5. Julius Randle
Lost in the shuffle of D’Angelo Russell‘s remarkable progress as a rookie has been Julius Randle, a guy whose “rookie season” consisted of 14 minutes before sustaining a season-ending injury. The 2015-16 campaign is pretty much Randle’s rookie season, and yet he’s still averaging an impressive 11.7 points and 10.1 rebounds in 27.8 minutes per game.
Like Russell, Randle has seen his role in Byron Scott‘s rotation change too many times for most Los Angeles Lakers fans’ liking, but now that Scott has seemingly wised up and is funneling more minutes back into his younger players, Randle is starting to thrive.
He may only be shooting 43.9 percent from the field and a cringeworthy 29 percent from three-point range, but it’s worth noting that he’s only taking 0.5 threes per game and, again, this is basically his rookie season.
Randle has recorded 28 double-doubles this season, and though his career-high of 23 points (twice) isn’t anything to write home about, he’s recorded 14 rebounds or more in 10 different games, including two 19-rebound performances. Julius Randle is going to be a monster soon enough, even if Russell’s been more fun to watch recently.
Next: No. 4