WHO’S SORRY NOW?
Nobody will ever feel sorry for the recipient of $63 million, but Julius Randle deserves some compassion for being the recipient of something else from the Knicks: an insulting introduction.
For those who don’t remember, the Knicks essentially apologized to their fans for signing Randle. They had all but promised superstars with their cap space in 2019, trading Kristaps Porzingis for the allure of Kevin Durant.
But the huge splash assured by James Dolan became a small spatter, leaving the Knicks with Randle and a statement issued by team president Steve Mills:
“While we understand that some Knicks fans could be disappointed with tonight’s news. …”
That’s how the statement began and the rest doesn’t matter. The Knicks had just signed Randle, who salary-wise represented their biggest free agent since Carmelo Anthony, and were telling fans that their dissatisfaction is understandable. Welcome to New York, Julius. Randle’s first season didn’t help the perception, either. He was inefficient and sloppy, the symbol of a lost season and wayward direction. Scapegoating the scapegoat was easy, especially since Randle had a history of losing in the NBA. When the pandemic hit, he played the most minutes on a team that disappointed by any objective measure. Randle was inefficient and turnover prone.
A new regime took over, and last month it used the eighth overall pick to draft Randle’s potential replacement at power forward, Obi Toppin. It underscored that Randle’s time with the Knicks was finished, that his presence was an impediment to progress. Behind the scenes, though, Randle was working.
Which brings us to today. Randle recorded his first triple-double for the Knicks in Tuesday’s victory over the Cavaliers, continuing a notable early-season surge navigated with power and finesse. He’s appears quicker, he’s certainly playing smarter, and Randle emerged from a nine-month layoff as a few pounds lighter.
“I did (drop weight). I ran pretty much every day during the offseason. Like I said, that was just a challenge for me to get in extreme condition or whatever it is,” Randle said. “That’s just what I challenged myself to do every day. Yeah, I dropped a little bit of weight but the biggest thing was just pushing myself just to run every day and just challenging myself in that way.”
Tom Thibodeau appreciates nothing more than hard work. He noticed it immediately in Randle when the Knicks convened for voluntary bubble training camp in September. It prompted the coach to gush over his power forward’s approach and leadership.
Now, with Toppin injured, Randle is running the offense and averaging 24.8 points, 10.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists. He’s also logging nearly 38 minutes per game, which speaks to the offseason conditioning. The turnovers are still an issue (5 per game) and the sample size is small, but Randle’s putting up All-Star numbers through four games.
Regardless of what Durant’s doing in Brooklyn, the Knicks don’t have to apologize for Randle if he’s playing like this.
“Well I think the first part is he came into camp in great shape,” Thibodeau said. “I knew that this summer when he came in and he spent time in the bubble being there and I saw what type of shape he was in. So I knew he was highly motivated. So I think that’s a big advantage for him. I also think he has a pretty good understanding of his teammates and what their strengths are. And he’s playing unselfishly and that’s probably the biggest thing. He’s shooting the ball a lot better also. That’s opened up other things for us.”