding us hostage to sign him to big money and then he’ll sign with us. Another JR Smith and Tristan Thompson, no way. I’d rather keep Randle if that’s the case.

 

Well that's a really unlikely situation. LeBron probably would require another max contract and in order to get to that max contract, we'd have very little money left over. Noel would probably be somewhere in the 4 million dollar range or something. Of course, there's a possibility that LeBron would agree to sign here and make Noel one of his big FA requests, but we're in a different situation to the Cavs. If he did that, he'd really weaken his ability to field a good team.

If I had to guess, I'd say the trade was something like Deng/Randle for Noel/Harris or Noel/McRoberts or maybe even Noel/protected 1st. It's not the return I want for Randle, but it's the sort of trade I honestly expect this FO to make. They obviously don't value Randle much for the future.

 

Yep I think this is exactly how it went. Woj has never had much love for the Lakers, but I'm not sure this type of leak is going to earn him any favors. I don't know how this helps anyone really. I mean it's obvious at this point that the Lakers are planning on moving on from Randle, but for Noel? That'd be a bit of a let down given our situation.

It seems nobody is taking on Deng, so the return on Randle needs to be solid. I'm obviously hoping we can wait until the deadline and flip him for George or Cousins if one of those teams is struggling. There's no rush on us moving him really anyway.

 

True, and got fouled by them as well with no calls.

 

This validates what I was saying earlier this year, I don't think anyone is taking Randle in a Deng dump. Since the market isn't there for the Deng dump I hope we at least hold on to him until important decisions need to made. No trading him for peanuts, it's not worth it and will hurt our abilities to win now, as well as our possibilities this summer if we strike out in FA.

Yes, if you can package him for one of those stars, you do it no questions asked. But also as I said, I don't see either of those teams giving up on PG or Cousins this season before it all plays out. I don't see OKC falling, I see them getting better. If they get the 4 or 5 slot I think they have a good shot to get to the second round. After that it's anyone's guess. I'm hoping they have issues in the playoffs and PG decides to leave ultimately. Similarly I don't see Cousins getting moved at the deadline. The Pelicans are doing pretty well with him and he hasn't been disgruntled there at all. They should be in the playoff hunt this year as well.

 

Woj has gone to the dark side. If he had any love for the Lakers before he had to leave it at the door when he entered ESPN. I’m all for trying to get Cousins for Randle and pieces not named Ball, Ingram, or Kuzma.

 

Everything is pretty fluid I think on those teams. Davis could go down and the Pelicans lose 8 games in a row and all of a sudden the landscape changes. It's just something we all need to keep in mind and hope for!

As for Randle I'm mixed on this. If we feel confident that we'll clear space and get two guys, I think it might be prudent to move Julius at the deadline instead of missing out on everyone. It's clear the FO has little plans to keep Julius as a centerpiece. Do we get something for him in Feb or do we just take our chances and lose him for nothing if we have to? I don't know. Still debating.