the common thread is that none of them have played many minutes? no, i see that randle's in all of them. but the points remain related: are randle's lineups effective because they are selectively deployed? we can only know if luke starts running them more often or starts randle. obviously, he thinks this is a bad idea. my guess is that once the lakers are definitely out of the playoff race (i'm guessing we're a month from that, given the schedule), he'll give in and start trying to play randle more. until then, he seems to think it's too much to risk.
There's got to be another side to it, right? I thought the financial one was bogus, but maybe it's true I don't know. It's insanity though that Randle has played as well as he has and not found a way to get more minutes. He may not need to start games, but in 20 games he's got only one game above 30 minutes.
There's definitely a disconnect going on with Luke re: Randle. I just brought this up in the Walton thread. Personally I think it's less that the FO is trying to save money and more that Luke just favors Larry Nance all the way. He said Nance was the best player on the court for us last game when he was a team worst -18 and blew the final two switches on Lou Williams that cemented the game. That's just inane. Randle was the only one guy out there who was actually effective defensively on Williams, guard or forward/center. I remember him stopping Lou on most if not all of his switches. Really, Randle has been our most effective big by a long shot in terms of switching which is what our go to defense is predicated on.
i didn't see those failures from nance, but even if they happened, they happen less with him than any other player on the roster, imo. as far as what's going on...i think some of it is indeed business. i think randle's agent told the lakers he's seeking max, they laughed and laughed until they realized he was serious. they've kept it out of the press (good professionalism on both sides), but they plan to trade him either now or this summer in a s&t. being hugely effective in limited minutes may serve the needs of both player and team. the latter is only true if you believe randle is most effective playing in very specific lineups against very specific competition (i totally think this, btw--whoever pays him big is going to be disappointed when they try to line him up as a starting pf). so, yeah, my advice would be not to get too attached to randle. i think it's too late for tada, though. bottom line: the lakers don't want to pay his asking price and don't want his free agency gumming up their plans.
This is a nicer way of looking at it. I think I'll accept this way instead of "the FO is tanking his value in order to try to coerce him into signing for the Qualifying Offer which they are also purposely deflating by keeping him off the bench regardless of his effectiveness".
Fair points abeer3, and yeah I guess Luke's preference of Nance over Randle and the FO maybe believing that Randle's price tag is too high may not be mutually exclusive things. I just think that when it comes to minutes, Luke is simply more enamored of Nance. I get you about the FO and Randle perhaps not being on the same page (WOJ is usually pretty on the money), but I get the feeling his market will be higher in S and T possibly in the summer versus before the deadline. That gives them more flexibility too regarding free agency and if they happen to strike out on two and can only sign one, it might be worth it to keep Randle and let go of Lopez.
Yeah too late, Julius is my dude Before the season started: Everyone questioned Randle's defense and bball IQ Now: Randle is our best defender, and it's not even close Before the season started: Everyone questioned Randle's fit Now: We have the best +/- when Randle is on the floor. Tremendous fit even with Luke misusing him. Quite frankly, Randle is our best player. And he's the most consistent. He's made HUGE strides every year he's been in the league. He's a true professional with no character issues. He brings energy, defense, rebounding and toughness. All things that we sorely lack. And he's still 23 with tons of room to improve. So what's his market value? Probably very close to the max. George (#1) and Lebron (#2) are obviously above him in terms of the Lakers' FA ranking, but considering the way Randle FITS with our current roster, I'm not sure if I could rank Cousins (#3) above Randle. Cousins is a huge gamble. He hasn't shown that he contributes to wins and +/-'s and there's the character issues. I'd rank Randle any where from #3 to #6 as our FA target this summer, depending on how you view Cousins. (I'm excluding players like Durant, DeAndre, Isaiah, Carmelo, CP3, Jabari because I think they're either pipe, a terrible fit, or too risky due to age/injury) I definitely feel Randle is a better FA acquisition than KCP or Lopez at this point. Gordon, Hood, Nurkic and LaVine are definitely in the mix too, but their fit with our roster is unknown so I'd have to favor Randle. I think we should focus our 2018 plan on acquiring Paul George and resigning Julius Randle.
i'm pretty sure he's worth close to HIS max. we're not talking the PGs and Lebrons. The max coming off the rookie contract is lower and right in line with what Julius produces. He won't get the max from the Lakers, but I'm pretty sure someone will play close to it with the way he's playing defense.
I thought he played well tonight. A bit of a mixed bag, but some terrific defensive sequences. Offensively I thought he was a bit of a ball stopper.
Some ridiculous defense tonight. He bothered Durant, he stayed in front of Curry and made him airball, he blocked shots at the rim, super impressive.
Ah I thought it was 18-20 for some reason. I could list plenty of scrubs making $18m per year, so I think that’s a fair estimate. That’s close-ish to the max
I wouldn't be surprised in the high teens given what kids are going for these days, no. It's possible he goes for over 20 million, but I don't know. People have convinced me there's not a big danger of that in FA.
