Julius Randle Proving To Be Worth It

Julius Randle continues to play well, even if the rest of the team can’t.

One of the biggest pluses to having a guy like Julius Randle covering your team at power forward is that you don’t have to worry about him being too co-dependent.

Much to the tune of a Los Angeles centerpiece, Randle has matured very quickly and doesn’t show many signs of slowing down.

If all goes as planned and hoped for the Lakers, the combination of Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell will be one of the best young one-two punches in the association.

Realistically speaking, though, Russell may take a little longer to smooth out his game compared to how Randle has come along.

Adjustments on his rebounding game have paid obvious dividends for the former Kentucky star, and the closer the franchise gets to being without the namesake of Kobe Bryant, the more the Lakers are going to need Randle to be at his best.

For reasons still playing themselves out on the floor, the Lakers have to be happy they chose not to build around a guy like Jahlil Okafor and decided to stick with focusing on Julius Randle.

Clearly the injury from last season that stunted his then-rookie campaign isn’t bugging him anymore, and that only means the best is yet to come for one of the NBA’s more promising young guns.

Randle leads the team in boards, rounding out to roughly ten rebounds per game.

He is also increasing his output points wise, but at the same time ensuring that the team doesn’t look to him as the one and only solution to their scoring woes.

In other words, he’s helping the team stay focused on the team and not just his individual contributions — they do help a lot, though.

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The Lakers shouldn’t need more from him on the scoring aspect of his game, but they do want to capitalize on his efforts on the rebounding front.

Roy Hibbert hasn’t exactly been up-to-par, or what the front office probably expected from him, so somebody has to step up and get the job done, because the last thing this team is looking to do is continue to cut slack.

As bad as things are in Los Angeles, the Lakers are one of the only bottom teams that are doing everything in their power to get out of their current rut.

They aren’t the kind of team to stay down for long, and if nothing else, their current situation will help propel and motivate them to take things to bigger, better heights.

Next: Kobe Bryant's Good Bye To Boston

And they should be ready to hand Julius Randle the new keys to the city — he’s clearly up to the challenge.