Why Season-Ending Surgery On Julius Randle Hurts Knicks?
Julius Randle is an All-Star, thus it may be important to remember that players who are invisible sometimes become forgotten. He was selected for the All-Star squad two months ago, not, like, philosophically, or in some distant past.
This season, just five players have averaged more than 24 points, nine rebounds, and five assists per game. Randle is one of them; the others are candidates for MVP. After enduring a cold six-game start to the season, in which he missed 70 of his first 96 shots while readjusting to life after offseason surgery, Julius Randle averaged 25.5 points per game on.594 true shooting, converting more than thirty percent of the Knicks’ offensive possessions into field goals, turnovers, or fouls. This is superstar-caliber play.
An unfavorable assessment of Randle’s performance on the other side of the court is frequently part of the “glass half empty” mentality. With good reason: You can probably find at least a few examples of erratic defensive play if you watch any random Knicks game. These include careless closeouts, inattentiveness off the ball, and sporadic lazy play.
Nevertheless, in his minutes, New York still generated stops at a rate that was above average and league-best when he and OG Anunoby shared the court as a tough, physical frontcourt that portrayed itself as a unit capable of handling the roughest assignments the Knicks would encounter throughout the postseason.
Reactions were mixed when Anunoby arrived from Toronto to play for the Knicks. Immanuel Quickley, the plus-minus god and runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year, was a former Raptors forward. Some wondered if New York would regret trading for him, while others questioned if he was a significant enough player to warrant paying a high salary in unrestricted free agency this summer. But Julius Randle only needed one game to change his mind about the trade—a 112-106 victory over the Timberwolves on New Year’s Day.
“Looks like the ideal addition that goes really nicely with our team.”
Immanuel Quickley
Randle got it exactly right. During Anunoby’s tenure, the Knicks won 12 of their first 14 games and outscored opponents by a massive 16.5 points per 100 possessions. That difference soared to an absurd 26.1 points per 100 when Randle, Anunoby, and All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson were playing.
Best Plays From NBA All-Star Reserve Julius Randle | 2023-24 NBA Season
A club that had struggled to get up into the middle of the Eastern Conference for the majority of the previous two seasons, the Knicks, now appeared to have the strength and intensity to compete at a higher level. Suddenly, the Knicks appeared to be a dark horse to go to the conference finals when they felt confident enough to make major moves during the trade deadline.
Subsequently, during a drive against the Heat, Randle suffered a severe injury that dislocated his right shoulder. Subsequently, Anunoby experienced inflammation in his right elbow, which required surgery. In addition, Randle’s season is over and there is no chance that the team that destroyed the league will play again this year because he requires surgery to fix his broken shoulder.
With Julius Randle out of the picture for 29 games and the Knicks now sitting in fifth place in the East, the news was a cruel kick in the gut for a squad that has been struggling with a slew of injuries since its illustrious run in January. Currently, several postseason prediction methods (Ballistic Reference, Inpredictable, Dunks and Threes, ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, Playoff Status) see New York finishing fifth, behind the struggling Cavaliers and the rapidly improving Orlando Magic.
Although finishing in fifth place is the most likely scenario, the Knicks could still finish as high as second or as low as ninth. Thus, Anunoby’s elbow condition—he was placed back on the sidelines following what was initially referred to as “injury management” because of elbow inflammation, but is now being diagnosed as “right elbow tendinopathy”—becomes one of the key swing variables in the Eastern Conference playoff scenario.
With Villanova teammates Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo, and Brunson guarding the perimeter, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau may start Anunoby at power forward next to Isaiah Hartenstein at center if he is able to return to the court in good health. Though they have only had 329 total possessions, lines with Brunson and Anunoby without Randle have dominated opponents by more than 32 points per 100 possessions. Their effectiveness can be attributed to their ability to balance size, defensive toughness, physicality, versatility, playmaking, and shooting.
‘A Crushing Blow’: Julius Randle OUT for season + Joel Embiid’s status | SportsCenter
After this group plays well and the other rotation players that New York developed during its two-month long string of injuries (Miles McBride as backup point guard, Mitchell Robinson, who recently returned at center, and spot minutes for Bojan Bogdanović and Precious Achiuwa in front court), you have a team that can win a playoff series, depending on the matchups. Brunson has been so good this season that he might potentially be selected for the All-NBA team.
There are several reasons why the Knicks haven’t struggled offensively without Randle: One of the league’s best high-volume, high-efficiency 3-point shooters is DiVincenzo; lower-usage players like Hart and Hartenstein can step up their complementary playmaking to help loosen up an offense that can get stagnant; Achiuwa proved to be a steal of an add-on when he helped bring Anunoby to Manhattan; and McBride blossomed into a 42% 3-point shooter when forced into action due to various injuries.
It’s mostly evidence of how exceptional Brunson has been as a top option who can carry a massive scoring and playmaking load without experiencing a decline in efficiency or an increase in turnovers.
During the season, the Knicks have averaged 120.5 points per 100 possessions with Brunson on the court, which is good for a top-two offense based on the ailments that kept Anunoby and Randle out of action. But when Brunson isn’t playing for the Knicks over the course of those 29 games, New York has scored an ugly 101.9 points per 100 possessions, an offensive ineptitude more often associated with historically poor teams than with teams aiming for postseason success, such as the 7-59 Charlotte Bobcats and the 1980s 76ers.
It is maybe the most painful place to put an end to hopes of Randle’s comeback. During the rest of the regular season and particularly in the playoffs, New York’s best chance of surviving Brunson’s vanishingly short rest intervals was when Randle returned, looking more or less like himself and able to create opportunities in those minutes without Brunson.
while Randle drives to the paint, he can do so from the post or while he’s advancing as the ball handler in a pick-and-roll. No other Knick can match his ability to do so. No one else is as likely to draw an additional defender and create an opening for a teammate elsewhere as this Knick, since no one else poses as big of a danger to score.
Nobody else on the Knicks is as skilled at taking advantage of that extra attention by dishing the ball to an open teammate who is frequently positioned behind the 3-point arc. Despite playing in only 46 games this season, Randle leads the Knicks in assists that result in 3-pointers; among the 232 players who have played at least 1,000 minutes, he ranks 16th in 3-point assists per 100 possessions. This information comes from PBP Stats.
The great offense was not the result of that shot creation: With Randle and without Brunson, New York scored 114 points per 100 possessions, which is in the bottom-10 and comparable to the Heat’s season-long average. However, considering what New York has produced without Brunson since Randle’s injury, that still stands in stark contrast. and it was plenty for the Knicks to win those minutes without Brunson because of their ability to shut down.
They would be extremely difficult to beat even against the best opponents if they could duplicate that strategy in the playoffs: blitz teams with the starters on the floor, stagger the stars’ minutes, remain afloat when one is resting, and profit.
It goes without saying that Randle’s play has drawn the harshest criticism when it comes to “replicating the formula in the playoffs”; namely, that his All-Star, All-NBA, and star-level productivity during the regular season hasn’t translated to the biggest games.
Randle struggled in the Hawks’ first-round series in New York after emerging as an All-Star, All-NBA, and Most Improved Player in 2021. He shot a dismal 28 for 94 from the field (29.8%) and had more turnovers (23) than assists (20). Randle looked for the chance to repair his postseason reputation last spring, but he ended up spraining his ankle badly in late March. This came after Trae Young and company shut out New York in five games, a defeat that made it evident to Knicks brass how much they needed a top-tier playmaker at the point, ultimately leading them to pursue Brunson.
He was visibly hindered throughout the series, even though he raced back for the start of the first round against the Cavaliers. In the Game 5 championship, he further aggravated his injuries. His ankle became unstable and required surgery to fix, thus he ended up missing the first game of the second round against the Heat and playing sporadically for the rest of the series, which Miami won in six games.
I’m sure Randle is feeling the weight of those two setbacks. The summer marks his tenth season in the NBA; he was considerably below 100% even in his one postseason series victory. He was the seventh overall choice in the 2014 NBA Draft.
Randle has played on the best Knicks squad of his career—the one that took the court in January. Perhaps this explains why he allegedly went through the rehab process so quickly; obviously, you don’t want to just give up the opportunity to see it through, to rewrite the narrative of who you are and who you can be on the largest stage of your sport, until you reach the point when you’ve run out of options.
On Thursday, Julius Randle made that point. The Knicks’ hope of witnessing the squad that dominated the NBA in January return to the court in the spring has ended along with his season. Randle’s opportunity to rewrite his story will have to wait another year; in the meanwhile, we’ll have to wait and watch what type of season finale Brunson, Thibodeau, and company can create without him.
