Julius Randle Deserves To Be A Starter

With his numbers climbing to new heights each night, Julius Randle deserves nothing more than to be in the starting rotation.

The whole point of Byron Scott’s bench experiment was to get both Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell up to par with the rest of the league, right?

Because if not, his whole plan is a fluke.

Despite doubling the numbers of Larry Nance Jr., Randle still has to work from the bench side of the rotation.

That’s not fair by any measure, and if Scott is trying to be productive he had better come up with a better plan.

Statistically speaking, Nance Jr. is averaging six points and five rebounds per game while Randle continues to consistently drop 11 points and ten boards each contest on average.

Comparatively speaking, Randle is a much better rebounding machine than pretty much anyone on the roster.

His days at Kentucky prepared him well to go body-to-body with big time players down low in the NBA.

So with all these indications that Randle’s purpose should be switched up, why hasn’t head coach Byron Scott done anything?

The easiest answer to give is that he’s being prideful and doesn’t know how to handle being shown up.

Originally, both Randle and Russell were unhappy with the move to put them on the bench — as you can imagine, the majority of the fans were as well.

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Scott hasn’t done himself any favors winning over the fans with his limited approach.

To add to all of that, Randle is putting up big numbers a year after his true rookie season ended with a catastrophic injury.

The other piece of the puzzle in question for the Lakers is D’Angelo Russell.

Russell has done what he can to try and improve his game each night, but trying to become the top point guard in Los Angeles while maintaining the hype that got him drafted so high isn’t easy either.

Bottom Line: Julius Randle Needs To Start Over Larry Nance Jr. – period.

And how he fits in a starting role and his time and place is much different compared to what Randle is being put through at the moment.

In the last week, Randle’s biggest game was Friday night against the Clippers.

In that game, he led the team in scoring with 23 points, and outscored Larry Nance Jr. by 19.

Randle also grabbed 14 rebounds in the loss to Los Angeles, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s been a beast of sorts when he’s in the right mindset.

Next: Could D'Angelo Russell Be On The Move?

And holding him back isn’t helping anybody.