I agree, and to be honest I thought Julius would be a bit more polished. But I also didn't think he'd be this good as a rebounder either. So overall he exceeded my expectations. It's great that his one elite skill (oreb) is something that our team is lacking. He brings toughness and energy which helps any team. I'll wait patiently while he develops into an unstoppable force in the paint.
23 minutes. 23 MINUTES? f*** off Byron. Kid was one of the few playing with energy all night long. Sacre played the same amount of minutes basically. Even led most of the game. WHAT THE f***.
I loved the 3 he stepped into and buried .....nothing but net..... as the clock was running out, and also his pretty good use of his right hand for the finish on that one pedal to the metal full court drive he did, even though it didn't go in. Was a pretty decent looking layup at speed.
Said this before, but it's pretty scary how good Julius is already with some of his limitations. The explosiveness, incredible handles like Lamar, but one thing different is his mentality. He's so aggressive. He's like a freight train in the open court. His energy was great again tonight. Even with his limitations Julius is probably already a 15-10 player if we had an actual coach. He is gonna be in the discussion for best big man in the game in a few years. I truly believe that. This kid is an alpha too. Julius doesn't shy away or back down. He went right back at KG, imo the best power forward ever after Tim and that was just really impressive to me and a sign of things to come. Relentless worker and I have zero doubts he'll get in that gym next offseason and work on that jumper. Unlike Dwight I think he'd actually be willing to work with Kareem on expanding his post game and improving his footwork.
15 and 10 for sure. The kid is a walking double double. He's at 12 and 9.5 so far this year even with all the lineup shenanigans and horrible coaching. I totally agree with you about the Lamar like ability to rebound and push the ball, but that he's different because of the aggressiveness - something we saw only half the time with LO. And yeah, great to see him knock down a three! Didn't know he had that in him. It would be great if he could work that into his arsenal on a more consistent basis. If he could spread the floor like Ibaka or Green it would be truly open up the game for him and for our squad. Who knows? That would be incredible.
Charles Barkley pushing the ball up court in his prime never had this kind of speed, and Odom never had that kind of mass. Still thinking of one coach or scout's comment during Summer league ..... "you can get hurt guarding Randle in the open court, and Byron Scott is an "elite" Moron if he were ever to demote him to 2nd string during the regular season, for no good reason and then cut his minutes". Or something close to that.
I really think the reason he plays so small around the basket (since we know he's around 6'9" maybe a hair less and has good hops) is he can't palm the ball and has no confidence jamming unless with 2 hands. In where there can be contact. Kobe REALLY ought to notice this and show him the finer arts of cupping the ball while throwing it down. I'm guessing Randall's hands are as big as Kobe's?
Sure. But Julius can improve on that area, the softness and touch with catching passes, etc. He's not going to be Kwame Brown. I'm serious though. Why can a guy like him who can jump very well (remember some of his vertical numbers different tasks, coming out of the combine were as high as Biff's) and has the fast twitch capabilities to go back up really quick as he shows on multiple rebounds of his own misses ..... not learn from Kobe how to power cradle the ball to jam with authority like Kobe. Clarkson even does this already. He's not waving the ball around in one hand like MJ either but can throw it down. Then maybe on a lot of moves where his competent right hand dribble takes him that side, rather than worrying sometimes about finessing it up there with the "touch" of his left hand .... he just goes for the finish with power instead with his right hand. Maybe that allows him to think about it less, what he's going to do with his right when he gets there. He's going to blast by the defender with that Worthy like first step, take a tighter angle straight to the rim and throw that sum b**** down. I think this is evident watching him, he's letting smaller than ideal large "jamming" hands keep him from throwing down with one hand. Sure as hell never stopped Kobe.
Where Lamar liked to pass the ball, Randle and rebound and push like Lamar did but looks to score more often. I can live with that.
* Improve jumpshot. Both standstill and off the dribble. * Work on footwork. * Screen setting needs work. He'll have more opportunities if he sets proper screens for his guards. * Improve defensive awareness, especially in help situations. Nance does 2 out of 4 of those. So I can understand why a coach may consider benching Randle. That being said, Randle's issues above aren't going to improve by sitting him on the bench. Those issues have to be hammered down and worked on in practice and film sessions.
Especially help defense. It's like he's not being taught this at all or he's not picking up on it. Either way, he can't get a better feel for it if he's hanging out on the bench. Less minutes than Anthony f***ing Brown and Larry Nance Jr.? Seriously? No wonder he didn't play with the right energy yesterday. What kind of message does it send that a kid who was just in the D-League gets to start over our #2 and #7 pick? What the f***?
He really didn't look that good tonight, and even in a game like that he still manages to get 8 and 10. So, meh, whatever, he's a streaky rook.
Interesting postgame....someone asked Julius "What's going through your mind when you see Kobe out there having a performance like that" "I just try to stay aggressive, rebound, look for my spots" or something to that effect. He re-asked it, Julius gave this kind of look and said the same answer. Other parts of the interview he was talking about "can't play the game individually our own way" "have to share the ball" and "trust the system." Interesting.
Was gonna post that too. Reporter wanted him to say "oh it was amazing, awesome, vintage Kobe, living legend", and get a good quote. Randle seemed to take it as a question about what's going through your mind when it's Kobe ISO every play down over and over and over. I was also shocked when he said they have to "trust the system" like "coach told them". I was like, what system? B0ron's system tonight to finish the game was clearly telling them to give Kobe the ball and get out of the way.
