thelesterlee
Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports dropped a Julius Randle profile, perfectly timed, a few hours before he disappeared in the Timberwolves Game 4 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Here’s what Randle did against OKC Monday Night:
- 5 points
- 1-for-7 shooting
- 0-for-3 from 3
- 7 rebounds
- 3 assists
- 5 turnovers
The Timberwolves desperately needed this win to tie the series 2-2 before heading back to OKC for Game 5.
Minnesota got blown out in both games in Paycom Center. You can feel the energy in Oklahoma City through the TV—after you turn your television brightness down because every woman over the age of 30 has the strangest blonde highlights in that weird ass state.
Julius Randle, however, played with none of that desperation.
Randle made his first shot at the beginning of the game and never got the ball in the rim again. At a certain point, he stopped trying.
Here’s what Julius Randle told Yahoo Sports about the scrutiny he received playing in New York:
“It ain’t fun, it ain’t fun,” Randle said. “You can’t really focus on the game, you’re focused on everything else other than the game itself. You’re living and dying with every single shot, every single turnover, every single loss. It’s not a fun way to play.
“It’s exhausting.”
Anndddd this is the problem with Julius Randle.
He makes a ton of mistakes and doesn’t want anyone pointing them out.
Instead of, ya know, working on turning the ball over less by tightening up his handle or improving his decision making, he’d rather fans and media ignore it.
My man is in the Western Conference Finals, telling reporters “it ain’t fun” when things don’t go his way—in a story released moments before he went out there and quiet quit his job because things weren’t going his way.
Randle scored 5 points.
It’s unfair of me to tell Julius to stay off his phone and stop looking for any and all criticisms of his game while I pick up my phone and scroll between every other sentence I type—but the stakes are far higher in his line of work than mine.
Randle has a player option when the season is over. Millions of dollars are on the line here.
If he knows he’s sensitive about the public perception of his game, then he should submerge his phone under water the second the playoffs begin.
But it’s our fault Julius Randle can’t dribble more than 5 consecutive times without the ball bouncing off his sneakers.
We are responsible for his lazy ass taking defensive posessions off—letting guys cut to the basket behind him while he stares blankly into the abyss, deciding which of his teammates he’ll blame for his own mistakes.
Will Julius Randle be on the Minnesota Timberwolves next season?
As mentioned earlier, Randle has a player option worth $30 million.
He had a good enough season to opt out and get a long-term deal worth more money elsewhere but only a handful of teams have the cap space to sign him and I have no idea why the Utah Jazz or Brooklyn Nets would want 4 years of 30-year-old Julius Randle on their books.
If he wants a chance to compete for titles, he’d stay on the same team as Anthony Edwards.
So I see him opting into the final year of his contract.
HOWEVER—I don’t know how Minnesota can watch him coast through a Western Conference Finals game like it’s a random preseason warmup against the Hawks and feel comfortable with him as their no. 2 scoring option.
Yes, Randle is a capable playmaker, a crucial skill to pair with Ant Edwards but if they can package his $30 million contract with Jaden McDaniels for a better wing like Jaylen Brown or even Kevin Durant. Maybe deal him along with Mike Conley for a younger, more impactful point guard like Trae Young or Fred VanVleet—then I see Minnesota trading him with expedience.
Either way, there’s a 0% chance Julius Randle is back in Minneapolis—especially if they lose in the Western Conference Finals because Julius took a mental health day in the middle of the series.
“It ain’t fun”.
Really?
Personally, it sounds fun as hell to make $30 million a year and not even have to be consistently good at your job. If a McDonald’s employee had the same miserable Monday night shift, they’d be fired.
I’m sorry, sometimes people want you to play better than bad. Must be so tough, Julius.
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