Julius Randle IS a 'cornerstone' player

[NewKnicks]

Randle is a Jimmy Butler level star.

How far has Jimmy taken teams? Not a good comparison at all. It's just one year that Randle has played this way. And on team that has little talent across the board compared to rest of the league. Stop with that. Jimmy Butler is a true winning superstar. Randle hasn't done chit in terms of winning.

The comparisons on this board are really getting out of hand.

[NewKnicks]

I think Randle can be a LeBron lite if you give him another bona-fide star where it's not all on him. I do think he can be a number one option (if he continues this high level of play) if we had a true point, better spacing, better shooting and a proven backup so he doesn't have to play 48 minutes a night... This man is exhausted every game and that's with elite conditioning.

Get this man some help. Elfrid hurts his game so much. All he does is play hot potato behind the 3 pt line because he knows he cant shoot. And then he's too score first when he's not. Elfrid helps nobody on the team.

Ideally you would love to pair Randle with someone like Kawhi and have Randle the secondary-ish, play off option but I think Randle has shown he's on his way to becoming one of the best players in the league.

Our team is not that far away from serious contention honestly but we need to add and subtract pieces.

He already is Lebron lite

Can we stop with the Lebron comparisons?? Holy chit I feel like I'm in an alternate universe when I'm reading these comparisons on a lot of our threads. He hasn't won ANYTHING yet. Nothing. Isn't that what matters? So he's the best player on a .500 team. That's it, at the moment. Don't misunderstand me, he's having an incredible year. But it's only one year, and previous to this he's never been close to the level he's playing at right now.

[spree2kawhi]

You think Devin Booker is going to be part of a championship duo?

Sure. I think he's even more talented than Dwyane Wade was. He's now surrounded with one other savvy player and two good defenders in Bridges and Crowder. I don't really know how to evaluate Ayton yet. Overall, Phoenix just isn't there yet, but Booker sure is. I mean look:

CP3
Booker
Bridges
Kawhi or Giannis
Ayton

Probably win a championship this year.

More talented than DWade? Wow man. Come on.

Why not? Seriously.

[spree2kawhi]

I think Randle can be a LeBron lite if you give him another bona-fide star where it's not all on him. I do think he can be a number one option (if he continues this high level of play) if we had a true point, better spacing, better shooting and a proven backup so he doesn't have to play 48 minutes a night... This man is exhausted every game and that's with elite conditioning.

Get this man some help. Elfrid hurts his game so much. All he does is play hot potato behind the 3 pt line because he knows he cant shoot. And then he's too score first when he's not. Elfrid helps nobody on the team.

Ideally you would love to pair Randle with someone like Kawhi and have Randle the secondary-ish, play off option but I think Randle has shown he's on his way to becoming one of the best players in the league.

Our team is not that far away from serious contention honestly but we need to add and subtract pieces.

He already is Lebron lite

WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?

[NewKnicks]

Sure. I think he's even more talented than Dwyane Wade was. He's now surrounded with one other savvy player and two good defenders in Bridges and Crowder. I don't really know how to evaluate Ayton yet. Overall, Phoenix just isn't there yet, but Booker sure is. I mean look:

CP3
Booker
Bridges
Kawhi or Giannis
Ayton

Probably win a championship this year.

More talented than DWade? Wow man. Come on.

Why not? Seriously.

Do I really need to back up my statement? DWade is one of the best players ever. You agree with that, correct? Maybe you didn't watch DWade's career much. Booker is great, but these comparisons are getting out of hand. Andrew Wiggins had a ton of talent too.

[NewKnicks]

I think Randle can be a LeBron lite if you give him another bona-fide star where it's not all on him. I do think he can be a number one option (if he continues this high level of play) if we had a true point, better spacing, better shooting and a proven backup so he doesn't have to play 48 minutes a night... This man is exhausted every game and that's with elite conditioning.

Get this man some help. Elfrid hurts his game so much. All he does is play hot potato behind the 3 pt line because he knows he cant shoot. And then he's too score first when he's not. Elfrid helps nobody on the team.

Ideally you would love to pair Randle with someone like Kawhi and have Randle the secondary-ish, play off option but I think Randle has shown he's on his way to becoming one of the best players in the league.

Our team is not that far away from serious contention honestly but we need to add and subtract pieces.

He already is Lebron lite

WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?

[Knicksfan1992]

I ok with the team throwing out feelers for Beal...but we need to keep our core for it to make sense with a Beal/Randle 1/2.

That means no RJ/IQ/Mitch in a trade. Anyone else including draft capital can go in a trade. I doubt washington would agree to that but I'm not gutting the rosters core for Beal. If you can get him for an Obi + Knox + Frank + 3/4 1st rounders...then that would be something to consider.

To clarify, I agree, it 100% depends on the price. It's weird because, ideally, for this version of the Knicks, I think you wait until the offseason to make a Beal or Lavine trade but they lose a lot of value on their some of their "filler" assets this offseason as well.

The Dallas unprotected pick is gone, Frank is no longer under contract, Knox only has 1 year left on his rookie deal which severely diminishes any value he had left. And not that he should be considered "lower level" but Mitch is going to get some sort of pay raise. So it almost feels like for the Knicks to get a fair cost on a Beal deal you have to do it at the deadline.

I think there's a world where I give up Mitch for Beal, but you would have to have a REAL contingency plan for him and it better lower the pick capital i'm sending out as well. Instead of 4 you maybe get 2-3. But out of those 3, I think Mitch's skillset is the most replaceable (even if it's at 90% of what he can do) for a team that features Randle/Beal/RJ. And also Mitch's contract situation right now is currently the worst out of those 3.

But if you Washington a trading Beal your pretty much signaling a rebuild and why would they want to pay a rim running/defensive center when they are rebuilding in Mitch? That doesn't make sense.

Which is why I believe Mitch is much more valuable to us or a potential contender then a "rebuilding" team. Especially when his pay day is soon approaching so I don't think he would be a needle mover in Washington. I would think Obi would be a valuable piece for Washington because because Deni/Obi is a decent duo going forward...then they probably just want all the draft capital they can get...and at what point is too much too much?

Then the question is what other teams are interested in Beal? Miami? They would certainty lead a package with Herro. So that trumps Obi as a young player return...but Miami doesn't have as much access to draft capital as well do. So it would depend on what Washington would want a sure thing in Herro or the multiple more 1sts?

Knox and Frank could be somewhat interesting to Washington because they would be lottery tickets...they wouldn't be needle movers but they are young and maybe you get something out of them. But that would be like Miami sending them a kz okpala type.

The deciding factor is if Beals pulls a harden and requests a trade...if he does then Washington losses a bit of leverage in terms of not having to trade him and then who knows at that point.

But I am not going to make a Carmelo type trade for Beal (meaning a all our young guys and draft picks for Beal right now). If Beal comes for the package I stated above then I woudl consider because we would still have depth with Beal and Randle being our go to guys and RJ/IQ/Mitch and even a vet like Rose to be build our a decent rotation.

That's definitely a fair way to look at it. I just think when you look at it Washington is so low on talent right now that getting a 23 year old Center, on a long term deal I think makes sense for them. Also, it's by far their weakest position and the reason why they are such chit defensively. If he pans out to even more than he is now with a worse team, I think he probably has the best chance to be a positive asset for them down the line and one that the receiving team knows exactly what they have to pay for them in the near future. Or as a guy they could flip to a 3rd team for a player they really want or an expiring. Sort of like what Houston did with LeVert.

But, like you said, I think they could value the flexibility moreso than that given that seems to be the way these superstar trades are trending lately. Masai really wrote the book on that with the Melo trade ironically.

Just reading the tea leaves, it seems like IQ and RJ are untouchable. So that leaves Obi and Mitch as guys at the very least they haven't publicly denied being willing to move. And I guess I see the scenario where a team values Mitch more even if they have to pay him than Obi because Obi while showing flashes hasn't played enough nor produced enough to be as much of a sure thing as we maybe thought he would be.

[spree2kawhi]

More talented than DWade? Wow man. Come on.

Why not? Seriously.

Do I really need to back up my statement? DWade is one of the best players ever. You agree with that, correct? Maybe you didn't watch DWade's career much. Booker is great, but these comparisons are getting out of hand. Andrew Wiggins had a ton of talent too.

I'm confident Booker will give you the tour one day. The jury is out on this one obviously, but DWade isn't one of the greatest players ever in my book. He was obviously good, of course, but Booker is not your average All Star guard either.

[NewKnicks]

To clarify, I agree, it 100% depends on the price. It's weird because, ideally, for this version of the Knicks, I think you wait until the offseason to make a Beal or Lavine trade but they lose a lot of value on their some of their "filler" assets this offseason as well.

The Dallas unprotected pick is gone, Frank is no longer under contract, Knox only has 1 year left on his rookie deal which severely diminishes any value he had left. And not that he should be considered "lower level" but Mitch is going to get some sort of pay raise. So it almost feels like for the Knicks to get a fair cost on a Beal deal you have to do it at the deadline.

I think there's a world where I give up Mitch for Beal, but you would have to have a REAL contingency plan for him and it better lower the pick capital i'm sending out as well. Instead of 4 you maybe get 2-3. But out of those 3, I think Mitch's skillset is the most replaceable (even if it's at 90% of what he can do) for a team that features Randle/Beal/RJ. And also Mitch's contract situation right now is currently the worst out of those 3.

But if you Washington a trading Beal your pretty much signaling a rebuild and why would they want to pay a rim running/defensive center when they are rebuilding in Mitch? That doesn't make sense.

Which is why I believe Mitch is much more valuable to us or a potential contender then a "rebuilding" team. Especially when his pay day is soon approaching so I don't think he would be a needle mover in Washington. I would think Obi would be a valuable piece for Washington because because Deni/Obi is a decent duo going forward...then they probably just want all the draft capital they can get...and at what point is too much too much?

Then the question is what other teams are interested in Beal? Miami? They would certainty lead a package with Herro. So that trumps Obi as a young player return...but Miami doesn't have as much access to draft capital as well do. So it would depend on what Washington would want a sure thing in Herro or the multiple more 1sts?

Knox and Frank could be somewhat interesting to Washington because they would be lottery tickets...they wouldn't be needle movers but they are young and maybe you get something out of them. But that would be like Miami sending them a kz okpala type.

The deciding factor is if Beals pulls a harden and requests a trade...if he does then Washington losses a bit of leverage in terms of not having to trade him and then who knows at that point.

But I am not going to make a Carmelo type trade for Beal (meaning a all our young guys and draft picks for Beal right now). If Beal comes for the package I stated above then I woudl consider because we would still have depth with Beal and Randle being our go to guys and RJ/IQ/Mitch and even a vet like Rose to be build our a decent rotation.

That's definitely a fair way to look at it. I just think when you look at it Washington is so low on talent right now that getting a 23 year old Center, on a long term deal I think makes sense for them. Also, it's by far their weakest position and the reason why they are such chit defensively. If he pans out to even more than he is now with a worse team, I think he probably has the best chance to be a positive asset for them down the line and one that the receiving team knows exactly what they have to pay for them in the near future. Or as a guy they could flip to a 3rd team for a player they really want or an expiring. Sort of like what Houston did with LeVert.

But, like you said, I think they could value the flexibility moreso than that given that seems to be the way these superstar trades are trending lately. Masai really wrote the book on that with the Melo trade ironically.

Just reading the tea leaves, it seems like IQ and RJ are untouchable. So that leaves Obi and Mitch as guys at the very least they haven't publicly denied being willing to move. And I guess I see the scenario where a team values Mitch more even if they have to pay him than Obi because Obi while showing flashes hasn't played enough nor produced enough to be as much of a sure thing as we maybe thought he would be.

When you're discussing trading for a superstar in the league no one on our roster in untouchable. It's crazy to think they are. You wouldn't give up either IQ or RJ to get Beal? For real? I can guarantee you the Knicks front office feels differently (if they are interested in getting Beal).

[Knicksfan1992]

I think Randle can be a LeBron lite if you give him another bona-fide star where it's not all on him. I do think he can be a number one option (if he continues this high level of play) if we had a true point, better spacing, better shooting and a proven backup so he doesn't have to play 48 minutes a night... This man is exhausted every game and that's with elite conditioning.

Get this man some help. Elfrid hurts his game so much. All he does is play hot potato behind the 3 pt line because he knows he cant shoot. And then he's too score first when he's not. Elfrid helps nobody on the team.

Ideally you would love to pair Randle with someone like Kawhi and have Randle the secondary-ish, play off option but I think Randle has shown he's on his way to becoming one of the best players in the league.

Our team is not that far away from serious contention honestly but we need to add and subtract pieces.

He already is Lebron lite

Can we stop with the Lebron comparisons?? Holy chit I feel like I'm in an alternate universe when I'm reading these comparisons on a lot of our threads. He hasn't won ANYTHING yet. Nothing. Isn't that what matters? So he's the best player on a .500 team. That's it, at the moment. Don't misunderstand me, he's having an incredible year. But it's only one year, and previous to this he's never been close to the level he's playing at right now.

If we're going to make absurd comparisons to elite players he's more Jokic than LeBron imo. Julius is pretty quick for his massive size but he doesn't have the explosion LBJ has/had. He gets by more with skill mixed with power and finesse kinda like Jokic. Jokic is just much more skilled with the same power.

Lebron was skilled but his main asset was always that he was a 99th percentile athlete as a human being. Julius is more like 80th percentile.

[Knicksfan1992]

But if you Washington a trading Beal your pretty much signaling a rebuild and why would they want to pay a rim running/defensive center when they are rebuilding in Mitch? That doesn't make sense.

Which is why I believe Mitch is much more valuable to us or a potential contender then a "rebuilding" team. Especially when his pay day is soon approaching so I don't think he would be a needle mover in Washington. I would think Obi would be a valuable piece for Washington because because Deni/Obi is a decent duo going forward...then they probably just want all the draft capital they can get...and at what point is too much too much?

Then the question is what other teams are interested in Beal? Miami? They would certainty lead a package with Herro. So that trumps Obi as a young player return...but Miami doesn't have as much access to draft capital as well do. So it would depend on what Washington would want a sure thing in Herro or the multiple more 1sts?

Knox and Frank could be somewhat interesting to Washington because they would be lottery tickets...they wouldn't be needle movers but they are young and maybe you get something out of them. But that would be like Miami sending them a kz okpala type.

The deciding factor is if Beals pulls a harden and requests a trade...if he does then Washington losses a bit of leverage in terms of not having to trade him and then who knows at that point.

But I am not going to make a Carmelo type trade for Beal (meaning a all our young guys and draft picks for Beal right now). If Beal comes for the package I stated above then I woudl consider because we would still have depth with Beal and Randle being our go to guys and RJ/IQ/Mitch and even a vet like Rose to be build our a decent rotation.

That's definitely a fair way to look at it. I just think when you look at it Washington is so low on talent right now that getting a 23 year old Center, on a long term deal I think makes sense for them. Also, it's by far their weakest position and the reason why they are such chit defensively. If he pans out to even more than he is now with a worse team, I think he probably has the best chance to be a positive asset for them down the line and one that the receiving team knows exactly what they have to pay for them in the near future. Or as a guy they could flip to a 3rd team for a player they really want or an expiring. Sort of like what Houston did with LeVert.

But, like you said, I think they could value the flexibility moreso than that given that seems to be the way these superstar trades are trending lately. Masai really wrote the book on that with the Melo trade ironically.

Just reading the tea leaves, it seems like IQ and RJ are untouchable. So that leaves Obi and Mitch as guys at the very least they haven't publicly denied being willing to move. And I guess I see the scenario where a team values Mitch more even if they have to pay him than Obi because Obi while showing flashes hasn't played enough nor produced enough to be as much of a sure thing as we maybe thought he would be.

When you're discussing trading for a superstar in the league no one on our roster in untouchable. It's crazy to think they are. You wouldn't give up either IQ or RJ to get Beal? For real? I can guarantee you the Knicks front office feels differently (if they are interested in getting Beal).

There's no point in trading for Beal if you're going to get rid of more than 1 of Mitch/RJ/IQ. You'd rather give up more picks to compensate for keeping them off the table.

He's not AD. He's a step below. You need an infrastructure to make it work. They may consider trading 1 of those 2 instead of Mitch but, no way they are dumb enough to give up 2. That puts way too much pressure on them to get the next moves right with less fleixbility to eff up... just like the Melo situation. It's the stones and bush theory but in basketball terms

[E-Balla]

I think shoehorning Randle as a number 3 is a mistake. Most number 3's don't have the playmaking chops Randle has shown this year. Would it be great if Randle was our number 3 option? Absolutely! But I don't think it's impossible that he can be a fine number 2 to a number 1 scorer given that he seems to be able to lift your offense enough as an engine by himself. You, admittedly, would need a strong number 3 option and good role players to pull it off but i'm willing to gamble that the Knicks can find those late in the draft as they have a pretty good recent track record of doing so...

It's why i'm higher on trading for Beal than most here I think.

When people say number 3 they don't mean 3rd offensive option. They mean 3rd best player, in whatever form that takes. He might lead the trio in total possessions and time with the ball, but he definitely shouldn't be better than the other two if you want a ring.

[NewKnicks]

That's definitely a fair way to look at it. I just think when you look at it Washington is so low on talent right now that getting a 23 year old Center, on a long term deal I think makes sense for them. Also, it's by far their weakest position and the reason why they are such chit defensively. If he pans out to even more than he is now with a worse team, I think he probably has the best chance to be a positive asset for them down the line and one that the receiving team knows exactly what they have to pay for them in the near future. Or as a guy they could flip to a 3rd team for a player they really want or an expiring. Sort of like what Houston did with LeVert.

But, like you said, I think they could value the flexibility moreso than that given that seems to be the way these superstar trades are trending lately. Masai really wrote the book on that with the Melo trade ironically.

Just reading the tea leaves, it seems like IQ and RJ are untouchable. So that leaves Obi and Mitch as guys at the very least they haven't publicly denied being willing to move. And I guess I see the scenario where a team values Mitch more even if they have to pay him than Obi because Obi while showing flashes hasn't played enough nor produced enough to be as much of a sure thing as we maybe thought he would be.

When you're discussing trading for a superstar in the league no one on our roster in untouchable. It's crazy to think they are. You wouldn't give up either IQ or RJ to get Beal? For real? I can guarantee you the Knicks front office feels differently (if they are interested in getting Beal).

There's no point in trading for Beal if you're going to get rid of more than 1 of Mitch/RJ/IQ. You'd rather give up more picks to compensate for keeping them off the table.

He's not AD. He's a step below. You need an infrastructure to make it work. They may consider trading 1 of those 2 instead of Mitch but, no way they are dumb enough to give up 2. That puts way too much pressure on them to get the next moves right with less fleixbility to eff up... just like the Melo situation. It's the stones and bush theory but in basketball terms

I agree with you. I don't want to make the deal because it's going to gut our roster. How many teams are looking at Beal? The price is going to be very, very high. Let's build through the draft. We're not at the stage in our process to make a move like this. We simply don't have enough talent on the roster currently. Keep adding assets, build through the draft, and hopefully hit on a few of our future #1's. If we do, we might be in a position to do this. It's not like Beal is the only player that will be available. Next year there will be the same situation with other star players. Happens every year. I say wait at least 2 more years before making any big moves.

[E-Balla]

Why not? Seriously.

Do I really need to back up my statement? DWade is one of the best players ever. You agree with that, correct? Maybe you didn't watch DWade's career much. Booker is great, but these comparisons are getting out of hand. Andrew Wiggins had a ton of talent too.

I'm confident Booker will give you the tour one day. The jury is out on this one obviously, but DWade isn't one of the greatest players ever in my book. He was obviously good, of course, but Booker is not your average All Star guard either.

Find me a top 5 SG ever list without D. Wade on it and tell me again about how he's not great.

[NewKnicks]

Why not? Seriously.

Do I really need to back up my statement? DWade is one of the best players ever. You agree with that, correct? Maybe you didn't watch DWade's career much. Booker is great, but these comparisons are getting out of hand. Andrew Wiggins had a ton of talent too.

I'm confident Booker will give you the tour one day. The jury is out on this one obviously, but DWade isn't one of the greatest players ever in my book. He was obviously good, of course, but Booker is not your average All Star guard either.

DWade is not one of the best players ever? He's not top 5, no.

Fox Sports has him 17 all-time. He was pretty good.

https://www.foxsports.com/nba/gallery/ranking-the-25-greatest-players-in-nba-history-100716

[cgf]

Yup. The Randle bashing (or calling him a non-cornrstone third fiddle on a top team) is getting ridiculous at this point. Sample size is big enough and the coaching is there along with his serious dedication. All the elements are there for this to be what we expect to see from him moving forward.

He CAN be a legit star along with one other star player on a very strong playoff team.

Not disagreeing, but I don't think it would really matter even if he couldn't. We're not contending yet & Julius is having a big impact on our kids' development, which should be our priority right now. So even if Randle needed to eventually be upgraded upon for us to take that step, he still would have a very important role to play in the interim.

I'd like to see us giving him a raise this summer; something like waiving him so he can bank that 4m as an unofficial bonus, before re-signing him to a 3 year deal for around 75M.

Why would we do that instead of reaping the benefits of having him at $20M and seeing if he can sustain his level of play?

To get 2 more seasons of control for just 5M more per year...and so avoid having to make a decision on max'ing him until 2024. Especially since there's not going to be much in FA for us to save our money for this summer & 5m won't make or break usin 2022 if we roll our cap space over instead of signing someone like Trent or Horton-Tucker.

[Knicksfan1992]

When you're discussing trading for a superstar in the league no one on our roster in untouchable. It's crazy to think they are. You wouldn't give up either IQ or RJ to get Beal? For real? I can guarantee you the Knicks front office feels differently (if they are interested in getting Beal).

There's no point in trading for Beal if you're going to get rid of more than 1 of Mitch/RJ/IQ. You'd rather give up more picks to compensate for keeping them off the table.

He's not AD. He's a step below. You need an infrastructure to make it work. They may consider trading 1 of those 2 instead of Mitch but, no way they are dumb enough to give up 2. That puts way too much pressure on them to get the next moves right with less fleixbility to eff up... just like the Melo situation. It's the stones and bush theory but in basketball terms

I agree with you. I don't want to make the deal because it's going to gut our roster. How many teams are looking at Beal? The price is going to be very, very high. Let's build through the draft. We're not at the stage in our process to make a move like this. We simply don't have enough talent on the roster currently. Keep adding assets, build through the draft, and hopefully hit on a few of our future #1's. If we do, we might be in a position to do this. It's not like Beal is the only player that will be available. Next year there will be the same situation with other star players. Happens every year. I say wait at least 2 more years before making any big moves.

The problem with waiting is you have to pay Randle within 2 years. Whether you try to extend him this summer at less than a max or let him earn the right to hit the open market after his option, in some way or form you either have to pay him (eat into your future flexibility) or get something for him within 2 years in which case you are most likely hitting the reset button because this roster as currently constructed is super dependent on him. They're way worse with him off the floor.

Then, as mentioned previously, Mitch is due for an extension this summer. He's making peanuts. So any extensions is going to be a significant raise on his current deal structure. Again cutting into flexibility.

Soon enough we're going to have to make a decision on RJ. we have 2 more years after this one where he's under our control and he will likely want a max extension as most top 3 picks who aren't complete busts get...

It's nice, in theory, to say let's wait and wait until the right time but that's how you become the TWolves or the Bulls or the dreaded Treadmill team like the Celtics are slowly becoming around Brown and Tatum... They waited and waited and shuffled through lower lottery picks and just continue this cycle of crap because they couldn't get the right talent to fit. Things move way faster in the NBA than we give credit for on here. Knicks have an opportunity to seize on teh fact that Julius is outplaying his current deal and have guys on cheap deals who are outproducing them. It's ok to wait maybe until this offseason or the next deadline, but things get really hairy really quick if they wait longer than that.

the nice part of Lavine's and Beal's current contracts are they line up with when Randle and RJ need to get paid or go elsewhere pretty well. Lavine has 1 more year on his current deal and Beal has 2 on his max extension. So if it doesn't work out we can hit the reset button relatively quickly.

[Knicksfan1992]

I think shoehorning Randle as a number 3 is a mistake. Most number 3's don't have the playmaking chops Randle has shown this year. Would it be great if Randle was our number 3 option? Absolutely! But I don't think it's impossible that he can be a fine number 2 to a number 1 scorer given that he seems to be able to lift your offense enough as an engine by himself. You, admittedly, would need a strong number 3 option and good role players to pull it off but i'm willing to gamble that the Knicks can find those late in the draft as they have a pretty good recent track record of doing so...

It's why i'm higher on trading for Beal than most here I think.

When people say number 3 they don't mean 3rd offensive option. They mean 3rd best player, in whatever form that takes. He might lead the trio in total possessions and time with the ball, but he definitely shouldn't be better than the other two if you want a ring.

I do think it's fair though that with Randle continually looking better on D that he can fill that void. He's doing the little things that put him in that category more and more. But I hear ya. I don't think it's clear cut that he can be number 2 either. I just think it's a possibility.

[NewKnicks]

He already is Lebron lite

Can we stop with the Lebron comparisons?? Holy chit I feel like I'm in an alternate universe when I'm reading these comparisons on a lot of our threads. He hasn't won ANYTHING yet. Nothing. Isn't that what matters? So he's the best player on a .500 team. That's it, at the moment. Don't misunderstand me, he's having an incredible year. But it's only one year, and previous to this he's never been close to the level he's playing at right now.

If we're going to make absurd comparisons to elite players he's more Jokic than LeBron imo. Julius is pretty quick for his massive size but he doesn't have the explosion LBJ has/had. He gets by more with skill mixed with power and finesse kinda like Jokic. Jokic is just much more skilled with the same power.

Lebron was skilled but his main asset was always that he was a 99th percentile athlete as a human being. Julius is more like 80th percentile.

That's fair. Jokic is one of the best players in the NBA at the moment. Is Julius? I guess. But Denver would laugh at us if we offered Randle for Jokic. We would need to a few #1's for them to even look at it. But even then they would hang up the phone.

But it terms of skill, I get what you're saying. Randle is amazingly skilled for a man his size. He's just slow, and isn't a great finisher (if we're somehow comparing him to Lebron).

[Hal14]

I think Randle can be a LeBron lite

Jesus Christ.

I don't see what is wrong with the comment.

"LeBron lite" is essentially like saying "a poor man's LeBron" or at least that's how I read it. Which I think is a fine statement to make - especially since they're not saying he is "LeBron lite" today but merely saying that Randle CAN be LeBron lite in the future.

Maybe some people (namely LeBron worshippers) are a little sensitive to statements like this..