i love it when people can articulate well and with good examples exactly what i'm trying to say... can always count on @abeer3 for that
I just don't get the hyperbolic bashing. One of the worst basketball players ever? He didn't have a bad game by a long shot. 18th double double, 50% shooting. Most of Marvin Williams three pointers Randle was switched off of him. The team defense was terrible, it was not anywhere near all being on Randle. That's absurd.
Then think good thoughts that we get a decent coach next year who will actually help his development rather than hinder it.
I prefer Nance slightly as a starter but in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter as long as they both get 20+ minutes. The worst part about Nance's injury is Kelly coming off the bench....
You got to admit though ..... as observed by abeer3..... Julius does zig a lot of the time when he should have zagged heading for the rack. Not to be confused with .....
after seeing julius for the first time in person, i was somewhat underwhelmed. i still see the potential but damn he really does not ever use his right hand and even when he used his left it often looked forced
I find it funny picking apart anything from what was apparently the worst loss of the season. I mean really? He got lost on defense? Who wasn't? What are we comparing him to? What was he doing relative to his teammates that made him stick out? Was Ryan Kelly a lot better? Would Larry Nance Jr. have done a better job? Or is it maybe just that apparent that the team gave up and he wasn't about to bust his a** while everyone else walked around? Easy pickings going after anyone from last night. If you really didn't like what you saw and feel like bashing him, go watch his game against the Clippers which was: a) more competitive, b) against a better team, and c) maybe his best performance as an NBA player. Makes more sense then cherry picking one of the worst Laker games in 3 years. Not to mention the kid still had a double-double, so you know what? Hate away. It's fine. I think this kid is doing fine considering everything he's had to put up with.
Whoa .... whoa ...... easy. abeer3's zigging while he should have been zagging smack was pretty funny and he happened to miss the good game against the Clips while catching last night when yeah the other guys were sucking too. None of us hate on the kid. Seems like he is making concerted effort to use the right hand more often. As well as shoot the mid range J more often. Clearly he know's what his weaknesses are and is working on them. It's BORON who is responsible for ALL of the lost mojo of all our guys who lost it. Lou Williams and Nance and A. Brown are probably the only guys happy with him.
I think being lost on offense is a global problem seeing as we struggle to break 20 points most nights in a quarter. Defensively is the same thing. Kobe doesn't guard his guy, aside for the one possession he goes all out and gets praised for it. Hibbert was lost last night trying to keep up with the bigs spacing the floor. We just all around suck and being ranked dead last, or close to it, reflects that. Randle has his issues, like the rest, but it's hard to look good offensively when the only plays run for you are ISO. Defensively he's lost like the rest.
1. my comments were taken out of context by some folks being a little defensive, imo. randle was terrible in last night's game, and this is the randle thread. other people's suckage can be discussed in their threads. 2. we can't just keep blaming byron for everything. he's bad, but there's no way he's telling people to do some of these things. and at some point, you have to try to rise above your circumstance. letting byron's antics get you down isn't a sign of mental fortitude. 3. i've been one of randle's bigger supporters, but i'm allowed to voice concerns over the fact that his mental approach to the game hasn't changed at all over the course of the year. he's not learning. skill development is one thing. he probably will eventually be able to shoot a respectable percentage from midrange and make a right handed layup. but in the meantime, one can demonstrate improvement by understanding when to do and not do things. again, nance adjusted quickly. maybe it's because he played more college ball? i don't know. but randle hasn't adjusted in the way i'd hoped by this point. all that said, i've repeatedly said that i'm not rushing to judgment until next year for either of the two lotto picks. they're both young and inexperienced.
I'm not being defensive, just honest. You said you missed the game before when he was fantastic with 23/14 on efficient shooting. I suggested you watch that one to feel better about last night's loss. It's only fair to watch that game as well as this one considering they're both fair glimpses into what this kid can do and can't do. You said he looked like the worst player on the floor which is probably hyperbole considering Ryan Kelly played last night as did Robert Sacre. I just think it's unfair to be so critical of that performance, but not watch the one before and have something constructive to say. Personally, I'm not blaming him for everything so I doubt this was directed towards me. I'm happy to blame everybody. If I were doing a blame pie, I'd say probably 60% of the lack of development is on Byron/the Front Office and 40% is on Julius. I've also been adamant that he work on certain aspects of his game. However, he is for all intents and purposes an NBA baby. This is his first real season and he's been given awful leadership from top to bottom. There's no emphasis that we see in games on what he is doing right or wrong. We've seen no indication from Byron what Randle (and Russell) need to work on. I mean it's not like Byron typically holds back in his criticisms, but I haven't heard him harping on legitimate concerns regarding Randle. All Byron does is say things like "grit", "effort", and "hard work" which are all strong points for Julius. What he actually needs is help with technical aspects like shooting form, timing, footwork, and awareness which are mostly things a coach should help with. I think Julius has handled his situation about as well as can be expected outside of last night. Last night he showed a lack of effort just like everyone else, but for the most part Julius works very hard on the floor. He couldn't average nearly a double-double without effort every night. Of course you are. You're a well respected member and have been for a long time, but that doesn't mean we can't disagree with you or the comments you made. I disagree with the idea that he hasn't handled this season well mentally. I disagree completely. This season he's been about as consistent as we could hope for in terms of effort on the floor. I agree completely that he hasn't learned as fast as you'd want him to. Isn't part of learning on the coaching staff? We have no evidence that there's anyone in his corner telling him where to be or what to do defensively. I've seen more than a few flashes of development on that front, but without guidance, what's he supposed to learn? It's difficult to learn things without a teacher, especially during the course of a losing streak in a bad season for a bad franchise. I guess the difference between us is that I'm noticing small improvements, but you chose this game to really hammer him. I think offensively he's shown great development since he worked with Worthy/Murray on his shooting. Offensively he's looked a heck of a lot better than he did in December. Defensively he's still not really doing well. He tends to not be aware of what's happening on the floor. He gets caught ball watching too often and he doesn't challenge enough shots around the rim. I think he's too focused on being a shot blocker too instead of just trying to make a shot difficult for the opponent (verticality, etc.). I suppose it was just jarring to see all that criticism from you, but none of the appreciation from the game before.
Yeah. Real and I disagree on probably 70% of the issues in some way, shape, or form. Not total disagreement, but on little things everywhere. But if I ever met him I'd buy him a beer...or a wine cooler if he was into that sort of thing.
i wish i would have seen the previous game, but i didn't. god knows i need to see these games from the rooks amidst the blackness that is this season. as far as whether coaching is responsible for his lack of understanding of team play...i don't know. i know we don't like scott (and i don't, he needs to be fired yesterday), but i refuse to believe he's actually that stupid and out of touch. and that all of his assistants are. people have to be saying the right things about moving the ball and yourself on offense, getting in sensible defensive position, and generally attending to activities on the court not directly involving the basketball. again, i'd classify myself as a randle fan. i'm just more concerned about the above than i am about the normal gripes, which are mostly individual skill-based. those are the things that can make a player a part of a winning team. i think it's why nance was promoted to the starting lineup, and i think the implicit strategy hasn't really worked yet.
Excellent article. He's averaging 15 and 11 the past five games while shooting 50%. Sure he's still raw and he has his lapses but the fact that he is 12th in rebounding in the league in his first season of play and only averaging about 26 minutes a game is pretty amazing. Really good stuff.
