The last time they were good was 2013 when they had Melo and a roster of aging/about to retire vets. But yes, the last time I remember them doing anything of note was 99 in the lockout shortened season when they made the Finals. That was a fun team, I was really rooting for them to beat the Spurs. If they’re smart they’ll keep Randle, he actually chose them in free agency and worked his way to becoming an all-star. But, it’s the Knicks, they’re not smart, so we’ll see.
i liked randle but my main complaint was that he didn't play well off the ball on either end. maybe he's gotten better on d (haven't watched enough to know) in that regard, but the knicks just let him do what he does best offensively, which is working out ok for them. i say ok because they're .500. the bar is pretty low for what basically became the worst non-sacramento franchise in the league. the knicks obviously need to keep randle, but i'm not sure you're much better than a .500 team with him as the best player. so they can't stop there.
tough to say, as he looks a lot like he has the past couple of years, statistically--particularly two years ago. his assists have jumped a bunch, but that doesn't usually pop to the voters. i'd expect it to go to someone who doubled their scoring average like it usually does.
If the voters actually watch the game, he went from being one of the worst to one of the best 3P shooters in the league, which really opened up his driving and passing game. And he's become an elite defender as well.
i'm skeptical on your second claim, as are any stats. he's no longer a huge minus on defense like he was most of his time with us, though.
Well he plays the most minutes on that team and the Knicks have a defensive rating of 104.0 (best in league) with him on the floor. He's always been an excellent on-ball defender. Thibs has made him a plus off-ball/team defender as well. Knicks fans think he's basically a better version of Carmelo. (better shooting, rebounding, passing and defense)
Picking nits .... don't know if Julius has "always" been excellent on ball defending as he drove all of us nuts not keeping his hands up. For contrast watch Schroeder with them always up and ready to deflect passes to sides and up over his head. I used to always joke he was trying to stare them into not doing anything with the ball .... jedi mind trick or whatever. Not as important as his muscle, staying in front and all that but still very important.
yeah, i admit i never thought a team playing randle 35mpg would be good defensively. but is that thibs or randle? i haven't watched them enough to know. i know that his particular defensive metrics are ok but not great.
Randle is ridiculous right now. 44/10/7 tonight on 16-29 overall, 6-11 from 3 in a win over the Mavs. Knicks are currently 6th in the East.
Very happy for him. I wish we didn't let him go for basically nothing, but he deserves the success he is having right now.
found the right coach for him, and getting the most out of his talent Be great to see if he keeps this level in the playoffs too. He had a pretty good mentor to start his career.
I’ve always been a huge Julius Randle fan and have always defended him. He was the young guy I most hated to see go. I thought it would be great to see him play alongside Lebron but obviously it didn’t work out. I love his physicality - he leaves bodies dropping when he goes up strong. And I’ll never forget the epic picks he set against Utah to get Kobe free play after play in that fourth quarter of his final game. He loved Kobe so much. Damn I miss Randle.
he was hitting jumpers like kobe against dallas the other night. never would have predicted that (though, to be fair, i don't think it's common for him).
Yah. Just like Clarkson is a much improved offensive player all around. Pretty incredible his repertoire these days that was on display those 2 games. Our talent evaluators are freaking STUDS, no ifs ands or butts.
