"With the seventh pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers select Julius Randle from the University of Kentucky."
Those words spoken by the league's newest commissioner Adam Silver will be forever remembered by the Texas native from Dallas, who completed a great season.
The Lakers were of a need at nearly everything on every position. In such position, they needed to take the top player available on board and they did. The pleasure was mutual for both sides, especially the big man who even went on to say that he was a longtime fan of the franchise and its star Kobe Bryant.
Randle is a talented player whose physicality, skill set and high motor make him a dominant presence in the paint on either side of the court. He's also quite young — only 19 years old — with enormous potential that make him an important piece into LA's future and rebuilding process.
The Texas native had a standout performance at Kentucky, where he put on display his abilities even though it can be pointed out that he wasn't used to his full capacity there. Nonetheless, he had an impressive "one-and-done" season where he led the nation with the most double-doubles (24).
The physical tools that Julius has are ahead of the bunch. He possess a nice combination of size, strength, quickness and agility that make him arguably the most NBA ready player of this class. He already fits the criteria of the prototype power forward around the league, and should do fine against his opponents.
The only concern regarding his built is that he's not an explosive leaper, even though he's extremely athletic and which is why he has a reputation as a ground player. However, this is something that Los Angeles' strength and conditioning coaches can work on in order to improve.
The rookie can immediately help his team in several areas such as offense, rebounding, hustle and attitude. The Lakers were among the latter part of the league ranking in many statistical categories for the first two.
Julius has excellent low post game, isn't afraid of the contact down low, has a variety of shakes, fakes and other tricks in the bag to get the defender in the air in order to score. Thanks to his physical built, he absorbs contact well as he finished 65 percent of his looks in the paint last season and spent a lot of time on the stripe too.
Additionally, he can run the brake quite well for a big. It's expect of him him to be this team's best finisher on the fast break.
Although Randle struggled shooting wise and with his off-hand at Kentucky, according to many sources, his improved shooting and mobility impressed Los Angeles' front office big time.
He's also capable to face up his opponent further away from the basket and bulldoze his way. He showed nice isolation game as well when the spacing and heavy attention he got from opposing defenses is taken into consideration, with respectable 0.76 points on possessions. Turnovers remain a problem, but can be solved.
Another area in which the big man can help is to bring his presence on the glass. Sounds silly, isn't it a bit obvious? Julius has a sixth sense where the ball will bounce off, has remarkable positioning, is extremely active on either side, can box out well and chases down his own misses.
While defensively Randle isn't a shot blocker, he has more than enough tools to defend his position. He's a solid defender due to his built who can battle on the block and off the paint. He's capable to keep quicker power forwards in front of him thanks to his ability to move well laterally.
He's consistently improved throughout the year in this facet of the game and does a good job on the switches due to his will to put effort.
Speaking of hard work, Julius is a surrounding of players like Kobe, Nash etc who are natural hard workers. That's an advantage that isn't given a lot of thought, but is a fantastic place for a rookie to start strongly in the NBA, to push himself into a becoming a better player and so on.
Kobe Bryant, who has a reputation of being tough to rookies, already welcomed Randle into the team with a tweet. The team is a great fit in so many ways for him, and he should get some nice playing time as he's ready to make an impact right away. His production will be valuable.
Don't get confused. Julius Randle isn't a perfect player. He's got his flaws, of course.
He's in a fantastic organization with which he already has a nice connection. Hopefully he becomes a great player as soon as possible.
