KAT to the Knicks, Randle and DiVincenzo to Timberwolves [TRADE FINALIZED]

[RickyGQ]

You know as well as I that it would've been 3-1 right now if Steph was healthy, but hey, I'll let you cook.



Don't say I didn't warn you when Julius has to play a team with a proper frontcourt.

What front courts has Randle notoriously struggled against? Granted, we haven’t seen him against Hartenstein, but Randle is literally a mismatch nightmare. Only bigs in the league that routinely gave him trouble as a Knick were Bam and AD.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

What front courts has Randle notoriously struggled against? Granted, we haven’t seen him against Hartenstein, but Randle is literally a mismatch nightmare. Only bigs in the league that routinely gave him trouble as a Knick were Bam and AD.

He struggles at the first sign of resistance.

He's mentally weak, has a limited skillset and is reliant upon the officiating dictating how successful he is because he resorts to brute force rather than any notable skill.

That's why his flaws haven't been exposed because he's played against two teams that can't provide much resistance to big men. Any starting level PF would be eating in his place too. And it's really less about the actual frontcourts, themselves, and more about how imbalance in a squad creates fractures elsewhere, because it forces other players to overcompensate in areas that they otherwise wouldn't have to and that affects the rest of their respective games.

Because Minny have an infinitely better balance throughout their team, in comparison to the Lakers and Steph-less Warriors, it's made it easier for him to perform. He has a greater platform to play off because he's already playing with a headstart. He's barely had to defend in this series because the sheer size and deterrence that Gobert, Naz and McDaniels are imposing on GS is already enough to take them out of the contest.

Then he can come down the other end of the floor against a mentally-defeated, smaller team, get a switch on a guard/wing player (or fatigued one), or someone like Looney or TJD, and half the job is already done.

 

[Damnshow]

Randle looks better than he was in New York playoffs. That version of Randle was legitimately one of the worst NBA playoffs performers of all time. He was scared of getting to the basket I believe in Miami series few years ago.

KAT is a better player than Randle. He did his part in New York taking two wins against a healthy Celtics in Boston. That's more impressive than beating teams like Lakers and Warriors who have no front court.

Now whether it's OKC or Denver in conference finals....if Randle has a really great series against those front courts, then he'll deserve more props. Other than that, he's better than he was in NY, but KAT is doing great things himself.

 

[Anerdyblackguy]

Minnesota is now 28-5 over the last 33 games (66 win pace) that Julius has started for the Timberwolves. He currently leads all semi finals players in assist and is having best series against the number 1 defense since Jimmy has arrived and last time I checked Jimmy, All NBA defense Draymond, GP2 are still playing.

This isn’t surprising and if you followed the Knicks last year before he got hurt you saw this coming. He completely bought in to being the playmaking 4 and let Brunson handle the scoring. He was going to do this last year and players like Josh Hart and Donte knew it as well which is why his injury last year was devastating as fukk.

 

[MicIsGod]

hated this trade for Minny. That’s why I’m not a gm lol

 

[Versa]

People grow. They improve.

We can't hold people to the standard of their worst moment or their best. Life doesn't work that way. In competition and outside of it.

Randle was underperforming before. He isn't now.

Good for him and Minnesota.

 

[BucciMane]

If Randle comes back to MSG and blocks the Knicks from winning a title Fuk-Er-YYYYYYYYY

Game seven, tie game with thirteen seconds to go. Strips KAT, gets it to Donte, back to Randle for a game winning jumper. .


Not happening as Boston is coming back..

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Not much point bringing up GS defense after the Jimmy trade when they’re not the same team without Steph.

Their defense is predicated on Steph anchoring them on offense, to help them control the game and tire out the opposition (look at all the energy Minny has for offense now because they’re not running around trying to defend Steph and then recover to defend other players). Steph opens up open scoring opportunities so his own teammates don’t need to exert energy creating buckets for themselves, that allows them to conserve energy for defense. It also generates momentum and forces the opposition to counter that, leading to bad decisions/shots.

There’s nothing about the Warriors front court (aside from Dray) that screams best defense in the league.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Jimmy was a game-changing for them on defense, swooping in making plays as a help defender on the regular. These last three games he hasn’t been able to do that because all his tank is being used on offense.

He’s got nothing left for the other end. Everyone in the team has less juice for defense because it’s much harder to create offense for themselves without Steph.

 

[daboywonder2002]

People are now saying this trade worked out for both teams.

Maybe.

Though you could argue that if Steph Curry was healthy this series would look very different and maybe people wouldn’t be praising Randle as this Timberwolves savior/stalwart.

Randle has always been good about getting his. But that doesn’t mean he’s this team-elevating player.

He's probably been the best playmaker on our team. All this black hole stuff I didn't see here or New York.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

He's probably been the best playmaker on our team. All this black hole stuff I didn't see here or New York.

A lot of his playmaking constitutes of him throwing grenades to his teammates once he finds himself unable to get a shot off.

It’s happened frequently in this series.

He gets stonewalled in the paint and then just launches the ball out to the nearest teammate. There rarely ever is any rhyme or reason to his playmaking. He’s not actually creating scoring opportunities.

 

[krazykid18]

yooo @Gil Scott-Heroin you my homie 50 grand and all but you sounded very salty the last few pages, he is playing well and brings things KAT doesn't bring that helps Minny... right now it is looking like a good trade and leave it at that, lets people celebrate their wins man

 

[Derek Lee]

A lot of his playmaking constitutes of him throwing grenades to his teammates once he finds himself unable to get a shot off.

It’s happened frequently in this series.

He gets stonewalled in the paint and then just launches the ball out to the nearest teammate. There rarely ever is any rhyme or reason to his playmaking. He’s not actually creating scoring opportunities.

Exactly. He hunts for assists instead of making the pass to generate ball movement or hockey assists

 

[RickyGQ]

He struggles at the first sign of resistance.

He's mentally weak, has a limited skillset and is reliant upon the officiating dictating how successful he is because he resorts to brute force rather than any notable skill.

That's why his flaws haven't been exposed because he's played against two teams that can't provide much resistance to big men. Any starting level PF would be eating in his place too. And it's really less about the actual frontcourts, themselves, and more about how imbalance in a squad creates fractures elsewhere, because it forces other players to overcompensate in areas that they otherwise wouldn't have to and that affects the rest of their respective games.

Because Minny have an infinitely better balance throughout their team, in comparison to the Lakers and Steph-less Warriors, it's made it easier for him to perform. He has a greater platform to play off because he's already playing with a headstart. He's barely had to defend in this series because the sheer size and deterrence that Gobert, Naz and McDaniels are imposing on GS is already enough to take them out of the contest.

Then he can come down the other end of the floor against a mentally-defeated, smaller team, get a switch on a guard/wing player (or fatigued one), or someone like Looney or TJD, and half the job is already done.

Didn’t really answer my question….

 

[Regular_P]

You got a big brain, breh

The Ant effect is real. Getting Dubious Handle in line is the greatest achievement of his career so far.