you can add me to the list. i've been saying for a while that hoop iq is a very tough fix. also, guys who don't have an off hand by the time they reach the pros almost never develop one; it's like there's a critical period for ambidexterity. the jumpshot can happen, though. anyway, i like julius. i like his attitude and heart. he's already a physical presence. if you think of him more like reggie evans with handles, you'll be more pleased with future outcomes, imo.
There's no crow to eat unless you're misunderstanding my point. Maybe I'm not being clear. I don't think his chances of being a cornerstone for this team are very high. Maybe 30%? I don't know. I'm tossing darts on that one. My points have (I hope) always been: his defense is bad, his shooting is bad, but he's a very good rebounder. He seems like a hard worker. Maybe he'll overcome his shortcomings. I know he's young, but the clock is always ticking, and players with his size/position tend to shoot and/or defend much better if they are to become cornerstones on a team. I REALLY like Julius on a personal level. He seems incredibly level-headed, doesn't need to Instagram his life, and he genuinely seems like a cool dude. Not a celebrity. I think that's good for your life prospects. I think Reggie Evans was a much better defender eventually than Julius, but Julius's offensive game is a bit better. I still think Boozer when I see Julius. He averaged 15.5/11.4 and shot 52% in his age 22 season. We'll see what Jules does. I'm not counting Julius out. I'm rooting for him, but I think that what some people think are totally "realistic" expectations are really quite unlikely. I've offered the stats to bolster the claims.
boozer could shoot from midrange and had a stronger off hand at 21. really different kinds of players, imo. randle's much better off the dribble, faster, quicker, has more defensive potential, at least from a one-on-one perspective. but stat-wise, i can see it.
The only criticism that I feel is sort of unfounded is his lack of a jumper. There's a long, long list of players who developed a jumper as they aged and some of them were great players. It's one of the easier things to add to your game as you get older. We've all admitted he's a hard working cat, so I see no reason why he can't develop a jumper over the next couple seasons. If he can make a jump shot at a reasonable rate that opens up his offensive game quite a lot, short arms or no. I also don't think he has a terrible basketball IQ. I don't think he has a particularly great one, but not a terrible one. I think for instance he has a better IQ than his previous coach which was part of the problem. Let's see how he looks in Luke's offense before the negativity seeps in. I feel like as a board we were generally much more supportive of Clarkson heading into his first full season than Julius. There was a greater sense of optimism. Why isn't Julius being given the same benefit of the doubt? Late in the season Julius was using his off hand more, passing the ball better, making better decisions. We've seen his learning curve is maybe longer than others, but given his work ethic I have no reason to truly doubt him yet. There's still so much time. The sense I'm getting from you guys is his prospects of improving are low and I just can't agree with that.
It's not fair to judge any player that played under BScott. I do think there is one category Julius will lead the league in next year. Spoiler Offensive fouls, and opposing players bruises
prospects of improving are low or prospects of turning into a star are low? different questions to me. what we're arguing is a matter of degree, i think. for example, i wouldn't trade randle for any single player on the C Bags. he has more potential than their unprovens (olynyk, sullinger, smart, young) and a higher ceiling than their provens (bradley, crowder, johnson, jerebko, even thomas, whose allstar selection is kind of magloire-ish to me). so, it's not like a) i think he sucks or b) i think he can't get better.
I'm looking at Julius' stats quite differently. By the way stats are presented, they can be encouraging or discouraging. Julius Randle Split/month Oct - 35.3 FG% Nov - 44.8 FG% Dec - 39.3 FG% Jan - 40.7 FG% Feb - 46.7 FG% Mar - 47.9 FG% Apr - 36.2 FG% Look at the steady improvement he showed until March. But then one could argue "what happened in April?" To that I answer: First year players, even the top prospects, struggle at the end of the season due to fatigue, conditioning, etc Case #1 KAT Oct through Mar - 58.6, 51.5, 55.0, 53.5, 53.7, 58.2 FG% Apr - 49.1 FG% (minus 9.1% from previous month) Case #2 Porzingis Oct though Feb - 37.0, 43.2, 41.8, 43.1, 43.2 FG% Mar - 39.8 FG% (minus 3.4% from previous month) Case #3 D'Angelo Oct through Mar - 41.2, 40.8, 40.0, 43.7, 45.9, 39.4 FG% Apr - 36.5 FG% (minus 2.9% from previous month) Case #4 Booker Oct through Mar - 75.0, 46.2 47.3, 44.9, 33.6, 43.2 FG% Apr - 37.7 FG% (minus 5.5% from previous month) Case #5 Winslow Oct through Mar - 50.0, 44.6, 35.8, 40.9, 43.6, 46.9 FG% Apr - 34.0 FG% (minus 12.9% from previous month) Judging by how players usually perform in their second year, I'd expect Julius to end the 2016-17 season with a 47-48 FG%. I'm not worried at all.
Boron the a-hole happened to him Dec and Jan as he was benched for having the audacity to start blowing up in Nov....... was teaching a lesson to the young player to prevent him from getting the Big Head.
I don't understand the low IQ, but then again, this is hardly quantifiable, so I don't really care. Off-hand, defense, jumper, awareness can all be improved. And has been by other players before. Hell, when I started playing a lot of grown man basketball (around age 20), I discovered that I couldn't do jack with my left hand, aside from dribbling. Like, I could, but not under pressure and not without thinking it through. 2 years later I was switching hands MJ style in mid air, and that was without the help of world-class trainers, just a lot of repetition. So... don't know what the problem is. He won't be really ambidextrous, but he can be Kobe, who, as you probably recall, trained himself into left hand usage.
Believe me...thats my biggest hope because that would mean Julius has succeeded and there is nothing I wish more for him and the Lakers. I hope we are completely off with our judgement.
Stats aside, my eye test tells me Julius will be a force in this league. There were times last year when teams couldn't handle Julius. They simply had no answer. He'll probably be the 3rd or 4th scoring option on this team moving forward, but there will be games where he explodes for 30/20. If he develops a J, the pressure he'd put on small-ball lineups would be ridiculous. Honestly though, I'll just take Dirk's evaluation on Randle after matching up with him - "he's a great rebounder, great driver, great passer, could take the ball coast 2 coast, incredibly skilled at the 4 spot. will have a great great career in this league"
I understand that. I guess I just disagree on the ceiling being put on place above him. If he comes back next season and his jumper hasn't improved, his defense is still sub-par, and he isn't making an effort to fit into this new offense then I'll join the chorus against him. Right now though, I still see plenty of reason for optimism.
He needs to improve next year. He can have a really big impact. He's been horribly coached and has stuck into bad habits that need to be broken out of; he did play well when coached under Calipari and playing within that system, so I know he can do it. I think where he has to get better in order to become a valuable piece in this offense are all the little things; setting screens, cutting/moving without the ball, moving the ball to the open man, breaking down and attacking the defense within the open seams of the defense and finding those open shooters. He'll be money working off-ball and attacking. He'll also be money attacking in transition and finishing. His physicality is a problem in the open-court. He's a freight train. Defensively, he doesn't have greatest length, but guess what? Neither does Jimmy Butler. Where he can make his mark defensively is with his speed, athleticism, and ability to stay in front of defenders; he can switch as well, and that's so valuable. I don't think he'll ever be a great rim-protector, but what he can do is make reads defensively that allow him to be rotate to the right position and allow him draw charges or contest shots. He can be a plus defender if he works at it. The clay is there with Julius. He's a very unique player, and I think will be a very good player in this league.
(Waits for Randle's first miss from a jumper to start the year..... "his jumper is still broken") Already know this over-reaction is coming. As far as I'm concerned we should reserve judgement till midway through next year.
