Julius Randle
Speaking of Randle, he’s already being floated on the trade market, according to multiple reports. This comes as no real surprise, as his rookie scale contract ends after this season and he will be a free agent in the summer.
Sporadic playing time have made it hard to fully judge his development. He started the season as the incumbent starter at the four, before inconsistent effort and play saw him moved to the bench for the season opener.
Since then his performances have been equal parts frustrating and intriguing, and his future role in the league is really no clearer. There have, however, been plenty of promising signs of late.
Julius Randle becomes the first Laker since to have at least 29 points, 15 rebounds and 6 assists since Shaq in 2004 #NBAVote #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/0uD3v24D5r
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) January 1, 2018
Despite playing the fewest minutes per game of his three full seasons, Randle is currently operating with some impressive career-highs. His win shares per 48 minutes is comfortably the highest of his career at .114, in large part due to his excellent finishing at the rim.
He’s shooting 74.6 per cent from inside of three feet, and these shots make up more than half of his total attempts. This combined with his excellent screen setting has seen him become one of the better pick-and-roll big men in the league.
Julius Randle was key on both ends of the floor in crunch time.
— Joey Ramirez (@JoeyARamirez) December 8, 2017
He leads the league in pick-and-roll points per possession (1.37), so the Lakers fed him three straight P&Rs. He scored on all three.
🔗: https://t.co/FdaWMbjiec pic.twitter.com/HSVzBW4PBm
Of all players with at least two possessions per game as the roll man, Randle is second in both points per possession (1.34) and field goal percentage (69.6 per cent). He trails on Clint Capela, who benefits from playing with two Hall-of-Fame level point guards.
On the other hand, Randle’s shooting from every other spot on the court has regressed. The hope was that his game may eventually extend out to the three-point line, but he’s shooting at a career-low clip from deep (25.9 per cent) and on long twos (19.0 per cent).
All of this suggests that Randle will remain a traditional big, in a league where such players are already out of style. Age is still on his side, as he turned 23 last November and has plenty of developmental years left.
There’s also promise in his play as a small-ball center, with a 21-point, 10-rebound effort against the defending champion Warriors one of the highlights. His opponent for parts of that night, Draymond Green, proves that there is a place in the league for undersized bigs who can fight against bigger opponents. It’s just hard to know if Randle will ever have the intangibles and extra skills to fill such a role.
Until the picture becomes clearer, the Lakers will likely be unwilling to pay Randle and have him supersede their free agency plans. If that’s the case, they should continue to gauge his value on the trade market.
But if they do trade him, then it could come back to bite them. Trading serviceable young players in order to roll the dice in free agency can be a recipe for disaster.