I present to you my Mock Draft

[l3bron]

lol at Randle's "skill." Dude has been playing bully ball since high school.

Can't shoot, can't post up, can't defend, can't block shots and on top of all that he's undersized. Them "skills" though.

lol. He can shoot, he can put the ball on the floor/finish, he is an elite offensive rebounder (rebounding is a skill, last I checked), and 6'9.5 for a PF is hardly undersized in today's NBA.

Do you even watch college basketball?

He can't shoot, that's been one of the biggest criticisms of his game that's holding him back, especially in isolation. He shot only 17.3% on jump shots, with the 0.40 points per possession he scored on those attempts being the lowest mark in this power forward class.

His game is painfully predictable, NBA defense are going to swallow him whole. Turns over the ball too much, has an unrefined touch around the rim, uncomfortable with his right hand and is completely mediocre when posting up (shoots 39% in post ups.) And undersized in terms of length which is crucial among bigs.



The only legit skill he can translate off the bat is rebounding. Great, you're getting Thomas Robinson with the 7th pick, congratulations.

[l3bron]

Watch super skilled Julius Randle protect the rim against 6 foot 165 pound Russ Smith.



Fun question to ponder: How to you build around a post player who can't protect the rim nor shoot? Place him with a center who can't spread the floor and Randle doesn't get much room to operate; place him next to a center who can't defend and you get stuck with a troubling defense. How many centers can spread the floor, defend the rim and play hi-lo? Marc Gasol and...? lol

[wailuaFC]

lol at Randle's "skill." Dude has been playing bully ball since high school.

Can't shoot, can't post up, can't defend, can't block shots and on top of all that he's undersized. Them "skills" though.

lol. He can shoot, he can put the ball on the floor/finish, he is an elite offensive rebounder (rebounding is a skill, last I checked), and 6'9.5 for a PF is hardly undersized in today's NBA.

Do you even watch college basketball?

He can't shoot, that's been one of the biggest criticisms of his game that's holding him back, especially in isolation. He shot only 17.3% on jump shots, with the 0.40 points per possession he scored on those attempts being the lowest mark in this power forward class.

His game is painfully predictable, NBA defense are going to swallow him whole. Turns over the ball too much, has an unrefined touch around the rim, uncomfortable with his right hand and is completely mediocre when posting up (shoots 39% in post ups.) And undersized in terms of length which is crucial among bigs.



The only legit skill he can translate off the bat is rebounding. Great, you're getting Thomas Robinson with the 7th pick, congratulations.

Atleast T-Rob has pretty good athleticism. Randle showed good athleticism during workouts, but for whatever reason has a really hard time transitioning that into actual game time situations. For once, I think we actually agree on something (randle's underwhelming draft prospects)

[kobeunderbite]

Witness rondo shamelessly copy-pasting draft express analysis? Lol, classic.

Randle can put the ball on the floor and handle it in the open floor, a rarity for a man his size. Defenders with less than elite lateral quickness will not be able to handle him off the dribble. He can absolutely shoot the ball, though Cal never ran plays for him to shoot and the team offense was not conducive to it.

Randle has the ball handling skills of a Lamar Odom or a Chris Webber coupled with elite rebounding potential and a developing jumper. The notion that he is lacking in skills is laughable.

[l3bron]

NBA defenses are going to dare him to shoot because...*drumroll* he can't ****ing shoot. That Kentucky team had trouble spacing the floor, how the **** would Randle opting lanes be detrimental to Kentucky?

Stop talking out of your ass, it's embarrassing. You're not convincing anyone that you watch college basketball.

[l3bron]

You never answered by question. What center are the Lakers going to pair up with Randle so he both:

-Has enough room to play his bull**** bully ball
-Has a defensive center to back him up because Randle hasn't shown a semblance of rim protection in his game

[chiefdodgerslakers24]

Yes, I've always preferred Randle, though I wouldn't be unhappy with Smart. Prefer bigs with plus skills to guards with poor skills. Smart's shooting is embarrassing.

Players can get better at shooting, at least smart could make an immediate impact defensively, who knows how randle's banging down low will work when playing against bigger, stronger, longer players

Lakers aren't in win-now mode, but with that being said, I'm not convinced that Smart would make a better immediate impact that Randle.

Couple FA moves and they could be in a win now mode.

[kobeunderbite]

NBA defenses are going to dare him to shoot because...*drumroll* he can't ****ing shoot. That Kentucky team had trouble spacing the floor, how the **** would Randle opting lanes be detrimental to Kentucky?

Stop talking out of your ass, it's embarrassing. You're not convincing anyone that you watch college basketball.

You copy and paste text from draftexpress.com verbatim and try to pass it off as your own and you're claiming that you watch college basketball?

[kobeunderbite]

"Julius Randle is not skilled"
*copy-paste text from draftexpress.com*
-l3bron

[l3bron]

"Randle's undersized, can't shoot, can't defend, can't post up and got around by taking full advantage of a variable that won't exist in the NBA. An average NBA body that got by completely on his excellent college body."

kobeunderbite: Nuh-uh

Great talking basketball with you. You really show your understanding of the college game.

[l3bron]

Now I hope the Lakers do draft Randle so they get stuck with the Darrell Arthur/Hakim Warrick/Thomas Robinson 2.0 and I can rub it in undies' face.

Stick to Lord of the Rings.

[kobeunderbite]

"Randle's undersized, can't shoot, can't defend, can't post up and got around by taking full advantage of a variable that won't exist in the NBA. An average NBA body that got by completely on his excellent college body."

kobeunderbite: Nuh-uh

Great talking basketball with you. You really show your understanding of the college game.

6'10 250 is not undersized for a PF today. We have guys that size seeing minutes at C.
He can shoot.
His defense is not terrible.
His back-to-the-basket game is a work in progress.

Could have said the same things regarding Lamar Odom as a rookie.

Randle is highly skilled for a man his size, can put the ball on the floor, will beat big men without elite lateral quickness with his speed and faceup game, can handle the ball in the open floor, and has the potential to be an elite rebounder.

Your copy and pasting word-for-word posts from draftexpress.com was really impressive, by the way.

[kobeunderbite]

"Julius Randle is not skilled"
*copy-paste text from draftexpress.com*
-l3bron

[l3bron]

-So he shot the ball like crap in college so he could make it fair for the rest of the NCAA?
-His defense is terrible. Both in team defense (because he can't protect the rim or steal the ball with his T-Rex wingpsan) and individual defense (otherwise Willie ****ing Cauley-Stein wouldn't be covering for Randle getting absolutely schooled by NBA-caliber bigmen.)
-He's not 6'10, every measurement has him at 6'9 and lower. The only time he came in a 6'10 was in 2012, he's been regularly listed at 6'9 for years now. And I made it perfectly clear that I was talking about his length, of course that WOULD go over your room temperature IQ seeing as how you're just making up numbers now.
-He has absolutely no definable or distinguished game in the post. It's more than a "work in progress."
-For the 15th time, he scored a majority of his points in the game because he overwhelmed unpolished college athletes. He has nowhere near the fluidity, ball-handling or athleticism of a Blake Griffin or even T. Young. His brand of basketball is NOT going to translate in the NBA, show me another instance of an average NBA athlete like him overwhelming NBA defenses with an average wingspan, average athleticism and no consistent shooting stroke. Protip: There doesn't exist one.

Again, don't try to pretend that you know anything about college basketball.

[kobeunderbite]

-So he shot the ball like crap in college so he could make it fair for the rest of the NCAA?
-His defense is terrible. Both in team defense (because he can't protect the rim or steal the ball with his T-Rex wingpsan) and individual defense (otherwise Willie ****ing Cauley-Stein wouldn't be covering for Randle getting absolutely schooled by NBA-caliber bigmen.)
-He's not 6'10, every measurement has him at 6'9 and lower. The only time he came in a 6'10 was in 2012, he's been regularly listed at 6'9 for years now. And I made it perfectly clear that I was talking about his length, of course that WOULD go over your room temperature IQ seeing as how you're just making up numbers now.
-He has absolutely no definable or distinguished game in the post. It's more than a "work in progress."
-For the 15th time, he scored a majority of his points in the game because he overwhelmed unpolished college athletes. He has nowhere near the fluidity, ball-handling or athleticism of a Blake Griffin or even T. Young. His brand of basketball is NOT going to translate in the NBA, show me another instance of an average NBA athlete like him overwhelming NBA defenses with an average wingspan, average athleticism and no consistent shooting stroke. Protip: There doesn't exist one.

Again, don't try to pretend that you know anything about college basketball.

-Not terrible for a rookie. His strength helps him maintain good post-D.
-6'10 is not small for a PF in today's league, and his wingspan is not poor, it is simply not 'great/ideal'.
-Completely and utterly incorrect. His touch and strength do allow him to be successful in the post, he doesn't go there very often because of his ability to abuse defenders face-up with his speed/strength/skill. Randle's strength/finishing abillity/touch will help him become a legitimate post threat in the NBA.
-First he has no skills, and now he doesn't have the ball-handling of a Thaddeus Young? lol.

Again, you copy and paste arguments from draftexpress.com because you're incapable of forming your own, and you claim that Randle has 'no skill'. Completely embarrassing.

[wailuaFC]

I hate to agree with Lebron but im pretty underwhelmed with randle, I just don't see much upside. His offensive game is no where near vonlehs, Vonleh has better range and footwork in the post, not is he as good of a defensive player/rebounder. His size for a pf is decent, but not top notch like smart has over his competition. Randle doesn't put the ball on the court well and has not shown any reason to believe he has any ability to hit a jumper, so that means he gets most of his points around the rim, but he doesn't have great post moves, which means l3brons assessment of bully ball is correct. Maybe I'm wrong, and if we draft him I'm gonna really hope he pans out as you say, I just don't see it yet

[l3bron]

Underbite literally rejects everything with "No he doesn't."

Piss-poor analysis, no data to back up any of his claims (he in fact goes against conventional wisdom and tries to deliberately dismiss the data without so much of a coherent thought) and continues to make up lies (fake measurements.)

2/10, would bookmark for future reads.

[kobeunderbite]

Randle puts the ball on the court very well, few guys his size can handle the ball like he can in the open court and facing up against a defender. He has certainly shown an ability to hit mid range jumpers.

[kobeunderbite]

Underbite literally rejects everything with "No he doesn't."

Piss-poor analysis, no data to back up any of his claims (he in fact goes against conventional wisdom and tries to deliberately dismiss the data without so much of a coherent thought) and continues to make up lies (fake measurements.)

2/10, would bookmark for future reads.

No more replies to the actual subject at hand, eh?

Your claim is that Julius Randle has 'no skills', and you call my analysis 'piss-poor'? Your assessments, with the exception of the ones copy-and-pasted from draftexpress.com, have been unfounded and unsubstantiated, it's ironic that you claim my factual and grounded arguments are not backed up.

Julius Randle has no skills
-l3bron

[wailuaFC]

Randle puts the ball on the court very well, few guys his size can handle the ball like he can in the open court and facing up against a defender. He has certainly shown an ability to hit mid range jumpers.

From nbadraft.net
Despite all the good things mentioned about his game there are a lot of concerns about Randle ... In a way Randle’s high energy, "bully ball" style of playing reminds some of how Shabazz, at a different position, overpowered people last year and we've seen how much the former UCLA small forward has struggled in the league ... It's been noted that Randle is undersized for the PF position, lacking ideal length with a sub 7 foot wingspan

Offensively his numbers on synergy indicate how difficult it has been for him to score on post moves with very low percentages on each low post block and over either shoulder ... It also doesn’t help matters that he is not able to utilize his right hand

Overall his game right now is based almost entirely on overpowering weaker opponents .

His upside is in fact the same one he had one year ago, very limited.

Of course this is just one analysis and it could be completely wrong, but this is just another site backing up what we were saying about him