Let's Just Seeeee What The Knicks Look Like Without Julius Randle...Let's Just Seeeeee

On Wednesday night, the Knicks had one of the biggest wins of the season with a 101-92 victory over a Miami Heat team that is desperately attempting to get their shit together before the playoffs start. Unfortunately, Julius Randle didn’t make it through the second quarter after suffering an ankle injury.

Julius Randle goes down after rolling his ankle, the MSG crowd gives him MVP chants as he limps to the line to shoot his FTs before leaving to the locker room pic.twitter.com/1ISmjEtCNj

— The Knicks Wall (@TheKnicksWall) March 30, 2023

According to all reports, Randle will be shut down for the remainder of the season and may miss the beginning of the playoffs. It’s insane that this man has played every single game this season. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Randle limp as long as he’s been in a Knicks uniform.

Julius Randle is averaging 25 points and 10 rebounds for a Knicks team who would have homecourt advantage if they played in the Western Conference. New York wouldn’t be where they are without Randle’s contribution.

THAT BEING SAID, Randle frequently struggles under pressure. He melts down when things aren’t going his way. It’s absurd how often his teammates and coaches have to hold him back from fighting the referees.

When the game gets difficult, some players take their stress out on their opponents. Some players have internal battles within themselves and Julius Randle is the type of player who blames circumstances out of his control. When things are going bad, Randle attacks the refs because he believes the game is unfair to him.

The Knicks and Cavs are going to battle in the first round and the Knicks are going to lose if they have to beat both the Cleveland Cavaliers AND their own teammate if/when Randle starts barking at the officials and stacking up technical fouls.

These next couple of weeks is perfect for this Knicks organization to see what the team looks like without Julius Randle committing the most avoidable fouls you’ve ever witnessed or rocketing a pass at his teammates’ feet with 2 seconds left on the shot clock after he tried to iso but couldn’t get past his defender because he believes he’s a far better ball handler than he is.

With Randle out, the Knicks ran a closing lineup of Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, RJ Barrett, Josh Hart and Isaiah Hartenstein and they looked great together. Obviously, I’d prefer to see more Jalen Brunson out there but when the playoffs happen, you know the Cavs are going to send Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell at Brunson every single time down the court. IQ and Grimes are far superior defenders.

For everyone who wanted Randle traded, this might be the time. If the Knicks keep winning without him and guys are finally having fun out there without a grumpy asshole trying to fight everyone and frowning all game long then it makes no sense to bring Randle back next season.

It sucks that Julius Randle’s ankle hurts or whatever but miiiiight be the best thing that could’ve happened for this franchise.

Julius Randle got hit with a technical foul for arguing with a ref and then got into with Immanuel Quickley heading into halftime 👀 pic.twitter.com/7wm0TnRPQO

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 24, 2023