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Julius Randle and the New York Knicks are playing exactly how Joel Abelson predicted they would, as the analyst said there is nothing special about the team.
Stars of the Knicks (5-6) were constructively criticized by Abelson and Ian Begley on an episode of "The Putback." The pair discussed the squad's shortcomings, and Abelson said the team is what how he thought it would be:
“I just don’t know what the expectation was coming into the year. … They are about a .500 team.”
Abelson talked about Julius Randle, RJ Barrett, and Jalen Brunson being the Knicks' primary three. He said that none of them have the output to be dominant team leaders.
Abelson said each player is more of a tertiary component to a team than a primary one. Furthermore, he said that all three are playing much like they always have, bearing no surprise at all. The trio were expected to grow together but rather still deploy a mediocre contribution in his eyes.
“I mean, when you look at their roster, the three best players are Julius Randle, who’s been inconsistent his entire career," Abelson said. "You have RJ Barrett, who, you know, I personally love RJ Barrett, but he is kinda who he is. … And then, Brunson, I think is a nice addition, but when you’re asking him to, you know, run the show night in and night out, that just hasn’t been what he’s good at his entire career”
The Knicks (5-6, .455) are ninth in the East.
Julius Randle is averaging 20.5 points per game over 11 games. His career average sits at 17.8 ppg across 529 showings.
Yet, Abelson continued to criticize Randle:
“Randle is just a difficult guy. … He’s a sensitive guy. Umm, he’s an uber talent. … But night in and night out, you have to be building up, and anything can, you know, send him spiraling one way or the other”
It’s not just Randle, though. Abelson harped at the entire team for its inconsistency:
“The night-in-and-night-out lack of consistency in effort … that would be my big concern moving forward with this group.”
A history of Julius Randle’s inconsistency
In high school, Julius Randle was considered the No. 1 power forward and No. 2 overall player in the entire nation (2013).
Randle was selected with the seventh pick in the 2014 draft by the LA Lakers. But then, after only 14 minutes of playing time, the inconsistency started, as Randle broke his right tibia. At the very beginning of his career, Randle suffered a season-ending injury.
Upon returning to the Lakers, he marched in and dropped double-digit rebounds and healthy triple-doubles in what would be his second season. Randle even became the youngest Laker to hit a triple-double since Magic Johnson.
Julius Randle then dealt with another injury, this time to the hip that cost him three games, after not having missed a game yet in the season. Julius was trying to make a point of erasing the inconsistent start by showing his team that he was committed. The year following (2017-18), Randle finished as the only Laker to appear in all 82 games.
Despite his efforts, the Lakers renounced Randle in 2018, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Julius Randle signed with the Pelicans and dropped 25 points off the bench in the New Orleans season opener. That same year, he scored a career-high 37 and had numerous 20-plus point performances. The problem was the inconsistency in those games. They were few and far between, and Randle was starting to cement himself as a secondary to tertiary player.
After that year, Randle signed a three-year contract with the New York Knicks.
It then took Julius only a couple of seasons to score two career highs, with 44 points and seven 3-pointers in the same game. That same year (2020-21), he was a reserve for the All-Star Game.
So, Randle’s inconsistency is nothing new. Randle has been a reserve or off-the-bench type player for the majority of his career and Joel Abelson has a point.
Some events have been beyond Randle’s control, but with him now leading the Knicks, he is going to have to deploy more consistent efforts on both ends. Whichever role he takes, he needs to be dominant and consistent in effort and help Brunson and RJ Barrett mold around him as the driving force to elevate this team.
Guess the Lakers players!
