jskinny35 wrote:I'm still trying to figure out what RJ is really good at that he would be a long term worthwhile investment.I get the marketing aspect of him but as a raw player, what are you getting besides volume so far? He eats minutes, he is high volume on not very good shooting %, I am not convinced of him as a defender.
I think he may end up as jack of all trades - master of none kind of player. Super solid and can definitely be a key piece on a championship team. He has the mental makeup and his game will age well since he's crafty, strong and doesn't rely on athleticism. He has also show a willingness to step up and take clutch shots - obviously he needs to shoot better for this to pay off but good that's asserting himself as a young player.
He is limited athletically and needs to get back to (at least) last season's efficiency to be that player we keep/factor into our roster construction. I do think he will play better without Randle and increasing the game pace/tempo with guys like IQ and Obi. Next season will likely answer what many of us wonder about - is RJ a perfect complement to our A level player... more then that or less? Randle was also inefficient and impacted spacing so think pairing RJ with another uptempo athletic wing would be a better fit to bring out RJ's strengths (eg trasition, less spot up shooting).
He definitely is strong and hopefully he figures out how to use that to his advantage. I don't find RJ very crafty at ALL, in fact, the opposite. Not a natural passer, not crafty around the rim, not crafty in the mid range (those push shots are embarrassing).
For me, I'd love for the Knicks to trade and get value for Randle, just don't like him as a base player. I love RJ with the young kids but pretty soon he'll be in the $25M range and that's a whole lotta difference than just being a 22yo with 3 years under his belt trying to figure things out.