Always enjoyed the thrill of do or dies and how the young guys come along type of seasons. Praying the foundation is solid enough to execute next summers fortunes.
I agree with this if you mean this year will determine his future with the Lakers, no doubt about it that is true. However, saying this year will determine what he is as a basketball or how good he will be I don't think is fair. And maybe you didn't mean so much as how good he will be and you meant more about what kind of game he will play. Granted its a different position but I look at guys like Mike Conley and Kyle Lowry who weren't known as great players until 5-7 years into their careers. We'd like to get the best Randle this year that he will ever be, but I don't see that happening. Even Kobe every summer would add something new to his game up until the last 3-4 years of his 20 yr career. I just hope for Randle's sake of being a Laker past this year that he explodes this year and showing us and management what he's got on the horizon of his career and hope that is enough for Lakers FO to say we have to keep him. He's got too much talent night to be a difference maker and many of his weaknesses are more mental than anything else and had some to do with conditioning. Seems like he's got the conditioning down pat, now lets hope he puts everything together.
Ok. I think everyone has been sleeping on just how good JR might be this year. IF he is hitting 3's like THAT during the season...watch the HELL out. JR could be headed for a HUGE year with that in his arsenal...that's how you become a 20ppg scorer.
<----- Julius's biggest supporter over the last couple years and... it's only practice. We've seen practice jumpers before that didn't translate. It's wonderful that he's paying more attention to his jumper and I'm glad he's working on it every day, but we heard that last year and he didn't start shooting them until February. I'm truly looking forward to what Julius brings. If he looks like the potential stud he should be, it relieves so much of the pressure on our summer. If he looks like he can be the future of the PF spot, the FA attention in 2018 is closer to a bonus instead of a necessity. That doesn't mean we wouldn't obviously go get George or LeBron or Westbrook, but it at least means we're not quite as desperate and can find homes for players while we shuffle the roster.
i'd like to see these guys practice harder pull ups. is randle ever going to get a shot like that in a game? one full dribble, slow load, clear shot? i'm just not sure of the utility of this kind of practice unless it's as prelude to real practice. hopefully, we get some footage of catch and shoot threes, followed by footage of up-fakes (no travel), explosions toward the paint, and pull-up shots in the 12-15 ft range. if he could do just those two things, he'd be a star. right now, he does neither. and that clip doesn't convince me that's changed. but it doesn't mean it hasn't!
And you're short and round and orange. Come on Julius you think Kobe practiced at half speed on his weaknesses?
Julius brain is half speed 24/7. What? You think because he went to a Fitness Model diet, his brain is going to change? C'mon. This is NBA. Everyone in the NBA can ball. There are only a few who can determine W's with their play. The rest are just hams giving everyone BS about how "hard" they work.
No, almost never, aside from the occasional defender leaving him wide open because they don't respect his garbage jumper. I appreciate him practicing the 3 ball, but I can stand there and shoot 3's and make them at a decent rate too wide open at a nice slow pace, but I'm not making any against actual NBA defense. So if you're not practicing how you're going to be shooting in the real games, unless you're strictly working on improving/fixing/changing your form, those shots seem a little pointless to me. Rooting for Randle, but all these practice videos from this summer do nothing for me.
Always with your definitive statements, as if a 22 year old player 4-5 years from his prime and only 3rd playing season in the league..... can never change or improve mentally or physically with refined skills. With Magic there now for both inspiration on how to change and fear of being gone if doesn't change...... in the most important basketball year of his life. Not buying that. But yes lots to be said for practicing at game speed. That's just a short clip with no context however for what preceded or followed the rest of the day.
Of course and like many of your other personalized black and white no nuance in between takes on various subjects.
Than the whole team from last yr need to get the boot including ingram if you you based these players in their ability to produce wins
Don't come crying to me when San Antonio clamps the zone defense on the Lakers out of a timeout in the second quarter and Randle starts bumbling and mumbling all over the court. Mag and Rob are constructing this team the way I hope they would. So, I am not too worried about the results coming.
my opinion of randle isn't as low as ox's, but the "let's see what he does against a zone" point resonates. i told my dad the other day: randle would have dominated in 1993. but the legalized zone changed things. the best players have to be able to think. and make no mistake: smart players and teams in the nba ALWAYS beat zones. randle needs to show a lot better decision making, and i'm not sure that's coming. that said, his physical advantage is real. and players with his profile can overcome the between-the-ears issues via skill development (see haslem, udonis). but again, launching slow one-dribble threes isn't the path. hoping there's more we're not seeing.
