Julius Randle on the Knicks’ moves, pressures of New York & his son’s stats obsession | NBA Today

Julius Randle on the Knicks’ moves, pressures of New York & his son’s stats obsession | NBA Today

Joining us now is two-time Allstar with the New York Knicks Julius Randall Julius thank you so much for spending a little bit of time with us here on NBA today yeah no problem no problem appreciate you guys having we really appreciate it you have 20 points in 19

Straight games and I I just want to you’re one of the first four players of season to have 700 more points 250 plus rebounds 150 plus assists it’s you Giannis joic Joel and beat so you and the last like five MVPs what does that say about your game right

Now uh I mean it’s humbling to be you know mention in the same you know category as those guys uh I always just pride myself on just continuing to get better um you know not really focusing on the results but more so the process and uh just continuing to get better

Each day so you know when you hear numbers like those and hear things like those mention with those guys who you know I have a lot of respect for and compete with on a daily basis um you know it’s humbling for sure this year the first six games to the season versus

What we’ve seen over the last 28 what do you think has been the biggest difference for you uh I think um just me catching and finding my rhythm you know I went uh through a whole summer of you know having to sit still and not really do

Anything uh as far as physically you know just trying to rehab and get my ankle right get my body right um you know which was good you know sometimes you got to slow down and catch up but um for me you know I was able to slow down

And uh unfortunately you know it had its you know whatever it was at the beginning of the Season which was which was hard getting adjusted but um you know I think over the past however many games you said um it’s just been about me continuing just to attack each day

Fall in love with the process and just continue to get be better each day you’re such a competitive guy what was it like for you trying to not try to push too hard try to get out of that because I I know you and I know that you

That must have been driving you crazy yeah it was driving uh me crazy it was driving my family crazy because you know I was bored sitting down my wife everybody they know how to deal with me uh you know they were actually ready for me to get back to work probably but uh

It was tough you know it was it was a little bit of you know me on my own maybe doing things that I shouldn’t have been doing P myself there go yeah just cuz I I couldn’t sit still and it was it was tough for me but uh you know overall

It was a good process it was a good learning process you mentioned your family your your son Kaiden he’s a little bit obsessed with the Knicks and and with checking your stats can you tell me what what what happened on Christmas day with with you and kiden

Yeah he’s always U he’s a numbers guy I’m a math guy myself but he’s a numbers guy and it’s Christmas day it’s every game um he asked my wife she’s like I can’t with kiden because after every game he’s asking what is dad averag in what is Dad averaging what how many

Points is dad averag in like did it go up like he’s always asking those type of questions so it’s funny uh it’s funny I guess you know for me like I said I focus on the process but you know he cares about the results so right when

You have someone who’s reminding you uh Hey Dad um we need to get this decimal point we need to go from 23.9 to 24 exactly he was very happy I heard when you when you made that tiny little jump even though it’s kind of all out in the

Water exactly that’s amazing I love that so much well I imagined that that he was excited about some of the moves that the Knicks made let’s talk a little bit about that how did you find out about the OG trade um I mean I found out like uh most

Everybody else um you know I talked to you know some of the guys before it officially happened and you know it was bittersweet you know because uh I trust Leon and Wes you know front offense G all those guys to do um 100% What’s um

You know best for our team you know I think that they did that uh but you know you go to war and establishing a relationship you know and guys like RJ and quick they become your brothers uh over the you know past three or four years um that has been and it’s tough

You know to say goodbye but I know they’re going to be amazing in Toronto they have amazing opportunity there you know RJ gets to go back home quick gets to you know really blow up and become a star that I think he will be so um I’m

Excited for those guys but you know I’m really excited for our team you know OG is gonna add a lot to our team uh he’s just a solid player uh all the way around and and you know just really understands how IQ understands how to play game of basketball so he’s going to

Be amazing for us when I think of OG off of the court I think of that that video of him and um sergy Baka talking about I don’t do art I do fashion no I do fashion better no this that the other what’s something you didn’t know maybe

About OG or his personality that you did know competing against him that you know now that you’re teammates uh we him uh you know myself precious we found out you know we’re not boys um you know OG so he’s talking about making me his aunt his family

Making me some fuu and Jala and all that type of stuff so I’m excited to uh you know try try some of that food um you know get some Nigerian food so I’mma hold him to that I love it I went to my first Nigerian wedding recently ch’s

Wedding that we just we had so much fun with all of the traditional food and the dancing and everything although I was going to be really impressed you said oh ge’s cooking I was like oh all right but it’s family no no no that makes sense that makes sense uh Julius the the

Discourse around this team and I’m sure you’re tired of it is they don’t have enough they need another star to truly contend what do you say to that being in this locker room every day I mean I’ll bet here this is my fifth year here yeah I think yeah my

Fifth year uh I’ve heard it all to be honest I’ve heard it all about myself I’ve heard it all about this team um and know I just know one thing every year we continue to get better we continue to uh to define the odds um and do what people

Didn’t think we could do or whatever it is so um if it’s one thing I know about us and our team is what we believe in our locker room um what we believe we can accomplish how much we believe in each other U we know that we need one

Through 15 every night and um you know that’s all we try to focus on we let the front office do their job and you know figure out how to improve our team or whatever it is but every night we go out we feel like we have enough in our

Locker room uh tibs does a great job of leading us um every night and getting us prepared to play and we genuinely feel like we have a chance to win versus anybody we play against and we’ve proved we’ve proven that so uh we just got to continue to get better individually as a

Team collectively and uh you know let the chips for where they man that that mentality that next man up that do it by the Collective Strength and numbers it’s celebrated in a place like Miami where there’s okay there’s not a question of

Well is there a 1 a is there a 1B why do you think get treated differently here uh New York it’s a little different here it’s the media capital of the world uh you know we feed off of uh you know just a little bit of spice a little bit

Of speculation and all that different type of stuff so um you know I’ve had my learning experiences my ups and downs with it uh but the biggest thing I can say is you know here you you can’t really focus on it you got to just focus on each and every every night continuing

To get better um you know you have a great game you’re the best in the world you have a bad game you getting traded you need to get traded so it’s just the way it is it’s the way that things go here uh but you know it’s fine I love it

I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else you’re one of the rare players now that I think about now that I think about it who has played for both glamour franchises I put that in air quotes the Lakers the Knicks what does it take what is the DNA the makeup of that play I

Guess I’m asking the makeup of you that makes it so that you can do that because I imagine that that isn’t for everybody yeah I think it goes back to you know when I first um you know got to the Lakers and and Kobe just telling me to just sacrifice

Everything and fall in love with the process and for me um you know whenever I’m especially if I’m like hitting a rough patch or if you know um I’m not feeling great about where my game is at like our first couple games of the Season uh for me that’s you know when I

Lock in even more when I you know really fall in love with the process the grind that’s uh the times that I honestly look forward to because that’s when you find out the most about yourself you know so it’s not really necessarily about the

Results or what I did good uh in a game or bad in a game it’s like all right how can I keep improving and uh I think when you continuously you know every day search out those answers and try to fall in love with how can I continue to get

Better um you know it ends up working that way and then you’ll look up and you know the results will follow do you think about I remember a couple of years ago you talking about thinking about you go to you still go to gyms you land first thing that’s something that Kobe

Taught you is that still something you do do you think about what he would tell you through these things very often every day every day I think it’s uh what’s embedded in me now it’s the part of the process of just who I am um

You know I just have a a genuine desire and love and passion just to continue to get better you know so it’s not really um you know something that I’m searching for or whatever it is I don’t know if that makes sense but it’s one of those

Things where it’s just kind of embedded into my lifestyle of of who I am you know as a as a basketball player at this point in my career well speaking of the process as you said you have a big game against the Philadelphia 76ers here on ESPN

Um what does it take to slow someone like Joel embiid uh uh I don’t know fair enough we can we can Circle back on that one yeah I don’t know maybe uh give him a bad meal before the game some food poison I don’t know like yeah I don’t

Know who we G have to cheat but you know a guy like Joel you can’t slow him down you know one person you have to do it with your team uh you have to make him work on both ends of the floor um you know you can really just for a player

Like that just hope to make it tough for him and uh try to limit everybody else you know guys like him they average 40 points a game for a reason you know everybody’s trying to figure out how to stop them but um it’s more about

Stopping their team I feel like and um I feel like if we do that you know put forth the team effort uh we win the game just a couple more for you Julius why do you have confidence you said earlier this this group feels like they can beat

Anybody to me that sounds like you have confidence with this team that you can go all the way why are you confident that you can do better avenge last year’s playoff loss with gem rats uh to be completely honest you know everybody in the is uh

In the jail continuing you know to try to improve uh individually you know as a team you know we’re working together obviously uh you know TBS has us working but um I mean I think confidence and simple comes from just their preparation and you know guys are prepared here

Because they’re gymrats you said t can I ask what does tibs do for fun uh what does he do for fun I think you know his his uh versin fun is screaming at us um yeah fair enough tibs is is a basketball junk he just loves to coach

You know that’s his passion that’s his life that’s what he loves to do so you know anytime he can cuss us out and you know do all that type of stuff yeah I think that’s what he lives for he does it with a little smile too are you

Having more fun yeah that’s his fun this year playing in Madison Square Garden when it’s like this absolutely absolutely absolutely anytime we win uh it’s it’s a lot of fun um anytime we’re improving uh as a team and you see that you know us making

Strides is fun um like I said I played in the Glamorous franchises of you know the Lakers I played at Kentucky um there’s nothing like Madison Square you know it was a Wednesday night yesterday and it was like it was NBA finals and it’s like that every game you

Know there’s nothing like the fans there um on a night toight basis um you know we’re really lucky let’s end here the official New York Nicks X social media account asked this they asked what should the duo of you and Brunson be called do you have any ideas for a

Nickname uh no we should take a poll we should take a PA I haven’t I haven’t thought of that one next day yeah if I Jaylen there’s no telling what type of answer I would get but yeah we we’ll let the fans decide let’s take

A PLL on that for now we’ll just go with winners uh Julius thank you so very Much

Julius Randle spent some time with me today on NBA Today.
0:00 20 PTS in 19-straight games
1:15 Biggest differences this season
3:00 Julius’ son is obsessed with his stats
3:50 Finding out about the Knicks’ trades
5:15 OG Anunoby is going to bring the Nigerian food
6:30 “We need 1-15 to do their job”
7:30 New York is just different
10:30 A big game against the Philadelphia 76ers
11:30 Why the Knicks can beat anybody
13:30 His duo nickname for him and Jalen Brunson

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