He's quick enough to cover guards and small forwards, but he needs to work on his defensive awareness in general. Team defense is important.
One problem, hands down. If he had his hand up the entire time, he may have had the block. Otherwise, good low stance and closeout at least.
With that quickness, speed, strength and determination along with the ability to learn and Metta, Worthy and Kobe teaching.... Going to be some players out there thinking the day they play the Lakers might be a good time to sit one out.
I have no problem with the way he played defense there. Hands out to the side made him a massive wall for the much, much smaller Burke. Burke freaked out and instead took a long three over Julius's extended arm. I think it was great defense. He actually had a better defensive possession later though where he blitzed the ball handler, stripped him, and took it in for a fast break dunk in the 3rd quarter.
Agreed, much better this time around! Working on that consistency will be key, playing within himself and not getting too outta control. I really liked his energy level last night, seemed very dialed in. I thank Metta for hyping up the squad.
It will take time for Randle to put it all together considering he missed all of last season against top NBA competition. He will figure out who he is playing against, the opponent's defensive schemes and will adjust accordingly. Practice isn't the same but with the proper mentoring [Worthy and co.] along with film breakdown of his game, no reason to think he'd be better. Saw Karl Malone during his rookie season and he didn't set the world on fire either. Only one 4 I saw do that during his first year. Still playing down by the Riverwalk.
exactly. Fans will need to be patient. He may look dominant at times and will lay eggs other games. There will be a learning curve as he adjusts to the speed of the NBA game and gains experience. We all remember how raw and gangly Bynum look initially but after a couple of seasons he began to dominate.
^Speed and power to spare Ju...not to mention an attitude. He seems like a smart kid who will process info and put it to good use.
Come on! You haven't been watching. Took Lamar 8 (pulled from butt) years to use his as much as young Julius just recently. Well. I am including scrimmage footage too. :magicsmile:
Point is it's semi there already and our posts crossed. I included practice .... was talkin' about practice.
