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

Awesome vids! Love the first one. Can't wait to see what he can do in a full season. I think we're in for a real treat.

 

Have to say I am also getting all fired up about Julius. AGAIN. There is a combination already in place with skill level, size, athleticism, fearlessness (according to college teammate D. Johnson), leadership, strength, body mass, speed and alpha dog personality.

 

This kid looks pretty good, we should pick him up.

 

Apples to oranges. You're talking about the best player in the world. PG handles & passing ability with the frame of Randle. He has other ways to make up for the lack of spacing. Until we see it in the summer league, we don't even know if Randle has the handles to even play SF without being a liability. He looks great in these short clips but it got sloppy when we let him do that in game last season.

 

Sorry but I don't get your logic. You brought up the point that 3-point shooting is absolutely necessary from either the SF or PF spot for the offense to work.

The fact is, Lebron and Thompson is responsible for almost half of the Cav's offensive plays. (Lebron's usage rate is 36.7%, Thompson's is 10.1%) And yet 3-point production from that combo is non-existant.

Randle won't operate as a point-forward, so his usage rate would be much lower, thus his lack of PG handles and passing ability is mute. As long as he can be a threat as a slasher with decent jump-shooting, why wouldn't he be able to 'make up for the lack of spacing' like Lebron?

 

The handles are very effective. I'd say he has better handles than Blake right now and he uses them in game. That's one of the things along with his quickness, size, first step, ability to go right or left, that make him such a unique prospect. Not to mention, the ability to rebound, push the ball, and facilitate a break or finish himself; if he stays healthy, he's going to make such a positive impact next year.

 

Interesting you say Julius has better handles right now than Biff this many years into the league. I'd never thought of that comparing the two of them. I think he has maybe better agility too and is in reasonably the same league as an athlete. Blake better standing vertical by a few inches and their max was equal. I'm pretty sure I read that. Julius certainly has his mass easily if they want it from him. The reason it struck a note with me is I used to look at Bif in his first couple of years and think if he could improve all his skills a reasonable amount, that he could be a skilled athletic beast like LeBron. How good were LeBron's handles in the open court and back to the basket, plus "moves" in his 19th year?

 

Definitely antsy and pulling like a muh for our boy orange jewel man. He looks like really good', gives us a lot of flexibility as well, starter or not.

Y'all think he starts season opener? I'm gonna say yes even if we sign a PF. Too good, too much all around combinations to take advantage against his opponent. Boy I'm glad Boston chose smart, I wanted Julius pre draft. Big boys are hard to come by and that got us the chance to steal Clark as well, if we take smart I doubt Clark is a laker.

 

If Marcus Smart, as big as he is to many opposing PGs, can play good defense on many of them, then Julius (faster, quicker, sleeker now while retaining the strength mismatch, like Smart) ..... should be able to with many SFs.

 

So. What if Julius pulls that off and not only becomes good on defense at SF, shoots the ball really well and keeps improving, like he learns from Kobe, his footwork and his handles and passing. That doesn't seem at all to me like an impossible task for Julius Randle. Then holy crap Batman, what is his upside as a dominate SF in the NBA?

 

I don't want to sound like a broken record every single time I new pic or report of our guys living, breathing, and sleeping at the gym...but I love seeing this type of stuff from such young players who just so happen to be vital to our franchise going forward. We really lucked out and got some dedicated gym rats on our hands. Very against the grain for such young guys.