What In the World to Do With Randle
Photo from Daily Knicks
In the 2019-2020 regular season, there was nobody on Earth on more Knicks’ fans hit lists than Julius Randle. With the Knick-name (get it) of Beyblade, he was spinning into double teams like nobodies business, throwing terrible passes, and taking stupid shots, all while playing 0 defense. Every fan wanted this man burnt at the stake, almost rightfully so.
Now, let us cut to the 2020-2021 season, where Julius Randle played a shortened season like he was a man possessed. With averages of 24, 10, and 6, with improved defense, Randle earned himself the Most Improved Player Award. Not only that, he made the All-NBA 2nd team, and the Knicks finished with the 4th seed in the East, before losing to the Atlanta Hawks in round one.
Sitting here at the 2021-2022 season, and Julius Randle has basically completely reverted to his form last year, and now has a worse attitude to go along with it. While he has been giving inconsistent effort all year, his new thing recently has been getting into these annoying little scuffles with players towards the end of games, with the more prominent ones being Desmond Bane and most recently Rudy Gobert. His attitude combined with poor play has made him basically unwatchable for the New York Knicks throughout 90% of this season.
When the actions involving Randle are cuts and screens and not isolations, things actually go pretty well. The thing is, Coach Thibs has not been running those actions, and does not hold Randle accountable anymore when he makes mistakes.
So now, we have the question, what in the world do the Knicks do with Julius Randle? The obvious answer is trade him, but for what? What is the market for Julius Randle? He has a big contract now, making him harder to shop around the league. If the Knicks keep him, how should he fit into the rotation going forward? If Thibs is still the guy in charge, then Randle’s role likely remains the same going forward, doesn’t it?
Go New York, Go New York Go!
Knicks Fix returns Thursday.
