Three reasons why Julius Randle should start at center next season
By Keith Rivas
Thomas Bryant is almost ready for the NBA, but not yet
If the superstar reason wasn’t enough to put Randle at the five, consider that if the Lakers don’t sign a superstar center, their younger players that they’ve gotten through the draft aren’t really ready for the NBA just yet.
Thomas has shown up in just eight games this season, with less than four minutes averaged per appearance and 1.4 points per game and less than a rebound on average to show for it. That’s not the kind of numbers that are going to replace even someone like Brook Lopez.
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He’s done alright in the G-League, but one more season at the least is what he’s going to need if he’s going to develop his skills enough to even be a reserve for the Lakers at the top level. That being said, save for a few extreme exceptions, the true center position is something that the rest of the league doesn’t really seem to be leaning towards.
Those exceptions being guys like DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, and Andre Drummond. Outside of those guys, everyone else has a center that either doesn’t compare so they’re not worth putting in the discussion or they just don’t really use them a whole lot.
If you want to look at the Golden State Warriors as an example, they’ve put an alright center in the starting lineup but surrounding that center with quality talent that can shoot and rebound and make plays regardless of what the big ends up really doing.
Also, the center has become the least important player on the floor when you consider who’s making plays late in a game to win or tie. Most of the time, it’s the top shooters on a team that are getting the last look in the clutch anyway.
So for that reason, it doesn’t make sense for LA to depend on a guy with literally no experience and a small, almost invisible sample size when they could just go with a healthy, talented Julius Randle.