Julius Randle and the New York Knicks received boos in the first half of their win against the Boston Celtics after New York went down 25 points. Randle, the team scapegoat, gave the fans a thumbs down, and it is understandable why.
Imagine you bring a team out of the darkness with an All-NBA season just for the next year your fans start booing and blaming you on social media. Do you really think you wouldn’t want to tell the fans to shut up also?
Julius Randle is not to Blame For The New York Knicks Struggles
Look, I get Randle has been worse this season, he definitely has been majorly inconsistent, but Knicks fans have to stop blaming him.
The Knicks forward, who leads the team in scoring, rebounding, and assists, finally responded by saying exactly what he should have said to these people who think he’s the problem.
I asked Julius Randle what he meant with his thumbs down to the Garden crowd.
— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) January 7, 2022
His answer: "Shut the fuck up."
For those of you Knicks fans saying, “He is the problem, I never liked him after his one bad year and refuse to admit I’m wrong”, here is why your fans need to, well, do what Randle’s thumbs down meant.
Randle has the third-best Defensive Rating at 108 and best defensive win shares at 1.6 on the team. The Knicks have not been able to replicate last year’s defense, but Randle has been very efficient on the defensive end.
Teams rarely have a guy capable of leading the team in every facet, and Randle can do that on the Knicks. Randle’s playmaking has been quite good, and recently in a DK article, Adam Kester said that he has to trust himself more, which I couldn’t agree with more.
This team needs Randle to succeed, when he plays well, they win games. Also, the two games Randle missed due to having Covid, the team was a disaster. They looked lost out there.
Let’s go over the Knicks stats without Randle, and let’s see if you guys still think he is what hurts the Knicks. Here we go:
In the 2 games Randle missed the New York Knicks averaged:
- 92.5 points per game (worst in the NBA by 7 points)
- 39 rebounds per game (worst in the NBA by 3.1 rebounds)
- 17 assists per game (worst in the NBA by 3 assists)
- 40.9% FG% (worst in the NBA)
- 26% 3PT% (worst in the NBA)
Yeah but Randle is the problem here, right? A month ago, I wrote a similar article, telling Knicks fans to wait as Randle adjusts. Maybe I was wrong, maybe Randle did not need to adjust, and the Knicks have zero offensive structure, so they are even more lost without him.
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart… wait, no, I got my notes mixed up. Last Christmas, I said Coach Thibodeau needed an offensive coordinator as his Christmas gift, as the Knicks starters are much more talented offensively than defensively.
The Knicks need to run a more structured offense, and maybe Randle and the rest of our somewhat struggling Knicks team can get back on track. I wouldn’t be shocked if it even makes Randle look like last year’s Randle.