Julius Randle missing shots and sinking Knicks
Knicks' Julius Randle tries to get past Milwaukee Bucks' Khris Middleton during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, in Milwaukee. Credit: AP/Morry Gash
MILWAUKEE
In his hand as he finishes an interview, ready to head out into the night, Julius Randle has been carrying with him the book “Be Water, My Friend, The Teachings of Bruce Lee.” It’s a subject that has fascinated him since he watched a documentary on Lee in the summer. And maybe it’s time for Tom Thibodeau to take a page from the teachings of Phil Jackson and hand Randle a new book — maybe ‘‘The Art of War’’?
One of the mantras that Thibodeau preaches to his team is that you don’t have to shoot well to play well, but as Randle has struggled to find his shot, it has seemed to confound him — leaving him shaking his head along with Knicks fans. Do his offensive struggles lead to a passive demeanor offensively and contribute to his sometimes less than fiery effort on the defensive end?
Should he just, as Charles Barkley implored him in recent weeks, bully his way to the basket? In the Knicks’ loss to Cleveland on Wednesday, Randle didn’t get to the free-throw line once.
He hasn’t blocked a shot in the first six games. And this seems to go almost unnoticed because he has shot abysmally this season, connecting on 27.1% from the floor and 22.5% from three-point range. For a two-time All-NBA player, it’s almost astounding that he has converted only 30.4% of his two-point attempts.
Every national television appearance seems to come with a critique. On Friday, it was Kendrick Perkins on ESPN saying Randle needs to stop hogging the ball.
Thibodeau puts it in simpler terms when he is asked about Randle’s struggles.
“I want him to make good decisions,” he said. “I’m not going to measure every shot that he takes . . . You can’t predetermine. You can’t say, ‘Well, I haven’t had a shot, so now I’m going to take a shot.’ The game tells you what to do. If you’re open, you shoot. If there’s three guys around you, you hit the open man. It’s really simple. It’s not hard.”
Randle saw his offensive performance dip in the postseason last spring, shooting 37.4% overall and 25.8% from three-point range, but he had pushed himself to get on the court after suffering an ankle sprain that sidelined him for the final five games of the regular season and required offseason surgery. Thibodeau has talked about Randle needing to find his way back into form after the surgery limited his offseason work, but Randle refuses to use that as a crutch.
“I’m not going to sit here and make excuses or anything,” he said after Friday’s 5-for-20 (1-for-9 from beyond the arc) effort in Milwaukee. “Like I said, just got to keep figuring it out, keep trusting the process, and it’ll fall into place.”
“It happens. It’s part of basketball,” Jalen Brunson said. “This dude, he has a great mindset, a great work ethic. He comes in every day, does what he has to do, does his routine and all that stuff. The ball is not going through the hoop right now for him. I tell him every day I’m with him. We’re going to work through this, everything. When I have days I’m not making shots, he says the same to me. It’s just, it’s all right. I mean, he’s missing shots but we’re still in games. He’s still contributing in a big way. I’m not going to get into all that stuff, but his heart’s still there. He just has to get over this little hump.”
Maybe the shooting will come. If history is a guide, it certainly will. But in the meantime, Thibodeau’s messages about contributing when you’re not shooting well seem to fall with no response.
In the past, Randle has had his issues with fans and the media, and no one could blame him for seeking a more peaceful mindset. Anyone who has met him will tell you that he is a smart, thoughtful man, a doting father and family man.
Those are all admirable attributes, but it’s not what the Knicks need on the floor right now from their most accomplished and awarded star. A missed shot they can accept, but the passive defense and reluctant offense are emblematic of the team’s 2-4 start.
The teachings of Lee are a noble path. But Lee made his name with fighting skills, and that is what the Knicks need more than anything from Randle right now.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
