Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Reasons Why Julius Randle Should Be A Starter
Julius Randle is playing some of the best basketball of his career. As a result, it is fair to argue he should be penciled into the starting five for the Los Angeles Lakers.
This season has been a fairly interesting one for power forward/center Julius Randle. When the season kicked off, he learned that he would not be in the starting five for the Los Angeles Lakers. The starting power forward spot Randle previously occupied went to Larry Nance Jr. instead.
Originally, the former Kentucky Wildcat was not a fan of the move to the bench. Throughout the first few games of the season, Randle was noticeably disgruntled. The frustration negatively affected his level of play and there came a point when head coach Luke Walton let the fourth year player know about it.
As a result, the well-built ballplayer had a simple choice. He could either continue to sulk or embrace the different role.
Thankfully, for Los Angeles, the 6’9” forward chose the latter of the bunch. Suffice to say, Julius has made the best of the current scenario. One could even contend by now that he has been the Lakers’ best player on certain occasions.
What is curious is that the southpaw has maximized his minutes while having less playing time. Last season Randle averaged close to 29 minutes a game, whereas he is getting less than 22 a night this year.
Among players who are on the floor less than 22 minutes a night, no one in the league has stats like Randle. He is averaging an efficient 12.3 points, 6.5 boards, and 1.7 dimes. Not too shabby by any stretch of the imagination.
What is scary to think about, though, is what he could do if he was given additional minutes. Christian Rivas of SB Nation describes this in more detail in a fairly recent post he wrote.
"Through 23 games Randle’s averaging 20.2 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.3 blocks per 36 minutes. The only players that can say the same are Joel Embiid and DeMarcus Cousins. There’s no reason he should be playing less than 20 minutes a night, something he has done three times in the last 10 games."
To be in such elite company speaks wonders about how far Randle has gotten as a player this season. He is clearly playing some mighty impressive ball. Given that truth, a change may very well be justified at this juncture.
Taking that into account, here are three reasons as to why Julius Randle should be slotted into the starting rotation.