NY Knicks: 3 Ways Julius Randle Can Improve His Game Even Further

NY Knicks’ Julius Randle needs to get more shots up in the painted area

Despite Julius Randle’s improvement across the board, his two-point field goal percentage is just 48%, the lowest mark since his first full season in the league.

The main reason for this drop-off has been an escalated number of mid-range shots.

Randle has been shooting 41% on mid-range jumpers this season, a respectable mark when you consider that most of them are coming off-the-dribble.

Shot creation has been another way that he’s improved his game.

However, he might be relying on his newfound mid-range prowess a bit too much. A personal-worst 17% of his shot attempts this season have come at the rim, his previous career-low before that was 36%.

Randle is shooting 67% at the rim this season, and he should look to start using the threat of his jumper to get to the rim for a much easier layup to bump up that 17%.

He’s shown that he can do it before, too. Randle averaged 21.4 points with the New Orleans Pelicans, shooting over 52% from the field mainly due to 45% of his shot attempts coming at the rim.

The team will also likely have more floor spacing next season, opening up wider lanes to attack the basket.

Elfrid Payton has been a serviceable starter, but he’s a poor fit alongside Randle and his inability to shoot allows defenses to collapse on his drives into the paint.

Nerlens Noel has stepped up admirably to keep the Knicks’ defense stout, but his offensive game is very poor and opposing teams aren’t worried about him.

Mitchell Robinson’s lob threat helps keep defenders from fully committing on layup attempts, something that should help Randle when the 23-year old center is able to return next year.