Getty Julius Randle #30 of the New York Knicks gives a thumbs down to the fans at the Madison Square Garden on January 06, 2022 in New York City.
The New York Knicks’ two-time All-Star forward Julius Randle made it to tier 4 — tier 4B (Top 55-66) to be exact — of The Athletic’s NBA Player Tiers entering next season.
But one intriguing player, who is on the Knicks’ radar dating back to the February trade deadline, was ranked above him.
Toronto Raptors’ two-way wing OG Anunoby, who has never appeared in an All-Star game, was slotted in Tier 4A (top 40-54), one sub-tier above the group where Randle was slotted.
The Athletic’s Seth Partnow, who did the NBA Player Tiers, argued that “Randle is perhaps the best illustration of the differences between regular-season accumulation and impactful postseason play in the NBA.”
Randle was a flop in two playoff appearances in his career.
The 2021 Most Improved Player of the Year was overwhelmed as the Knicks’ go-to guy in their first-round exit against the Atlanta Hawks in his postseason debut. Last playoffs, he was hampered by an ankle injury which required surgery this offseason.
“His high-volume, decent-efficiency skill set has proven extremely useful in two of the last three seasons. Combine this with Thibs-ian minute loads, and he has created tons of regular-season wins. But in the playoffs, the diet of tough isolation shots has caught up with him,” wrote Partnow, who also previously worked as director of basketball research for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Randle’s true shooting percentage across two playoff runs is damning — 46.2% from 55.4% in the regular season, according to Partnow’s data.
“This is the very definition of a floor-raising but ceiling-limiting profile, a player type who is exceptionally hard to value through the prism of championship contention, as getting to the playoffs is the first step in winning a title, and having a regular-season innings-eater or two can help a team get to the postseason without overly taxing its top players,” Partnow wrote.
OG Anunoby in Good Company
While the 26-year-old Anunoby has yet to be named an All-Star, his value lies in his elite defense and versatility. Plus, he’s already won a championship.
The 6-foot-7 Anunoby was grouped with elite role players on championship teams, such as Denver Nuggets’ Aaron Gordon and Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins.
“If one were to name three traits that define what it means to be a top role player in today’s NBA — the sort of player who can make a massive positive impact in just about any roster situation — they would be: elite defense, positional versatility and very good offensive output in a tertiary role. I’m not sure I need to do more to describe this group other than to say the “tertiary role” tends to be the bit that separates the very top of Tier 4 from breaking the “role player barrier” into Tier 3,” Partnow wrote, describing Anunoby’s “A-plus role players” group in the Tier 4A.
Knicks’ Interest in OG Anunoby
The Knicks remain interested in Anunoby, according to Sportsnet Canada’s Michael Grange in July.
Anunoby’s search for greater ball-handling and playmaking duties in advance of his upcoming contract talks, per Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer, factored in the Knicks’ reluctance to go all-in at the trade deadline.
“My understanding on Anunoby [trade talks] was that the [Knicks] were ready to be aggressive at the [trade] deadline, but there was a concern about if Anunoby would then sign in New York long term if they traded for him,” SNY’s Ian Begley said on the July 26 episode of the Orange and Blue Bloods podcast.
Anunoby has since changed his representation from Klutch Sports to Creative Artists Agency, which Knicks president Leon Rose used to run.