How Will the Lakers Utilize Julius Randle?

Last year around this time, Laker fans were salivating over the potential of first round pick Julius Randle. One broken leg injury later and nowadays every Laker fan wants to talk but nothing comes out when they move their lips just a bunch of D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson gibberish and people act like they forgot about Randle.

Still, the one-and-done Kentucky prospect is one of the Lakers’ young big three and hopefully a mainstay for the future. Between Clarkson, Russell and Randle it seems Randle is the third wheel or at least the toy that you got at Christmas but stopped playing with it because you had two other toys that were really nice, which poses the question how will the Lakers use/develop their sort-of-shiny almost new toy.

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Ideally for LA, last year would have been Kobe Bryant’s last season and the Lakers and fans alike could focus completely on the development of its future stars in the talented but young core of Clarkson, Russell and Randle. Unfortunately, that’s not the case and Randle will have to find shots on a team where Bryant, Clarkson, Russell, Lou Williams and Nick Young all want to put some shots.

With so many guards that love to shoot and with a projected starting lineup of three ball-dominant guards in Russell, Clarkson and Bryant, it could be hard for Randle to find shots. The guards have said all the right things this summer about Randle, about him being a go-to guy, but when the ball goes up will they actually feed the beast as much as they say they will? Obviously, Randle is the only one of these players who isn’t a guard so it could be hard for him to get his shots, but I expect Randle to get up somewhere between 10-15 shots a game, possibly more or less depending on the night.

The best way for Randle to get those shots and create offense for himself is to first, push the ball up the court off of defensive rebounds and run the floor in transition (e.g. Draymond Green, Blake Griffin) and secondly, Randle should get the majority of his points off of isolation and open mid-range shots coming off the pick and roll.

Randle’s strengths on offense lie in is his ability to get to the basket by either facing up and speeding past an opponent or with momentum using his bull-like strength to cut to the hoop and score on whoever dares to try and stop him. Randle’s strength, quickness and ball handling will be very valuable in the Lakers pick-and-roll heavy offense.

Imagine Randle in a high pick and roll with Russell or Clarkson catching the ball just inside the arc and darting toward the basket with a full head of steam. Think Blake Griffin with less ferocious dunking and more left-handed contact layups. Randle is almost unstoppable when he has momentum heading toward the hoop, but that was in college. In the NBA 7-foot rim protectors will be there to greet him with verticality or a huge swat and more than likely it won’t work out in Randle’s favor. Here’s where Randle’s mid-range game will be his biggest weapon.

Over the summer, Randle has said that he was working on his jumper from mid-range to beyond the arc, although Byron Scott says he’s not a stretch four just yet. During summer league training camp Scott told The Los Angeles Times, “His range right now is 15 to 17 feet.” One of the comparisons for Randle coming out of college was a hybrid of Lamar Odom and Zach Randolph, which isn’t too bad of a comparison. Bleacher Report’s Josh Martin recently compared Randle to a cross between Metta World Peace and Lamar Odom before going on to say that the best comparison for Randle might be former Laker great James Worthy (who also suffered a leg injury that ended his rookie season) the way he played off the ball with Magic feeding him and likely what you should expect when Randle’s on the floor with Russell and Clarkson.

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Expanding his range out to 17 feet could make Randle a deadly partner in a pick-and-roll combo and also help with floor spacing when he’s on the weak side away from the action. When defenses stuff the paint Randle’s ability to knock down the open jumper, which he showed flashes of in summer league, will prove crucial to his success as a rookie.

Randle will play off the ball a lot, and that’s the best way to use him, although he can score in isolation the Lakers have enough iso-heavy guards and shouldn’t rely on that as their primary offense much, if any. Since so many of Randle’s potential pick-and-roll partners love to “get buckets” his ability to pick and pop or roll to the basket when they get doubled as some of them will, allows him to pick his spots and score in positions where he does what he does best.

In transition is where it could all come together for Randle. On a four-on-three fastbreak featuring Randle, Clarkson, Russell and old man Kobe with Roy Hibbert staying behind to protect the paint just in case but mostly because everybody on the team could lap him twice on a fastbreak, Randle’s skillset is highlighted with his ability to run the break and either drive and kick to an open shooter or go in for the dunk or contested layup.

The best way to make sure Randle gets his touches and his opportunities to lead the team is to have him be the No. 1 option for the second unit. Kobe’s minutes will likely be limited, however when he’s in I expect him to get his shots, but when he, Russell and Clarkson are all sitting Randle, Lou Williams and Nick Young should be the main scoring options with Randle being featured. That would allow Randle to push the ball without impunity and the Lakers could feed him in the post or allow him to run the pick-and-roll with Lou Will (I’m excited for this especially, mostly because I love Lou Will and this combo is gonna kill people in 2K) and Swaggy P.

As constructed the Lakers could have a problem on their hands. There’s one ball and, actually more than a handful of talent, which for this year’s Lakers could be a good problem to have.