As he crosses the East River and enters the Brooklyn home of two NBA All-Stars on Saturday night, Knicks’ Julius Randle makes a powerful case to affix them in Salt Lake City next month.
While Nets stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were named Eastern Conference starters for this game, Randle’s path could have to come back up as a backup. However the Knicks star continues to stack great performances within the midst of a resurgent season currently surpassing his first All-Star campaign within the 2020-21 season.
Going into Saturday’s clash with the Nets on the Barclays Center, Randle is averaging 24.8 points (on 46.1 shooting percentage) and 10.9 rebounds per game – all up from the last time he was an All-Star. Only his 3-pointers (from 41.1 percent to 34.6) and assists (from six per game to 4) are down from last 12 months, but so is his turnover (from 3.4 per game to 2.7) , because it continues to bounce back from the disappointing 2021-22 season in between.
Randle has come alive, especially within the last month. Within the last 19 games, he averaged 29 points (47% shooting percentage), 13.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 39 minutes.
“I like the ability with which he plays,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau after an additional time win in Boston on Thursday night, wherein Randle scored 37 points and nine rebounds. “He does it [in] other ways, and it’s hard to maintain an eye on him when he’s doing it. He does this by moving without the ball. He does it within the post, he does it outside of dribbling, he does it within the pass from 3. He plays people very well. And it creates a rhythm for everybody. That is a giant plus.”
Randle has a number of more games left to impress coaches across the league who might be voting for the All-Star Reserves before they’re announced next Thursday. Each conference could have seven reserves, broken down by two guards, three frontcourt players, and two wild cards.
Durant, Irving, Jayson Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Donovan Mitchell were named Eastern Conference starters, with Joel Embiid and Jaylen Brown appearing to be blocking two reserve spots. This leaves 4 slots where Randle could be picked as he is not going to be eligible for the remaining guard slot.
The players that Randle might be battling for last place are Bam Adebayo, Pascal Siakam and Jimmy Butler within the frontcourt, and teammate Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton, James Harden, Jrue Holiday, DeMar DeRozan and Trae Young will receive wildcards.
On Thursday’s TNT show “Contained in the NBA”, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal (who referred to Randle as “Julius Randolph”) all picked Randle as one in all the East’s reserves, with Embiid and Brown also earning a unanimous vote. approval.
Despite this, Randle was only ranked tenth amongst frontcourt candidates in player voting. Three starters, Embiid, Adebayo, Siakam, Butler, Paolo Banchero and Jarrett Allen were ahead of him.
Randle’s candidacy could be strengthened if Durant is unable to play within the All-Star game as a consequence of a sprained right MCL that’s currently sidelined. In that case, Embiid would likely come into the starting lineup and open up a backcourt spot.
But Randle’s recent hot streak could also be enough to place him within the case, whether or not Durant is fit enough to play.
Considered one of the few advanced stats working against Randle’s candidacy is RAPTOR FiveThirtyEight, which measures a player’s overall value by combining offensive and defensive rankings. Randle ranks sixty fourth within the NBA with a RAPTOR 1.8 – his defense hurts his cause – while teammates Mitchell Robinson, Brunson and Immanuel Quickley pass him.
In RAPTOR wins over trades Randle ranks thirty fourth within the NBA with a 4.1. The Eastern Conference reserves ahead of him include Embiid (sixth, 6.2), Haliburton (11, 5.7), Harden (17, 5.3), Young (17, 5.3), Holiday (21, 4, 9), DeRozan (twenty second, 4.8), Butler (twenty fifth, 4.6), Brunson (twenty ninth, 4.3) and Adebayo (thirty fourth, 4.1).