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If you had to give this Knicks offseason a name, the “all-in offseason” might be the most appropriate moniker. After multiple rebuilding seasons spent discovering and tinkering with their core foundation, New York spent this summer locking it down for the long-term and building on top of it for a championship run.
Tom Thibodeau and Jalen Brunson had their contracts extended. They re-signed OG Anunoby to a massive deal and added the final piece of the Villanova conglomerate in Mikal Bridges.
In that spirit, the Knicks should complete their all-in summer by going all-in on the guy who was pivotal in kickstarting this franchise turnaround: Julius Randle. His emergence as an All-NBA player brought New York its first playoff appearance in nearly a decade, and he’s largely performed to that level since, helping them become a competitive mainstay over the last two seasons.
Despite that he still has his naysayers, and for good reason. He’s yet to put together a strong postseason for New York, completely melted down in 2021-22, and didn’t get a chance to prove himself after separating his shoulder and missing the end of last season and the Knicks’ entire playoff run.
However, in the bigger picture, the pros for extending Randle far outweigh the cons.
As mentioned, Randle is a staple of this new Knicks era, with only him, Mitchell Robinson and Thibodeau carried over from that first season. His physical presence and play feeds into the rest of the squad on that end, and it’s difficult to find similar productivity around the league.
Following his rusty start, Randle finished last season averaging 25.5 points, nine rebounds and five assists on 50 percent shooting from the field, in line with his career averages as a Knick and matched only by the league’s elite: Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
As gaudy as those raw numbers are, they don’t do his game justice. Randle is an extremely difficult one-on-one guard, constantly drawing multiple defenders, which he punishes with this adept passing.
Defensively, his effort may wane, but when he’s locked in he’s a switchable nightmare guarding on the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-knicks-extend-julius-randle-155709414.html
Author : SNY
Publish date : 2024-08-07 15:57:09
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