The BEAST is back!! I love Randle and I'm ecstatic to see more and more of that motor on display. You can't teach that drive and that's what he's got in huge volume. But I love how Luke, B. Shaw and the staff are helping to mold him and harness the energy. They are tempering it with an emphasis on the team game and I think that was some of what Julius was struggling a little with early on in pre-season at times where he seemed a little lost. He always had the board, push and dish as a natural go to, but he seemed like he was struggling to find his place in the half court set. Now he's just looking more and more comfortable every game. Love that his defense has picked up as well. Dang, that fadeaway is money! And the mid-range looked pretty sweet last night. Loved the poise with Chandler. I love this kid.
Everyone including myself thought it would be Russell having the breakout season and I'm certainly not saying that won't happen, but right now Julius is by far the best player on this team. I've always loved his aggression, passion, and mentality, but the ability to harness and temper it to a degree and I think Luke has really gotten Julius to see the big picture. The guy is such a physical specimen and now the mental part of the game is starting to get there for Julius and he's really learning how to play within the confines of the team. That is the most exciting thing of all of this.
I think Tyson thought he flopped. And when Ju ran down the court celebrating, Tyson didn't take kindly to that and started yapping his mouth at Julius.
Tyson was telling him the first time around that Julius needs to "calm down". At least that's what my lip reading got. Couldn't make much more out, but Tyson definitely seemed salty at Julius's enthusiasm. The play that excited me most about Julius was the help defense on PJ Tucker when Tucker was isolated against Clarkson on the block. Other teams have made it a point to get that switch and we've had trouble helping Clarkson (or sometimes Lou). Help defense is still an inconsistency with Julius that he needs work on, this was a big step.
That sequence was nice. I noted that in the Game Day Chat. After that happened, he went and set a good screen to free up Clarkson for that jumper. That was a very nice sequence and it's those little things that help you win games. He's been fantastic. Making me eat my words...
I was really worried about him in the preseason, but thus far he has proved me wrong. He is still one of our weaker defenders despite having some great one on one showdowns, but he is showing awareness I honestly was beginning to believe he wasn't capable of.
Definitely. Saw it with Moz in the first half too. Tucker turned right into the big Russian and turned it over. Luke's defense is coming together.
Sooo good with Julius talking crap at Tyson and nodding like he's coming at him ... and then boom, another high velocity pass to Jordan this time who knocks down the 3. That was as good as a posterizing dunk. Scoreboard!! 3 points.
Great to see Randle develop as fast as he has been recently. Now it's time to dunk on somebody ferociously. Do it Jules!
I don't think it happens. Randle likes to initiate contact on his drives to create space and free himself for layups. His bully-ball style drives. In the process, he loses a lot of momentum on his vertical. We know he can jump out the gym, but Randle loves the contact, so I don't think we'll see him trying a Nance type dunk.
Let him do his thang... you can definitely see there's room to take it to the next level as he starts to be automatic with what what he's doing right now. I wanna see him vs Griffin and ALdridge.
He likes to initiate contact, he also likes to intimidate opponents. And he's as cocky as anybody on this team IMO. He will dunk on someone, you'll see.
Yep, Hank McCoy in the house! Always one of my favorite comic book characters, and I do feel like Randle has some of the same qualities!
I don't even regocnize this guy from preseason to now, it's like he was just messing around then and waiting for the real games. He's averaging 14 points, 8 boards, 3 assists, shooting over 60%, almost 80% from the ft line, and only playing 27 mins per game. We know he will struggle with length, and we know he will have his bad games where nothing is falling and he's forcing it, but it appears for now he's starting to progress and put his game together. He made some sweet turnaround jumpers last night, not easy shots, but he was not hesitant, and that's key. Also being asked to play the 5 against chandler is not easy, but he did fine, had a big block, had some fun with chandler, grabbed boards, very impressed. I had very low expectations coming into this season, so any progress right now is just very refreshing to see. We did not need these kids getting off to a terrible start and getting down on themselves and hearing questions about if Luke can really coach, etc, this start even if it doesn't last was so what this team needed after last season.
Really hated his demeanor in preseason but he's bringing it now and I suspect Jules is just scratching the surface of his full potential, which is I believe is Super Saiyan Draymond Green
Randle is the big winner after the weekend. Obviously everyone noticed the Warriors thrashing, they just needed to see a hero for the Suns win. Enter Julius. 2 weeks ago the NBA media had him labeled as a one-dimensional tweener, and now pundits wants to put him in the KAT/Davis prospect category.
