Getty Julius Randle going for a basket against the Pistons.
The New York Knicks may have won their game over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night, but you’d have a hard time of knowing that if you were just looking at the backlash Julius Randle and the rest of the starters got.
A growing trend this season, and something coach Tom Thibodeau just can’t seem to shake, is that the starters dig the team into a deep hole while the bench is forced to bring them back.
The Knicks found themselves in that situation against the lowly Pistons, but after benching the starters for the entirety of the fourth quarter, the team crawled back and found a way to win the game.
All-Star Julius Randle shouldered much of the blame from fans, and that’s to be expected considering he’s coming off an All-NBA appearance and is meant to be the anchor of the team, especially with Derrick Rose out with an injury.
Randle Draws Criticism
While Randle helped put the Knicks back on the map last season, his struggles this year have not gone unnoticed. He’s averaging 19 points and 10 rebounds this season, but it’s coming with just 41.7 percent shooting from the floor, a far step down for his career average of 47.9 percent.
Of course, a lot of it is just joking around, but some fans seem ready to let Randle take a few games off like Kemba Walker did earlier in the season.
ok hear me out
what if we took Julius Randle,
and pushed him somewhere else???
Julius Randle last season earned a lot of apologies from his critics. This year, he’s giving them reason to take it all back.
Last season, Julius Randle had one of the best individual years in Knicks history & gave this fanbase a leader & an identity to buy into, myself included. It’s what makes his severe regression, lack of effort & poor body language this season so disheartening.
There’s still plenty of time for Randle to get things turned around, but it’s clear that he’s a part of the team’s struggles.
Perhaps the most difficult part of all this is the fact he plays the same position as Obi Toppin, somebody who has acted as a spark plug for the Knicks each time he’s on the floor.
However, Toppin has had his share of struggles getting onto the court because of Randle being in front of him on the depth chart. Thibodeau has played around with lineups with both Toppin and Randle in the game together, but fans would like to see it happen even more.
Randle’s stature and contract won’t allow him to be benched or removed from the lineup any time soon, so it’s a matter of finding out how to get Toppin more minutes while also playing Randle.
Starters Were Abysmal
CBS
The short-handed Pistons, playing without top draft pick Cade Cunningham, looked like they were going to come away with a win over the Knicks, at least when the starters were playing.
Taking a simple look at the plus/minus stat for the game tells the full story. The starters were all -17 or worse, while the bench was at worst a +27. That’s an absolutely massive swing and it tells the story on how the Knicks were able to pull out a win against one of the worst teams in the NBA.
Depth.
With an easier slate of games coming up, the team does have a chance to claw back to .500, and that can come as soon as Friday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Perhaps Randle and the starters could get back on track then.
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