Being asked to fill the shoes of a player like Karl-Anthony Towns is no small task. When the Minnesota Timberwolves shipped out KAT and expected Julius Randle to take his place, they were putting a tremendous amount of trust in the former New York Knicks power forward.
So with that in mind, it is not surprising that his opening night performance was a bit disappointing to many. Randle did not look like his usual self against the Los Angeles Lakers last Tuesday. After playing in just one preseason game while still getting over a shoulder injury, Randle put up a meager 16 points in his Timberwolves debut while making numerous mistakes on both sides of the basketball.
The outing led to him being criticized by many, with some even ready to proclaim that Minnesota messed up in acquiring him, stating that he was a bad fit and a downgrade from Towns. There is still a lot more basketball to be played before we go making definitive statements one way or the other, but the numbers make it clear that Randle has done a nice job of turning himself around since that opening night game.
Julius Randle’s shot selection through 3 games in Minnesota has consisted of 3s + a ton of rim FGA. Zero long midrange. 5.7 FTA/g as well. This is encouraging, especially in the last 2 games after looking like a mess opening night which will likely stick in most people’s memory. pic.twitter.com/hfcqbAI9EY
— NBA University (@NBA_University) October 28, 2024
Randle is taking all the right shots so far
If we look at the shot selection for the Wolves' starting power forward through three games, we can see that Randle has pinpointed exactly what kind of shots the team wants him to take, and he is knocking down those attempts at a high rate nearly across the board. Julius has yet to attempt a long mid-range shot, with the vast majority of his attempts coming at the rim.
Randle has gone 16-for-21 at the rim, while attempting just nine non-rim shots inside the three-point arc. Beyond the stripe, he has attempted 13 three-point shots and made seven of them. His shooting splits have been excellent so far, with a staggering 53.8% mark from three-point territory and an impressive 62.8% overall.
We all know that Randle is a good shooter, but the criticism some have pointed at him over the years is of being a "shot chucker." In other words, hogging the ball and/or taking bad or ill-advised shot attempts. With these numbers, we can see that he has been basically the polar opposite of a bad shot-taker, attempting only high-efficiency shots and making his attempts at a percentage higher than league average in all but two zones on the floor.
With all the harsh and maybe misguided criticism thrown at Randle to this point, these numbers are massively encouraging to Timberwolves fans. The season is less than a week old, and it seems Julius already has a high understanding of his place in the offense. If he is at this point now, we can imagine how effective he will be by March or April.