New York Knicks: How does Julius Randle find his scoring chances?

Julius Randle joined the New York Knicks to become one of their main offensive players, but how will he score?

Sans high-profile signings, the New York Knicks scooped up Julius Randle on a three-year contract in the offseason. Worth an $18 million base salary in 2019-20, the talented power forward is their most expensive player.

Randle is around for his offensive play after averaging 21.4 points on 52.4 percent shooting with the New Orleans Pelicans. It was a dynamic year, and it resulted in over $40 million in guaranteed money.

These numbers steadily rose in Randle’s three healthy years with the Los Angeles Lakers, before taking off with the Pelicans last season; he went from 11.3 points to 13.2 to 16.1 by the final campaign. Most of that happened inside the arc until he stretched out for New Orleans and made 67 three-pointers, an evolution of a game once limited to the paint.

Randle did plenty of damage, but even though he has a career 2.7 assists per game, he frequently needed players to set him up, which is normal if he does not bring up the basketball or receives it inside the arc.

In 2017-18 and 2018-19, Randle placed in the 90th and 94th percentile, respectively, in assisted makes-all makes, at 54 percent for each season, per Cleaning the Glass. He was fed the basketball by Lonzo Ball and Jordan Clarkson on a bad Lakers team, but in New Orleans, even on a cratering squad, Jrue Holiday, in the 88th percentile in assists percentage, was at the giving end of 30.5 percent of his team’s made shots. Ball and Clarkson were in the 81st and 63rd percentile, respectively, in this category in 2017-18.

Randle, with New Orleans, also placed in the 92nd percentile in assisted rate-rim makes, the 95h percentile in assisted rate-midrange makes and the 88th percentile in assisted rate-three makes.

Basically, Randle has thrived with players that set up for him; that will continue alongside Elfrid Payton—who Daily Knicks will breakdown as David Fizdale’s leading point guard candidate later this week—in their second year as teammates.

Over the past two seasons, Payton has averaged a 33.05 assist percentage, which would place him between the 80th and 90th percentile at the point. He also had 6.8 assists per game in this time, with 7.6 in his injury-abbreviated year with the Pelicans.

In a somewhat small sample, though, these players were not part of a winning combination. Granted, it happened on a flailing team that succumbed to the Anthony Davis drama, and lineups featured the limited Jahlil Okafor, Kendrih Williams and Ian Clark; but, per Cleaning the Glass, when Randle and Payton were on the floor, they had just 107.8 points per 100 possessions, placing in the 31st percentile.

Dennis Smith Jr., the other lead point guard, assisted on 32.9 percent of made shots with the Knicks. His effectiveness in handling the basketball is in question at times, but he is still capable of linking with his teammates.

Randle works best with an assist, but finding that ideal combination with one of the New York Knicks’ point guards may not deliver positive results. There is no regular-season sample size for him in New York just yet, though, the book is not out for a player who has taken strides in each of his NBA seasons.