1. Julius Randle has all the tools and is learning to harness them
The biggest takeaway from the Lakers win over the Blazers on Wednesday was the play of Randle, who had his best game as a Laker, finishing with a game-high 17 points with 8 rebounds and a handful of highlights.
Randle went coast-to-coast, hit jumpers, banked-in mid-range buckets, and finished in the low post. There was little he DIDN’T do on Wednesday, and fans were ecstatic about his play.
The next key for Randle is consistency. We know he’ll have growing pains, but if he can consistently knock down a mid-range jumper and consistently get to the rim and finish, he’ll continue to succeed.
He showed his ability to grab a defensive rebound, turn, and take it up court. At times, he looked like Lamar Odom in the open court, but Zach Randolph in the post, with Pau Gasol range. And yes, those were a lot of big names I threw out, but those are the comparisons you draw when you have the skill set of Randle and put up the performance he did tonight.