Los Angeles Lakers: Dont Panic, Julius Randle Is Doing Just Fine

By Carter Johnson | Dec 21, 2015

October 28, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Julius Randle (30) moves in to score a basket against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the first half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

Julius Randle appears to be struggling coming off the bench for the Los Angeles Lakers, but a closer look at the stats says he’s doing just fine.

As criticized as the move initially was, Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott‘s decision to swap D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle with Lou Williams and Larry Nance Jr. has had some positive effects.

It’s started to unleash the star potential in Russell and has allowed Williams to elevate his play with more minutes. However, the move is not having as profound of an impact on rookie forward Julius Randle.

While Randle has denied any notion of frustration with his recently limited playing time, its negative impact shows when he’s on the court.

Randle is often seen struggling to get into rhythm when he first gets on the court, and his field goal percentage since being relegated to the bench (39 percent) reflects that. He’s also put up a couple of abysmal performances, including the Lakers’ most recent outing against the Oklahoma City Thunder where he scored a season-low two points, making only one of his seven shot attempts and committing five turnovers in a blowout loss for the team.

All of these things could be reasons for Lakers fans to be down on Randle’s progression — but they shouldn’t be.

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A look at Randle’s stats as a bench player show that the decrease in playing time hasn’t really affected his production at all. Randle was a solidly productive post player as a starter, averaging a near double-double with 11.7 points per game and 9.2 rebounds per game while shooting 43 percent from the field and adding two assists a game.

In his eight games coming off of the bench, despite shooting a significantly lower percentage from the field, Randle is averaging a double-double with 11.4 points per contest and 10.1 boards per contest, racking up 10 or more boards in every game but two. Surprisingly, he’s been an even more effective rebounder off of the bench, averaging 1.7 more offensive rebounds a game than he did as a starter.

Even more impressive is the fact that Randle’s 10.1 RPG off of the bench are almost two more than the next closest rookie (Karl-Anthony Towns with 8.4), ranks third among all power forwards and is just outside of the top 10 in the league in that span of time.

While he has put up some awful performances in some bad losses, he’s also churned out some outstanding performances during his bench stint. Randle, alongside Russell, led the charge for the Lakers with one of his best games in an overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, going for 20 points on 53 percent shooting in addition to 12 boards while displaying an array of moves, including this vicious post spin and score on Andrew Wiggins:

After a few rough games against the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets, Randle returned to form and was a significant factor offensively in the Lakers’ win over the Milwaukee Bucks, posting 14 points and 14 boards on 50 percent shooting in 25 minutes of play.

While Randle is struggling to keep up the all-around performance he was maintaining as a starter, he’s been just as good — if not better — at the two skills that are his bread and butter: post scoring and rebounding. Even with fewer minutes, Randle’s motor and tenacity remain the same whenever he’s in the game, making him a constant threat to have a tremendous impact for the Lakers.

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So don’t panic, Lakers fans — Julius Randle is still on the right track to becoming a consistent, dominant force for years to come.

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