Other nuggets:
>Partnow: The good news for the Knicks is they don’t have to rush. Other than Randle, who I don’t think is a long-term core piece if they want to be a legit contender, all of their main guys are either not yet in or at the beginning of their prime years. Their salary cap books aren’t pristine as Randle and Barrett’s contracts aren’t great given how far out they extend. But those deals aren’t awful either. They have some tough decisions coming with options, extensions and free-agency plans for Quickley, Toppin, Grimes, Josh Hart and Isaiah Hartenstein.
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>Aiming a little lower, a John Collins or OG Anunoby would be interesting targets. I’m not sure Collins is a better player than Randle, but I think the Knicks as presently constituted would be better if the two were swapped. Pascal Siakam is a bit like Randle in that he’s over his head as a first option, but he’s substantially better defensively than Randle and operates better off the ball.
by PanachelessNihilist
15 Comments
“We’ve seen enough”… one series where he was playing 1v5 and another series he was coming off two serious ankle injuries while still having the best plus minus on the team during the Heat series. Interesting take, and by interesting I mean dumb af.
Randle’s a solid number 3 on a contender, best case scenario a Robin for a star wing player. He’s on a team-friendly contract and is fairly durable, and his current perception means there’s not a lot of upside to trading him at the moment. I think a lot of his postseason struggles come down to self-imposed pressure to be THE guy – shots feel tougher and more forced on offense which leads to more fatigue on defense and on the boards. Randle’s at his best when expectations are moderate, and that could still be the case in NY if they were able to land a top-tier wing to help space the floor. This is JB’s team at the moment but it’s hard for an undersized guard to space the floor the same way as guys like Butler, Tatum, Paul George, etc. I don’t know who that wing could be for the Knicks at the moment but to me it was the biggest missing piece on this most recent playoff run.
i wanna know why we have such appetite to trade him for players who are double his salary.
Why is he talking about Jaylen Brown?
He’s reduced to a tough shot diet because he’s playing with 2-3 absolute non shooters with him on the court because our coach doesn’t care about spacing in his lineups. You cannot have a Randle conversation without acknowledging our lack of emphasis on shooting and our rigidity in lineups, both of which are products of our coach.
Randle needs to lean into being something like a prime Draymond Green, which means knowing his role & letting Brunson + Barrett do their thing
The problem isnt randle as a player its that neither him or rj can shoot consistently in the playoffs. No point in moving him unless its for a clear upgrade and none of the top 30 players in the league are getting moved for him. He shot much better this year with a full offseason, its not out of the realm for him to improve again from 3.
Rj got no more excuses either, he has declined since his sophmore year as a shooter, either this year he becomes consistent shooter next season or it wont ever happen in his career likely
Imagine looking at playoff performance and being like yeah get rid of Randle we need
*checks notes
JOHN COLLINS AND OG ANUNOBY. I mean come on. Shot creation is one of the hardest things to come by in the NBA, and is why guys like Randle have found success. Those two guys have none of that. A team that’s already almost completely reliant on Brunson to set them up is losing their second best shot creator to get back John Collins?
You don’t get voted All NBA two times in 3 years as a bad player. I don’t mind if some fans hate him and want him traded because of his bad playoff performances. Part of it is on him, but I’m in the camp that gives him leeway due to being 1v9 against Atlanta and injured this year. This wasn’t our year to win, I’m not going to be mad we exceeded expectations and lost a competitive series against the team going to the finals. The Heat have established themselves as the best team in the East of the last few years and we gave them arguably their most competitive series.
He’s just too good on too good of a contract to waste your time entertaining trades for lower tier players. Keep the talent and sell high if you want to get rid of him.
It’s easy to be reduced to a tough shot diet when guys you’re expecting to bail him and Brunson out don’t shoot well in that series in Quickley and Grimes. Say what you want about Randle but the Knicks, as was shown in the Heat series, aren’t going any further until they get reliable outside shooting to clear out the paint
Randle is a bit of a floor raiser moreso than a ceiling raiser, but I think a healthy and dialed-in Randle could still be a force in the playoffs. One series with no Robinson,Brunson against a bruising Hawks team, and another series on a bum ankle against a fast,mobile heat team isn’t *”we’ve seen enough”* territory for me, Randle could still have a big playoffs for us.
I’m not about to micro analyze Randle game, we made a solid playoff run and lost to a better team. We finally got a solid PG, to move up to the next level we need a pure bucket getter to play off Brunson. Somebody likee SGA.
This comment section gon be good
People are talking like Randle was trash every game this playoffs. There were games where we 100% would have lost without him. We’re better with John effin Collins? GTFO of here with that nonsense.
Randle makes everything so easy for the defense. They salivate when they see him get the ball because he slows everything down, lets them get set and then takes a tough shot. Every single Heat and Cavs fan were ecstatic whenever we iso’d him.
just want to say. isn’t that the playoffs. when you get to these levels teams take stuff away from everyone and usually it becomes having to make tough shots