Julius Randle and the Baby Lakers grow up

Wrote about Julius Randle, figuring things out for the Lakers. An excerpt:

Randle’s strong and crafty, but his height (6'9'’) and short arms mean taller defenders can smother him in the post. He shot 32 percent on post-ups last season, per Synergy Sports, and is only at 40 percent this year. Give him some space and allow him to take his man off the dribble from the perimeter, however, and he finds much more success. He’s got that quick-twitch first step some big men just can’t handle, and this year he’s shown an improved feel for reading the defense when he’s on his way to the basket.

What Randle loves to do in iso situations is face his man up, give a quick jab step to put the idea of a drive toward his left (strong) hand in their head, then burst by them with a drive to the right before stopping on a dime and wheeling back around with a spin move so he can finish the play left-handed. It’s a move that works well for him a lot of the time, but also one that smart defenders know he wants to get to — so they’ll try to wait on it and spring a trap. “If they sit on it, I’ll just go right or to a jump shot or my up-shoulder fake,” Randle says. “It doesn’t really matter.”

Read the full story at VICE Sports.