That net rating is essentially neutral. His BPM and RPM are also essentially neutral. That's my whole issue with Randle. His box score stats are great but the cumulative performance metrics tend to rate him as an average player. Tonight for example, solid box score. But he was a team worst -24.
This is the aspect of Julius' game that it seems we can never have an honest discussion about. It always comes back to how pretty his box score numbers are but there has to be a reason that the impact never seems to match his individual stat line.
There are times where he is actively doing the little things and helping the team and not just himself but he doesn't consistently play that game.
Kuzma is a better player now than Randle was last year. I don't think there are many people who would choose Randle over Kuzma as a prospect.
I'm not sure if that is true or not. Kuzma is certainly a better scorer now than Randle was in his first couple seasons. Randle has 8 months of age and 2 years of pro experience on him, we'll have to see how Kuzma comes back next season. I don't really worry about Kuzma's offense though he has such a well rounded offensive game. For him the strides will need to be defensively and on the glass.
That having been said Randle was a far better rebounder in his first two seasons that Kuzma has shown as a rookie. He averaged the same assists in one less minute in his first year, and doubled up Kuzma's assists last season. Three point shooting is a no brainer Kuzma is so much better than Randle. For Randle to get to where he wants to go that's going to be crucial for him to get it up to a higher percentage.
It's hard to project where guys careers will wind up. So far Kuzma has shown himself to be a very streaky shooter. The first couple months of the season he was very efficient, nailing everything, and he's really struggled the past two months. He had similar streaks in college. Outside of shooting though I struggle to find anything that Kuzma does better than Randle right now. And Randle has shown improvement each year in the league. I'd expect both of those guys to come back better players next season.
I do think they can both co-exist either way. Randle can be an effective small ball center. So far Kuzma has not shown himself capable of performing at small forward, but I think he could potentially at some point. He hasn't gotten a ton of minutes there. But even aside from that Kuzma at PF for 30 minutes a game, Randle at PF for 18 minutes and then some time at center, the minutes can work out fine so long as you have a three player rotation instead of four. Nance being in the mix and deserving minutes hurt everyones minutes. First it was Randle's short minutes to start the season, and recently it's been Kuzma getting the short minutes. I also think their games compliment one another well offensively. Kuzma's shooting opens up lanes for Randle, and Randle's girth and rebounding are some some of the weaker parts of Kuzma's game.
dao wrote:
Ingram: +4.4
Pope: +3.5
Lopez: +2.1
Kuzma: +0.6
Hart: +0.4 (he started the streak poorly but has been beasting lately)
Randle: -0.1
Randle has a couple of huge negative games in that stretch. The season stats look like this...
Net Rating: (Points Gained/100 Possessions when on court)
+/- stats of course are partially determined by who you are playing with and how that unit is performing. Over the past 10 games Randle has been a +11, being a net positive 5 times, even in one game, and a net negative in 4 games.
That net rating is essentially neutral. His BPM and RPM are also essentially neutral. That's my whole issue with Randle. His box score stats are great but the cumulative performance metrics tend to rate him as an average player. Tonight for example, solid box score. But he was a team worst -24.
Don't forget this part
Quote:
Over the past 10 games Randle has been a +11, being a net positive 5 times, even in one game, and a net negative in 4 games.
The Lakers were 7-3 across those 10 games, and if we went by "before the trade deadline" the Lakers were 8-2. There's a reason for that.
The Lakers as a whole were also playing top 4 defense in the league during this stretch of time. _________________ How NBA 2K18 failed the All-Time Lakers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxMBYm3wwxk
So he can put up All Star box score stats while having neutral/average (or even slightly NEGATIVE) impact. His style of play is simply not ideal for today's NBA. Bully ball is outdated. Teams want SHOOTING and floor spacing. And his defensive intensity has fallen off big time from what we saw earlier in the season imho, especially after the trade deadline.
There is a reason the Lakers couldn't get a first round pick for Randle at the deadline. If teams really thought he could be an All Star type player, someone would have offered LA a first round pick for Randle's RFA rights.
Honestly, I want to see Kuzma get thenstarting 4 spot back after Lonzo's return. Even though Kuzma is in a shooting slump, his +/- in the last 23 games (-3.0) isn't much worse than Randle's (-2.6). So rookie Kuzma in a slump is having similar impact to contract year Randle in a hot streak. Style of play matters. Shooting/spacing matters.
I think there’s still a place for bully ball in today’s game. Used sparingly of course. When we’re geatting bested in the quick pace, like last nights game, putting a hurt on Mirotic can get the team as a whole riled up. We just tipped our hand too many times in a row. That was on Luke. Don’t keep spamming, lay the wood down, then mix it up. The AD switch put an end to the shenanigans. _________________ DEAR BASKETBALL
That's the problem with +/- stats and trying to use them to paint a player's effectiveness. Reality of it is that when Randle was on the bench he led the team in +/-. When he then took the starting role his +/- took a hit, and Nance's shot up. That's more of a reflection of the lineups, and the fact that while the starters are not as good as most team's, but the Lakers have a strong bench. Just being on the bad side of a rotation can hurt. Tonight for example Ingram and Randle are a -16 in a game they lead by 3 at the half. Why?
Well when the rest of the starters went out with the bench switch the Lakers had a lead. Randle and Ingram stayed in as the Wolves capped off a 12-1 run and both went to the bench a net negative after playing a few more minutes than the other starters. IT was also in for that bad run so he started off a big negative quickly. The bench (led by IT and Zu) went on a great run and everyone other than IT on the bench is at least a +11. Ingram and Randle were the first guys back in the game (they've tried to keep Randle matched with Towns tonight who is 1-6) and had more minutes than the other starters. KCP the only starter who isn't at least a -6. And that is the result of him missing much of the 12-1 run but being in when the bench made their push. +/- is only really useful when taken in context. And the context tonight is that the Lakers bench > the Wolves bench, and that the Wolves had a couple really good runs that both Randle and Ingram were in for. Now that isn't to say they weren't in some way responsible for them, they were in the game. But they didn't play particularly bad there. Nor did Brewer play particularly well. But Brewer is a +19.
Perfect example of that to start the third. Lakers starters are a +10 there. Randle and Ingram were good there, but they were good in the first half too. Just a matter of runs and match ups at different times. Randle was the first to go to the bench tonight and that helped him avoid missing a 6-0 run by the Wolves. Also a big difference between playing against Towns and Butler vs. Bjelica and Dieng.
+/- has a place. But you shouldn't be using that as your gauge of players.
Randle playing bully ball is only effective as long as he plays with a stretch 5. When lopez can hit 3's it just seems like our offense is firing cause it leaves JR all that room to play wrecking ball.
He's now adding some passing out of the post. Seems like he's still progressing. Should be fun to watch for the rest of the way.
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larry almost got him a max.
