jrodmc wrote:fishmike wrote:martin wrote:fishmike wrote:yeah man when you look at Randle's ceiling it gets higher and higher because his passing is elevating other players. He's clearly now making others around him better, or at least easier. This is what we were desperate for from Melo. Randle with his 2 way play and team ball is looking more and more like a real cornerstone piece.
Feel like we could reach Tony Wroten level pages if we started to compare Melo and Randle with jrodmc having half those posts.
But it's starting to get legit. May need another season like this one to solidify
Melo is still easily a better scorer and more clutch but in terms of overall impact Randle's defense and passing put him neck and neck (today). Randle also has one year of playing like this under his belt. Melo was like a 5x all star at the same age and one of the NBA's elite scorers. A guess a "fair" question would be at this point in their career who would you rather have? In terms of impact they are both pretty equal at this age. Hopefully Randle just stays healthy and continues on this arc. Problem with Melo was his cost. With Randle we got lucky and now have massive cap space, extra picks and young players already around him. With Melo we spent everything building a squad around Melo/Amare/Tyson and that was pretty good when they were all healthy but lacked the flexibility to grow beyond a 50ish win 2nd round team.
And an even "fairer" question, oh mirror on the wall, would be what would Melo have been like with these types of young shooters around him? Amare was toast by the time Melo got here, and FluTyson isn't worth talking about, DPOY or no.
Randle's timing is almost insanely perfect here, so it's hard to question. He's the leader, can score almost at will in iso, and yet kicks it out like a mofo. Like Barrett said, he makes the game easier for just about everyone.
I know NALOD might just throw up his breakfast, but I don't see Melo leading this team like Randle is. Clutch aside, he's emerged at exactly the right time. And he looks and acts like he's done this his whole life.
I feel like that's a big chicken/egg scenario. Does Melo NEED the better shooters around him or should he have been able to MAKE the shooters around him better because of the gravity of his play and passing ability. This year Randle has assisted on a LOT of 3point shots and statistically those shooters are better when he is on court or passing to them.
Last year Bullock shot 33%, Burks is a career 37% 3pt shooter, RJ has his own story. Melo had role players around him like Novak, Felton, Iman, Pablo, JR, Kidd; none of those guys will jump out at you as 3pt shooters outside of Novak.
Randle made himself a deadly 3point shooter, almost defying gravity going from 28% last year to 40%, and thus his gravity and passing makes those other shooters better.
Do Melo, Randle need shooters? Yes. Do they make their shooters better cause of their play? Better question
4/14/2021 2:18 PM