July of 2019 was a dark time for New York Knicks fans, who in the matter of a few days went from thinking they were going to land Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to ending up with Julius Randle as the marquee summer signing.
It was, at the time, seen as the latest — and most embarrassing when Durant flat out said the Knicks are no longer “moving” — in a string of swings and misses by a franchise that finished a combined 166 games under . 500 since their last postseason appearance in 2013.
But something quietly happened, and it started with Randle coming to a three-year, $63M deal that may have felt like a consolation prize but was actually the best thing that could have happened. The Brooklyn Nets ended with the Durant-Irving debacle, while the Knicks, under the shrewd leadership of Steve Mills and Scott Perry, began to think long-term with shorter-term commitments.
Just when it would be the the most Knicks thing to do to overreact to the Durant/Irving miss by selling their soul on some other myopic all-in deal, like when they maxed out Amar’e Stoudemire in 2010 after catching fire on LeBron James, they started building through the draft while building up . powder signing guys like Bobby Portis, Elfrid Payton, Taj Gibson, Marcus Morris, Alec Burks, Derrick Rose and Nerlens Noel to team-friendly deals to get around Randle, who was suddenly passed over from being a go-to player in what seemed like. be a no-win situation.
All Randle did was crash two All-NBA teams and three All-Star teams while helping lead the Knicks to three playoff appearances during his five-year tenure in New York, which ended late Friday night when he was traded to the. Minnesota Timberwolves (along with Donte DiVincenzo) in exchange for Karl-Anthony Towns.
To be clear, Towns is a better player than Randle. Perhaps more importantly, he’s a much better fit for the Knicks as an advanced floor spacer next to Jalen Brunson. He can play in two big lineups with center Mitchell Robinson. He’s adjusted well enough to serve as a secondary scorer to Anthony Edwards, and he should fit in similarly in New York as a guy who can, for the most part, pick and explode and attack ends without all the pressure to be the best player.
Suddenly the Knicks are absolutely stacked after trading for OG Anunoby last December and Mikal Bridges this summer. The team simply outplayed Randle, who nevertheless served his purpose in a way that deserves to be remembered and respected. He was the first brick in the patient road that led the Knicks into legitimate contention for what would be their first championship since 1973.
Randle wasn’t perfect in New York. He was a ball stopper and a sporadically committed defender. He wasn’t, and still isn’t, good enough to be the go-to scorer on a rival team, and that showed in the first round of the 2021 playoffs when he shot under 30% and committed 23 turnovers as the Knicks. were bounced by the Hawks.
But it would be a mistake to focus on Randle’s postseason shortcomings rather than the fact that he got the Knicks, who won 17 and 29 games in the two years before his arrival, for so long in the first place.
This is a guy who overachieved in every way imaginable in a role that was seemingly miles over his head. During his first three years with the Knicks, Randle, despite seeing constant double teams and driving lanes that were clogged with cheating defenders completely indifferent to non-shooters like Elfrid Payton, RJ Barrett and Derrick Rose, averaged 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Opponents had the luxury of throwing everything at Randle, who, through all the physical battering that comes with being a No. 1 bully-ball option, often tasked with guarding opposing centers at just 6-foot-8, simply kept his head down and continued to appear damn near. every night From 2020-23, Randle played in 89% of New York’s games (220 of 246) and averaged 36. hard minutes at night. Forty-three times he played more than 40 minutes during that three-year span.
No player was more instrumental in New York’s return to relevance than Randle, who laid the foundation of a team that was suddenly cool enough to attract DiVincenzo and Isaiah Hartenstein and Jalen Brunson, the latter of whom developed into a player great enough to motivate the front office, now run by Leon Rose, to go all-in on business for Anunoby and Bridges.
That’s when the Randle trade writing was on the wall. He is in the final year of his current contract, and the Knicks would be in the tough spot of having to overpay him this summer or lose him for nothing. It’s a shame Randle won’t get the chance to play with this updated version of the Knicks in the secondary role he’s always been best suited for, but the simple truth, again, is the team is just too good for him yet. suitable
It’s a bit like David Lee’s situation with the Warriors. Lee was an All-Star with, interestingly enough, the Knicks before signing an $80M sign-and-trade deal with the Warriors in 2010. The Warriors were trash, and while Lee was never good enough to be the only All-Star on. real team, he was, like Randle with the Knicks in 2019, the first established guy to pump some life into a basement-dwelling franchise that, over the next few years, would explode into a liability that no longer needed him.
Lee got a ring with the Warriors in 2015, but he was almost an honorary member of the team at that point. He averaged four points in the playoffs and logged one minute in the championship-clinching win over the Cavs. However, it was apparent to all the role that Lee played in the formative years of a dynasty, even if he never really got the chance to finish what he started.
Likewise, Randle won’t have the opportunity to finish what he started in New York. But make no mistake, he did start it Wherever the Knicks go from here, that can’t be forgotten.
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