New York Knicks: Julius Randle’s impressive start to the season

The New York Knicks are 2-3 through five games, and part of their success is because of Julius Randle, who has transformed his game.

The New York Knicks are 2-3 to begin this season, which is a much better start than the previous two. The Knicks’ two wins came in convincing fashion because they shared the basketball and played tough-nosed team defense. They blew out the Milwaukee Bucks 130-110 and then took down the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers 95-86.

Sadly, the Knicks’ winning streak would end in Tampa Bay when they faced the Toronto Raptors (their temporary home for the season because of Canada’s COVID-19 regulations). New York lost to Toronto 100-83 because of a poor shooting performance from most of the team – they went 3-36 from 3-point land, giving them a whopping 8.3 3-point percentage.

But even with the New York Knicks’ loss to the Raptors, the talk of the town right now is how Julius Randle has improved his play from last season. Yes, it’s been only five games, but it would be unfair to say there wasn’t a noticeable difference in his overall game.

About two years ago, before I started writing for Hoops Habit, I started a Knicks blog and wrote about how the 2019-20 season was Randle’s time to shine because of his solid performance in New Orleans the season prior. But, if you watched all of last season, you know that Randle continued to put up his numbers, but he was anything less than spectacular. So far this season, Randle has been the complete opposite.

Randle’s averages through the first five games of the 2020-21 season:

• 23 points
• 10.4 rebounds
• 7 assists
• 53.3 field goal percentage
• 52.9 3-point percentage (1.8 – 3.4)
• 76.5 free throw percentage
• 37.8 minutes

Randle’s averages through the first five games of the 2019-20 season:

• 15.6 points
• 11.2 rebounds
• 5 assists
• 43.7 field goal percentage
• 8.3 3-point percentage (0.2 – 2.4)
• 60 free throw percentage
• 34.6 minutes

Randle can maintain such numbers (minus his current 3-point percentage) because he averaged similar statistics while in New Orleans. And as I wrote recently, you can see the Knicks are playing a different brand of basketball, so it shouldn’t be a shock for Randle to keep up this level of play because Thibodeau will hold all of his players accountable. Even Randle recently mentioned how he credits Thibodeau’s coaching for his improvements.

Julius Randle has been drastically more efficient on offense this season

As we’ve seen so far, Randle has been scoring efficiently from three, hitting his midrange shots, and imposing his will in the paint. On top of that, he is making the right passes through making the right reads in transition and the half-court. He’s also been playing well enough defense to force opponents to take difficult shots, whether it was Tobias Harris, Giannis Antetokounmpo, or Andre Drummond.

Reggie Bullock mentioned the other day that Randle has learned a lot from last season and “put everything into perspective” for this year.

The question that will amplify as the season goes on is if the Knickerbockers should keep or trade Randle? Ian Begley reported that the Knicks are taking the first 15-20 games to evaluate the roster. As Begley noted in his article, that doesn’t mean changes will happen. But if alterations are made, the question is who will be signed or potentially traded.

As reported by CP of Knicks Fan TV, there were trade rumors that involved Julius Randle and Frank Ntilikina being shipped to the Sacramento Kings for Buddy Hield. The trade obviously didn’t go through before the start of the season. However, the deal could be made before the trade deadline as both teams are still scoping the NBA landscape.

What should also be noted is that the Knicks did draft Obi Toppin with the eighth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, and he plays the same position as Randle. If the Knicks do plan to make Toppin a focal point of this team, Randle needs to go. However, before New York makes that decision, whenever that may be, they would need to consider 1) if Toppin is moving in the right direction in his development; 2) would the team take a step back in their progress with Randle gone; and 3) are Knicks making a playoff push – doubtful that the Knicks will, but anything is possible in the NBA, especially with play-in games.

We can save the conversation of moving on from Randle for a later date, whether that is the trade deadline or next season – the 2021-22 season is the last year of his contract. For now, let’s enjoy the great play from Randle and the fact that the New York Knicks have been competing and winning games early in the season.