Julius Randle, I am done with this man. I'm calling for the New York Knicks to trade him. You're not going to win with him. His body language, the second his shot is not falling, he's defeated and it has contagious effect. It's like a virus. Julius Randle is not the answer. Trade him because every postseason, this is what he does and that's the way that it is. Julius Randall was someone who had struggled in the playoffs. And honestly, that might be an understatement because during his first two years in the playoffs as a Knick. In 15 games, he averaged 17 points, over nine rebounds, and just under four assists. Not terrible until you realize he averaged more turnovers than assists. And oh, he shot 34% from the field and 28% from three. So, when he was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the world was shocked. How could you trade away one of the most talented players in the league, one of the best shooters in the league, and a guy who was a part of a team that had just made the Western Conference Finals, and had been a Timberwolf for life for Julius Randall, who was by no means a scrub, but after all these years, you were going to trade Cap for Julius Randall? Yes. And not only was it a good trade, it is looking like a fantastic trade. Because as I said in the beginning of this video, Julius Randall was someone who had struggled in the playoffs. That is past tense for a reason now. Because one year into his career with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Julius Randall has gone from someone with the reputation of being possibly the worst playoff underperformer in the NBA to a guy who was a major reason for the Wolves making the Western Conference Finals. And even in a matchup against a Warriors team without Steph Curry, this was still one of the best defenses in the league, involving one of the best defenders in the league. And neither Draymond Green or anyone on the Warriors roster had an answer for Julius Randall. And with that in mind, there is one thing almost all of us need to say. Sorry. Because they are in the Western Conference Finals again. And it wasn't Anthony Edwards who was the best player on the floor for the Timberwolves during this series. It was Julius Randall just relentlessly punishing the Dubs defense with his combination of size and scoring. Just look at him here in isolation against Draymond on the block. He backs him down a bit and it's that little jab before falling back and knocking down the jumper. And if he's doing that against Raymond Green, I mean, good luck putting Trace Jackson Davis on him as he just sizes him up before going off the glass. And when you see Julius Randall getting in his bag like this, that's the Julius Randall that was all NBA and was the best player on a Knicks team that made the playoffs before Jaylen Brunson arrived. Oh, did I mention he's 6'9", 250 lb? So, whilst it's fun to watch him handle the ball and hit pull-ups and bank it off the glass and show off his skill, um he's a giant human, so he can absolutely dominate at the rim as well. Using that combination of size, strength, and ball handling to score in transition, off cuts, off back downs, honestly any way imaginable. It was all on full display in the Warriors series. And clearly another big factor for Randall performing this well was the three-point shooting. This was something that was just abysmal during his first two playoff runs. And sometimes it can come down to luck. No one wants to hear that, but shooting luck is a real thing. And Randall isn't Carl Anthony Towns, but he shot around 35% from three over his last 5 years. And in the playoffs this year, he is around that mark as opposed to the 28% he shot for the Knicks. And this just keeps the defense accountable because you saw countless times during the Warriors series where they would go under the screens and leave him wide open. And if he's shooting 35% on five or six attempts, that's a pretty good shot. And when he's doing it from every single spot on the floor, all of a sudden, how do you stop him? As I mentioned, the wolves were ridiculed for this trade. Well, I'm going to speak for myself. When this trade initially happened, I was in disbelief. Not because I thought it was the worst trade ever, but it was just a shocking trade. However, as the season began, I started to think it was a pretty bad trade because 27 games into the year, the Wolves were 14 and 13 and the 10th seed as opposed to being in a race for the number one seed like they were all of last year. And it wasn't just me who was confused with what the Wolves were doing. This is what Anthony Edwards said 27 games into the year. We don't have nothing on offense. We don't have no identity. I mean, we know I'm going to shoot a bunch of shots. We know J's going to shoot a bunch of shots. And that's all we know. We don't really know anything else. I mean, it's not on coaches at all. It's on us. And if you guys want to feel better about your basketball IQ, or maybe I'm just doing this for myself because I thought it was a bad fit early in the year, one of the greatest coaches ever said the same thing after the series. Julius Randall was incredible. What a series, you know. Um I remember playing here early in the season and it looked like a tough fit and they didn't have the spacing. You know, they missed towns and if you fast forward to now, he's 13 for 18 tonight. He was just incredible the whole series. We couldn't stop him. But as the season went on, you started to see a Timberwolves team that looked elite. Randall wasn't putting up the same numbers he averaged in New York, but his efficiency went up. He was punishing mismatches. He was playing with effort on defense alongside Rudy, and he was feeding off Ant, which is another key factor about Randall's emergence in these playoffs. When you play next to five, like it make the game a lot easier, you know what I mean? Cuz they throwing two or three people at them. So you just got to be, you know, willing to move and be in the right spaces on the floor and, you know, you got to be able to take advantage of that. So, and he's not lying. The difference in how Julius Randall was being guarded whilst not being fully healthy as a Nick in the playoffs versus how he is now being guarded at full health as a wolf. wolve as a wolf. He's just worlds apart, which allows him to get those isolations like I showed you and to take advantage of those mismatches or a defense that isn't set up solely to stop him. Now, in saying that, when you start to score 25 a game every night, obviously the defense is going to try and get the ball out of your hands. And that's where Julius Randall can showcase the rest of his game. And one thing about Randall's game that has always been underrated, even when he was in New York making all-star teams, his playmaking never got the respect it deserved. And it still doesn't get the respect it deserves. There is a reason he was the Knicks engine on offense for a period of time prior to the Jaylen Brunson trade. And as a second option without that same pressure, his playmaking becomes even more impactful. He also has gravity as well. I showed you the clip of him praising Ants Gravity, but he's being pretty humble about his own game. And this is where a lot of his playmaking comes from. Despite not being the number one option anymore, he's still a mismatch punisher, which means teams are going to look to help. Just like here, where he gets it against Luca, LeBron looks to help over and Randall throws that pass immediately to Nquille for the open three. Or how about in the Warriors series where he recorded back-to back doubledigit assist games, including a triple double. And if we go back to game three, it was actually Julius Randall who was the reason Anthony Edwards got hot in the second half of the game after struggling to make shots all throughout the first half. It was Randall's ability to find him off the ball and get him good looks at the rim which got him going. Like here where he's up against Draymond and there's no double team. But when Buddy Heield falls asleep, Randall spots Ant cutting and finds him for the back door or this time against Kavon Looney and with GP2 faceguarding Ant off the ball. The best way to counter that is just like so. And it was these easy buckets with the help of Julius Randall that led to Ant having an explosive second half. And all of a sudden, you have two guys who can score from all three levels. You have two guys that can punish mismatches. You have two guys that can playmake for the rest of their team. And it's no coincidence that the Wolves are back in the Western Conference Finals despite doing it with a different group of players to last year. This is without mentioning Dante Devenenzo, who hasn't been the acquisition that Wolves fans would have hoped after the year he had in New York and has struggled shooting the ball in the playoffs. Oh my, has it been a struggle for him. But he still adds some playmaking, some defense, and if he can figure out that jump shot, the Wolves will go to a different level. But even still, Julius Randall in himself is proving this trade to have been a potential stroke of genius. And at this point, a win-win for both teams. Now, if you want to see more content like this going forward, consider subscribing. Dropping a like on the video would be cool. 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