Julius Randle Discussion: MIP

At his current rookie deal, Randle offers excellent value. But we have to find a way to turn him into something before he makes 15 million per year.

 

I thought he played a decent game. He's done a good job of impacting the defensive glass and he's doing a good job again of passing the ball.

But for him to go 2-7 at some point in the 2nd or 3rd quarter and end the game at 2-7 is unacceptable. Not only were his 7 shots inefficient, but he stopped taking shots which can't happen. Ingram does the same thing: gets gun shy when he's off. You HAVE to take the shots that are there. By not taking the shots, you're helping the defense.

He's also trying harder defensively, but while he's getting slowly more aware on that end he's got awful defensive technique. His hands are consistently down at his side and that can't happen. Your hands have to be active defensively. He's also faster than he is quick which I'm not sure he understands so when guards make quick moves, he still gets caught like any other big man.

All-in-all I'd say this was a B game for him. He's finding ways to make an impact which is better than can be said for where they've generally been this year. It's easy to laugh this game off with a 5 point effort, but he was also second on the game with 6 assists, a few of which were new wrinkles. He and Ingram are finally getting each other on the cuts.

 

I just don't buy it. The kid is 22. Yes, it was against a big frontline, but you can't stop shooting and you have to find a way to be effective. The reason I'm getting concerned is we will have to make a decision on him next offseason. He's looking more and more like a Noel situation where we probably aren't going to retain him for what some other team will pay for him.

 

Don't buy what? I said he had to shoot more, but he did impact the game on the defensive glass in a big way, especially down the stretch.

If you don't want to pay him, that's fine, but I would pay him instead of dumping him for two 2nd round picks like Noel. Right now Randle can't demand much more what Clarkson got and that's a movable contract for a young player.

 

If you mean that Randle doesn't have trade value, I disagree. I think teams would love to have Randle thinking they can fix his weaknesses. He's got a tremendous skill set. There's only 10 players in the league averaging 10/8/3 this year: Cousins, Westbrook, Antetokounmpo, Griffin, Durant, James, Green, Harden, Jokic, and Randle.

I'm not saying he's an All-Star, but I am saying he's got value in a trade. He shouldn't be dumped lightly and I don't think Magic/Pelinka would do that. Heck, he'd be a pretty awesome fit in Indiana with Myles Turner who is shooting 35.4% from deep this year. They'd make a very interesting front court.

 

I think it's just because we see him every day and we've seen him for 2.012 seasons and we know he hasn't made strides shooting the ball. I'm positive there's good interest in the league for him. Valuation is hard to estimate, but a marriage with Indiana makes a lot of sense for both sides.

 

I know. I'm just not sold on his ability to even get his shot off if he wanted to. I think he will get more than Clarkson simply because some team will look at the Laker situation over the last few years and believe they can do something with him. They will see games like that line from 3 games ago and think they can change him. I'm not saying to move him for two seconds, but I'd start shopping him this offseason before we are stuck at the trade deadline with a Noel situation.

Granted, I think he's going out this offseason in a PG13 deal.

 

I do too actually. We talked about it in another thread how great a fit it is for Randle/Turner to join up over in Indiana. Those two make a lot of sense together.