Julius Randle's Struggle off the Bench Is Troublesome for Los Angeles Lakers

Ever since December 7, when Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott removed Julius Randle from the team’s starting lineup, L.A. has played much better with its second-year lottery pick off the court. Heading into Tuesday night’s win over the Denver Nuggets, the team was “only” outscored by 9.4 points per 100 possessions—versus a net rating of minus-22.9 when he played—per NBA.com.

In Denver, Randle scored eight points, grabbed 10 rebounds and looked increasingly uncomfortable through the first three quarters before a few spurts of production in the final frame. It was more of the same for a talented youngster who one day may still become the Lakers’ best player: inconsistent two-way effort meshed with an unpredictable, toothless attack.  

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The Lakers rebound the ball better on both ends with Randle on the court, but that might be the only positive takeaway from these last couple weeks, where we’ve seen his individual efficiency plummet. Randle shot 43.3 percent in his first 20 games this season. Over the past seven, he’s down to 38.8 percent (and just 50 percent in the restricted area) despite spending more and more time against flimsy bench units.

His box-score numbers are all over the place (a 20-point, 12-rebound effort against the Minnesota Timberwolves was followed by a four-point snoozer against the San Antonio Spurs), and while labeling his stats as empty calories is a bit harsh, few of them feel meaningful.

Aside from attacking the offensive glass and scoring on putbacks (usually off his own missed shots), the 21-year-old is currently without a useful role in Los Angeles’ offense. Most of that’s due to a broken jump shot that defenders don’t respect. Randle has zero trust in it right now, and essentially all his mid-range attempts are wide-open and hopeless.

(Randle is shooting 24.5 percent on long twos, which ranks 132 out of 134 among players who've attempted at least 50 mid-range shots this season, per NBA.com.)

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Here’s what Lakers shooting coach Tracy Murray recently had to say about Randle’s struggles, per Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times:

"

If you watch in warmups or practice or shoot-around, he'll knock those shots down. He has to transform that mentally to the game. I think he's a little too fast — adrenaline.

When you're not knocking it down or not shooting it in the game, people [come] out on you a little bit slower. That’s why I have him use a slower release. They're going to dare him to shoot it. It's almost going to be a H-O-R-S-E shot.

"

When he doesn’t have the ball, Randle cramps the floor and prevents his teammates from operating with room. Here’s Jordan Clarkson and Robert Sacre trying to run a pick-and-roll Saturday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but Randle’s man, Serge Ibaka, sinks down to blot it out. 

NBA.com

When he has the ball on the perimeter, Randle’s defender will sag back and give more than an arm’s length of space to prevent a blow-by. The scouting report is out, and Randle doesn’t have an answer for it.

NBA.com

As the screener in a pick-and-roll, Randle doesn’t contribute much, and he can’t inflict any pain in the post. Against Denver, he was called for a five-second violation—the Mark Jackson rule—trying to back the much smaller Randy Foye down from the right block. He struggled to get past Jameer Nelson, too. 

Instead, he’ll catch the ball, survey the defense and slowly attack a presumably longer defender with good old-fashioned hero ball.

According to Synergy Sports (via NBA.com), only two players who’ve isolated at least 50 times this season get a higher percentage of their offense from such possessions: James Harden and Carmelo Anthony. Those two have obviously earned the right to stop ball movement and attack one-on-one. It’s a part of their respective teams' offensive identities.

But Randle isn’t nearly good enough, nor should anyone expect him to be. It's out of place. 

Outside of his physicality in the paint and on the offensive glass, Randle’s play when L.A. has the ball is worrisome. But his defense might be even worse. He’s nearly useless trying to defend pick-and-rolls the way Scott has him doing it: dropping down to corral the ball-handler and relying on a third defender to rotate over and guard the roller.

He’s engaged as an on-ball defender, though, which suggests Randle (and the Lakers) might be better off switching more ball screens, letting him bait guards into attacking off the dribble. Unfortunately, that isn’t a solution for his lackadaisical play away from the action. 

Earlier this month, against the Spurs, Randle was caught ball-watching on a preventable backdoor layup by Manu Ginobili. There wasn’t any energy—a quality Randle absolutely needs to carry each and every second he’s on the floor, because talent alone won’t get it done. 

His cluelessness away from the action is understandable for someone so young, but nonetheless, mistakes often have the feel of a Paul Feig-directed outtake:

NBA.com

Some of this criticism seems cruel, but for Randle to reach his full potential, he’ll need to clean up the correctable mistakes (particularly on defense) that have plagued him all year long, more notably so since he was moved to the bench.

There’s a reason Scott demoted him, and it’s no coincidence that the team’s offense shifted in the right direction since. But that doesn’t mean Randle is a bust or lost cause. His jumper will improve, as will his intuitive feel for NBA-level defense.

Right now, though, it’s unproductive to judge his nightly play with gaudy box-score numbers. Randle has plenty of time to prove why the Lakers were smart to draft him with a top-10 pick, but it’s possible we won’t see much evidence this season.

A move to the bench has yet to help.