New York Knicks: 3 goals For Julius Randle this season

Julius Randle is expected to lead the new-look New York Knicks. The question is, how far can he take this team. Here are three goals for him in 2019-20.

After the New York Knicks missed out on top free agents like Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, the front office moved quickly to sign impact players on team-friendly contracts. The first of those signings was Julius Randle, one of the most underrated players in the NBA.

It was clear after giving Randle a three-year, $62M contract the Knicks believe in Randle’s ability to be their top dog. The 24-year old had a breakout 2018 season with New Orleans, averaging 21.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game while shooting 52 percent from the field. (34 percent from three). Here are three goals for Randle in his first season with the Knicks.

Average 10+ Rebounds Per Game

While Julius Randle had a career year with the Pelicans, one area that was stagnant happened to be his rebounding. His 2018-19 average of 8.7 boards per game is slightly below his career average of 8.9. This can possibly be attributed to spending the bulk of his minutes with Anthony Davis, who pulled down 12 rebounds per game last season.

New teammate Mitchell Robinson is excellent defensively but he often chases his man out onto the perimeter in order to block shots, leaving potential offensive rebounding chances for opposing bigs. This is where Randle’s physicality on the glass should come in handy, eliminating second chances for the other team.

Julius Randle hasn’t averaged double-digit rebounds in a single year since his 2015 campaign with the Los Angeles Lakers. With the largest role in his career coming up with the Knicks, crashing the glass should be one of Randle’s top priorities every night.

Shoot 36 percent from three-point range

Randle experimented with a perimeter shot in his lone season in New Orleans, leading to mild success. The former top-10 draft pick shot 34.4 percent on 2.7 attempts per game from behind the arc. Before that, he hadn’t finished a season shooting above 30 percent from downtown. If he can increase his percentage once more while also increasing the number of attempts, both Randle and the Knicks will reap the benefits.

More from New York Knicks

• New York Knicks Fall to Eighth After NBA Draft Lottery
• New York Knicks: Players to Draft in Worst-Case Lottery Scenario
• New York Knicks: Three Players Who Should Thrive Under Tom Thibodeau
• Is Devin Booker to the New York Knicks Realistic?
• New York Knicks: Tom Thibodeau Officially Hired as Head Coach

The Knicks desperately need floor spacing, which would help create driving lanes for guards like Dennis Smith Jr. and R.J. Barrett who prefer to work in the paint. This could also help Mitchell Robinson, as the extra spacing would create more alley-oop chances for the second-year center. Defenses would have to choose between helping on Robinson and leaving Randle open for three, or they’d be forced to rely on their center meeting the high-flying former second-round pick at the rim.

Become an All-Star

If Julius Randle can average 20 plus points and 10 plus rebounds while being an above-average three-point shooter, he should easily secure the first All-Star selection of his young career. If he can also immediately establish chemistry with his younger teammates, that’s just icing on the cake.

The primary thing holding Randle back would be a lack of wins, as teams with a poor record hardly employ players worthy of All-Star consideration. After recording just 17 wins last year, improvement is going to be a requirement. Randle should be a huge factor in elevating the entire team.

With all of the new talent acquired over the summer by general manager Scott Perry, most Knicks fans are expecting a 10-win improvement at the very least. If Randle can lead this team to even greater success while simultaneously bringing his own game to another level, the New York Knicks have a new star on their hands.