You’re telling an LA native that he hasn’t?
No, let’s not for argument’s sake because it’s a fact that I, as an LA native, who has access to the channel, have watched every game.
Well, considering I live in LA too.
And regardless of that, you don't need to be in a specific city to watch a team play, that's what League Pass is for.
Randle was a frustrating player at times, but that’s because the whole team was dysfunctional as fukk. However, he showed great effort on defense for the second half of the season as well as being the high energy guy he’s always been.
He's a temperamental defender: his effort comes and goes as he sees fit, particularly if it means he can conserve it to spam easy scoring opportunities at the other end. Beyond his complete lack of BBIQ and measurements to be an effective defender, he rarely shows urgency on rotations, close-outs, and contesting shots, but would rather put himself in a position to grab rebounds, or skip his assignment to get out in transition.
There is no point being made here. You’re just trying to find a common denominator that is not there..
It's there, but for whatever reason, you just can't see it.
Julius went to a team where he is replacing the best center in the league and left a team that signed the best player in the league.
Pelicans with Boogie last season: 27-21 (.562)
Pelicans without Boogie last season: 22-12 (.647)
Now, that's not to say they were a better team without Boogie, but it's to say that Julius was NOT replacing him, as he had already been essentially replaced halfway through last season. The Pelicans even made it to the second round without Boogie. Go figure. A # of their struggles this season, particularly since Mirotic has been out, have been because Julius is a detriment to their spacing, flow and functionality on offense, and their paint-protection, PnR and post/block activity on defense. In the act of coddling him on offense this season, the team has actually marginalized AD's game, which is particularly evident down the stretch of games when defenses are more condensed and focused, leaving Julius to becoming an obstacle to his own team (demanding post touches and forcing AD to play on the perimeter; wasting possessions because he can't create his own shot, leading him to turning the ball over, throwing up a junk shot, or throwing a pass back out once he realizes he can't get a shot off), rather than a cog in the machine during offensive possessions.
The majority of his buckets are easily replaceable, because they come from on the break, rim-runs, defensive breakdowns, and crashing the glass. He doesn't offer them anything offensively that the majority of athletic big men aren't capable of. And that's before we get into the fact when he's given touches in the halfcourt, it's typically against the flow of the offense (ending in dead-end possessions), which is only parlayed with him being a black hole.
I wouldn't expect you to know this since if we go by your logic of you being an "LA native", you quite obviously don't pay attention to what happens in the N.O.
