Julius Randle has gone from the Knicks’ most hated player to their most loved in a matter of one season. Is it because of Tom Thibodeau? Taking the criticism last year personally? Him adjusting to New York and accepting the pressure that comes along with it?
While we may not have that exact answer, Randle is playing like an All-Star and more importantly raising the level of his teammates’ play. The New York Knicks have played 31 games and are sitting at 15 wins, last year it took them 51 games to get to 15 wins, and Randle is a huge reason why.
Randle has always had the reputation of being a hard worker, and to be fair he did hustle last season but it wasn’t consistent and he played selfishly. Spinning into double teams, turning the ball over, not passing to open shooters, it was frustrating, to say the least. While we still are relatively early on in the 2020-2021 season, he looks like a completely different player and the team is clearly feeding off it.
While you can very easily make a case for every player on the Knicks roster and how Randle is helping them, three players in specific are benefitting the most.