Julius Randle wrote:I’m really not worried about scoring the ball. 20 [points] and 10 [rebounds], that type of stuff is easy for me,” Randle said. “I want to make people better on the court. I want to bring everybody along. Guys like Frank [Ntilikina], RJ [Barrett], Mitch [Robinson] and those guys and help them develop, because those guys are key parts to our team. The faster they develop, the better we’ll be, the faster we’ll be better. I want to help them out.

Julius Randle wrote:Defensively, that’s my focus. That’s where I want to make the biggest jump. I want to be able to impact the game on both ends of the floor and continue to add on to what I’ve done in the past and get better.

StarksEwing1 wrote:Kid seems happy and proud to be here. I think a lot of people bashing the knicks are gonna e eating crow the next couple years

Offensively, I wouldn't be surprised if he performed better than KP. We rebounded from that standpoint. He just fits better into most offenses, assuming KP still refuses to play center. He won't have as much of an impact defensively, but I expect Mitch to have good growth there. I think Randle is a good signing. It kills me how many "experts" were saying that we should sign him, and now they're saying we overpaid. The dude can ball at center or pf, depending on the matchup. We'll be entertainingly mediocre, but wouldn't we be saying the same thing if KP was here. At least we have cap flexibility now.

I recall a couple year's back when Luke first started coaching the Lakers, Randle got a lot of assists. I was wondering if Luke was trying to mold him into some version of Draymond (i.e., one with less defense but more offense, but still running offense through him)

EwingsGlass wrote:Randle has a solid grasp on what needs to happen here. I like seeing his passing. Those 7 assists were impressive to me.

Frank N. is playing a very inefficient style of basketball. He is settling for bad jumpshots. I am not seeing a lot of "playmaking" either. In my PG battle, he is likely the odd one out. Not to say he doesn't have value. But he needs to work on a number of things. I hope he can learn from Elf.

If you can’t see what Frank is bring to this team but one aspect of it then you do not understand basketball as well as you think you do. The intangible factors sometimes can not be quantified.

EwingsGlass wrote:

Vmart wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:Randle has a solid grasp on what needs to happen here. I like seeing his passing. Those 7 assists were impressive to me.

Frank N. is playing a very inefficient style of basketball. He is settling for bad jumpshots. I am not seeing a lot of "playmaking" either. In my PG battle, he is likely the odd one out. Not to say he doesn't have value. But he needs to work on a number of things. I hope he can learn from Elf.

If you can’t see what Frank is bring to this team but one aspect of it then you do not understand basketball as well as you think you do. The intangible factors sometimes can not be quantified.

Its pre-season, so don't think I am making a final judgment here. He is in third place in my head alone. I'm probably not the only one though.

Tangibly, he is settling for inefficient jump shots. Tangibly, his intangibles are not showing up in his +/-.

So, if your "intangibles" are things like being young and having long arms that don't have an impact on the game, I agree. If he is back to defending the PnR at a high percentage, I haven't seen those stats yet.

He still has upside. But my opinion is that he is settling for low efficiency shots like that fadeaway just outside the paint that he misses a lot. My impression of his passing is that is generally when he has dribbled too much, not in a manner that advances a play. Just an impression.

But enlighten me. What is Frank bringing to this team that I am overlooking by calling him out for taking bad shots?

How is Frank third in your head when Payten went 0-9? You’re calling out Frank’s inefficiency on the offense.

Vmart wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:

Vmart wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:Randle has a solid grasp on what needs to happen here. I like seeing his passing. Those 7 assists were impressive to me.

Frank N. is playing a very inefficient style of basketball. He is settling for bad jumpshots. I am not seeing a lot of "playmaking" either. In my PG battle, he is likely the odd one out. Not to say he doesn't have value. But he needs to work on a number of things. I hope he can learn from Elf.

If you can’t see what Frank is bring to this team but one aspect of it then you do not understand basketball as well as you think you do. The intangible factors sometimes can not be quantified.

Its pre-season, so don't think I am making a final judgment here. He is in third place in my head alone. I'm probably not the only one though.

Tangibly, he is settling for inefficient jump shots. Tangibly, his intangibles are not showing up in his +/-.

So, if your "intangibles" are things like being young and having long arms that don't have an impact on the game, I agree. If he is back to defending the PnR at a high percentage, I haven't seen those stats yet.

He still has upside. But my opinion is that he is settling for low efficiency shots like that fadeaway just outside the paint that he misses a lot. My impression of his passing is that is generally when he has dribbled too much, not in a manner that advances a play. Just an impression.

But enlighten me. What is Frank bringing to this team that I am overlooking by calling him out for taking bad shots?

How is Frank third in your head when Payten went 0-9? You’re calling out Frank’s inefficiency on the offense.

For me, efficiency is more about the shots you take on any given day than how you actually performed on any given day. I am happier with Elf's 0-9 than Frank's 2-7. Honestly. No one is going to make 100% of their shots. Over a season, I wouldn't expect Elf to shoot 0% either.

Look at the shot charts. The kinds of shots they take matter.

https://www.espn.com/nba/game?gameId=401163153

In this link, you can see the shot chart of each player by selecting each one individually.

Elf had a bad night. No question. But everyone of those shots is taken from an efficient location. If he continues to shoot 0%, we certainly have a problem. He took good shots though. Every shot is either behind the 3 point line or in the paint. Those are "efficient" shots, even if he had a bad night. That kind of shot chart shows maturity and court awareness. An understanding of PPP efficiency.

Compare with Frank. He is taking shots while stepping just in front of the 3 pt line. He is fading out of the paint. These are highly inefficient shots. He needs a better understanding of where he is on the court and to make better shooting decisions. It represents him as a bit more haphazard player.

Over 82 games, with each player consistently taking these kinds of shots, I would expect Elf to vastly outperform Frank on a points per possession basis.

This isn't an indictment of Frank to say that he cannot develop this kind of understanding. He is young and learning. Elf shows more maturity in his shot selection than Frank. Even if Frank hit two more shots last game.