I agree that Randle has had a nice year offensively on paper. I think in half court slugfests, he can be a useful asset that can chew up possessions and make some tough buckets against a set defense. I'd probably feel a lot better if he were a 6th or 7th man scoring big playing 18-22 MPG but that will NEVER happen given his cachet.thedoper wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2024 11:28 amIm with you Tim. I dont think Randle on offense is the problem. His d is not great (but has had an uptick recently) which I think was the expectation of him coming in. I think you hit the nail on the head. Conley, Donte, Naz and McDaniels all need to be giving us more offense at this point.60WinTim wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2024 11:09 amI'm glad you haven't reached that conclusion just yet, Q!Q-is-here wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2024 8:11 am I'm close to coming to the conclusion that Randle is holding this team back and Finch's hands are pretty tied as long as he is on the roster, thus the return on any trade is of less concern to me than simply removing him from the rotation altogether.
I think we have some offensive dynamism and pace that has yet to be unlocked, specifically in the form of Rob Dillingham, TJ Shannon, and Josh Minott. Obviously these aren't the three guys you want on the floor in crunch time, but I do think they could inject some real energy and pace into a team that desperately needs to find more easy buckets.
Even if we match last year's defensive rating, the offense just isn't good enough to truly contend for a title. Something needs to be done....
I will say I have been pleasantly surprised with Randle on the offensive side. He has not been quite the black hole as many predicted to start the season. And his shooting, especially from 3, has been very acceptable.
So, is Randle to blame for career lows, or near career lows, for shooting from Conley, Donte, Naz and McDaniels? If those guys could return to the mean in their shooting, our offense would not be nearly as bad as it has been.
When he and Ant are on the court together, we are very Randle-centric because he's not otherwise very useful without the ball in his hands whereas Ant has become an elite floor spacer. But that creates a dis-synergy since at the same time it takes away from Ant's ability to get down hill and put pressure on the defense. I can assure you that opposing defenses would much rather deal with Julius Randle than a fully activated Anthony Edwards.
In other words, Ant compliments Randle, but Randle doesn't compliment Ant and he is by far the guy defenses worry about the most.
And BTW, I feel like the improvement of ball movement and transition that would occur without Randle in the lineup would help get Jaden and DDV going as well. I'd prefer we play smaller overall - more Jaden and Minott at the 4 with Reid as the starter.
