Julius Randle: Predicting His 2015-16 Lakers Season Stats

Julius Randle was cleared for non-contact basketball activities on Monday (3/9/15) and it’s great to see him back on the court after his leg and foot surgery.

Looking ahead to next season, expectations will be high for Randle. A lot depends on who the Lakers draft and acquire via free agency, yet anything will be better than the last couple of seasons. Assuming the Lakers upgrade at center, Randle will have a good chance at starting next year. There are also a couple of famous power forwards who returned nicely from similar injuries after their first year in the NBA: Blake Griffin and James Worthy.

Griffin had a breakout season in his rookie year averaging: 22 points and 12 rebounds. James Worthy contributed 13 points and 5 rebounds in his inaugural campaign.

You have to take into account Griffin played on a terrible team where he got the ball a lot while Worthy joined the likes of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Using those two players as a sample set with an improved Lakers roster Randle should average 15 points and 8 rebounds per game.

This may sound generous considering Randle didn’t make it through one full NBA game, but sitting out and watching for a year will have tremendous upside for his career. In the big picture, if this was to happen at some point in Randle’s career, it’s best it happened in the beginning during the Lakers worst season in franchise history.

Randle also has the luxury of examining the game up close on the sidelines and will benefit greatly this summer by working out with Kobe Bryant and Jordan Clarkson. As much as Lakers fans wanted to see Randle play this season, this may end up being a blessing in disguise considering the team had nothing to play for this year and the roster was set up to fail from the start.

Barring a serious upgrade at power forward or trading him, next season Randle will be a budding superstar on a Lakers team ready to rise.

Next: The Lakers 2015-16 Starting Lineup

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