Julius Randle Discussion: Beast, Ox, Monster, Lotus Flower

Okay, but now you're changing your story. You said "rim protector" before which means a guy who blocks and deters shots at the rim. What you're describing is different, it's a defensive captain.

Switching on screens, perimeter defense, communicating and directing the defense? That's not rim protection. You're asking for much more from a player than simple rim protection.

Even so I'd say Shaquille wasn't the best defensive leader either. He protected the rim with his size and speed, he played good post defense against opposing bigs, but I wouldn't consider him a defensive captain.

You don't need your Center to be a defensive captain though. Your defensive captain can be whoever you want. Kawhi Leonard was the Spurs' defensive captain last season. And obviously I'm talking about a defensive scheme. I'm talking about trapping pick and rolls and having your weakside help be ready to play the passing lanes. That's how the Grizzlies would take Curry out of the game at times. You blitz the pick, rotate from the weakside, and have a rangy defender play the passing lanes to try to disrupt the offense.

Then to counter, you post up against some dumb lunk like Jordan and go straight at him. Pump fakes, ball fakes, shoulder fakes, up and under. Get the guy in foul trouble and no amount of rim protection is going to help. Take a guy like Gasol and in a year or two Okafor is going to be able to attack him off the dribble and either go around him or get fouled. Randle might be able to do that right now.

 

Actually I completely disagree about having a scheme first and figuring it out later. I say you look at your roster and see what's best for it. Never said the Grizzlies took him out of the game the whole night, but by occasionally blitzing the pick they caused quick turnovers and were able to get a few quick points to make a run.

With Okafor as your big, I think that's a better option than switching. He's not quick enough laterally to do it well. Everyone else (assuming we get Carroll or Green) can switch on the screens though.

It's about having a diversified attack that fits your team's defensive abilities. Last season we tried to funnel guys into what we thought were shot blockers... Didn't work well. I love Davis but he's not good enough at protecting the rim to do it long term. Boozer and Black aren't close to good enough. Hill is just not a good defender.

Come to think of it, I wonder if it was part of our "we're not tanking but really we are" tanking strategy.

 

The other issue was LACK of rotations. When teams turned the corner on Boozer/Hill/Sacre, the guard would either get a layup or make one more pass out for a three pointer. We didn't help the helper. The term is everyone being on a string. When one person goes to help, another needs to go to help that person, and so on and so forth. That's more or less what I mean about having guys on the perimeter who fly around and disrupt things.

I don't think Okafor will be able to switch on screens because he's never showed much lateral quickness and that's a specific muscle group. It's fast twitch muscle that you're either born with or you're not. I'm not sure he has it as I've seen almost no evidence of it. Basically he uses different muscles in the post than he would trying to guard a guard on the perimeter. He showed almost no ability to do it in college and I'm not sure that changes in the pros.

 

I get that actually. Towns just has a better knack for defense as a helper. He's a better shot blocker, but also he makes rotations better and more naturally than Okafor. I know Duke protected Okafor's playing time, but he also showed some clear lapses in concentration on that end more than once.

 

Hey no worries! I love the attention to detail you bring here. This site is a lot like CL was when I first joined there back in 2008. We've got a ton of great posters with unique insight and opinions. Sometimes those don't mesh, but that's when conversations reach great levels. I lurked at CL for a year before I joined and I saw a ton of great debates where guys didn't agree and spent days breaking each other's arguments down but it didn't have to be contentious, just thorough. I hope the two of us bring the same flavor here on occasion!

Re: Okafor on defense- Assuming we draft Okafor I think as a rookie we're going to have to hide him defensively at first. He's the most NBA ready offensively, but he struggled at times to recognize things defensively in college. In the pros he's definitely going to have a learning curve. He might be able to step onto an NBA court and average 12 points right now in the post, but I think he'd probably give up 15 as well. It'll be a challenge for Byron, but honestly Byron might be the best coach for him at this stage. Okafor needs a guy who will hold him accountable to that end of the floor. No more excuses about playing time or needing him to be our offense. We've got guys who can do that. We would need a player who recognizes that he needs to be a multidimensional player, not just an offensive threat.

 

Yeah I'm actually looking forward to that the most I think. I can't wait to see how our young core develops into their roles. Who does what, when, and how do the other guys respond to it? I think that's going to be so much fun to watch. There'll be growing pains, but for at least a year or two the young guys don't have to necessarily win it all for us to approve of them, they just need to continue growing and developing.

Clarkson set a high standard. I can't wait to see Randle and the new rookie(s) following suit.

 

If Randle even ends up at 90% of Blake, I'd be ecstatic. Well, 90% and sans the disappearing acts in the 4th quarter.

 

... and the FLOPPING.

 

These prospects would be demolished.

I'd love to see these same Lakers come in next week for the #2 guys.