![]() Randle missed 70 of his first 96 shots this season, a frigid start that played a large role in the Knicks losing four of their first six games … and then he promptly began scorching, averaging more than 25 points, nine rebounds and five assists per game on 51% shooting over the next six weeks. With the possible exception of Paul, who’s nearly a decade older than Randle and has begun his transition into a lower-minutes reserve, the rest of the guys on that list don’t exhibit nearly the degree of volatility and variance in on-court results that Randle has displayed - both between seasons, with peaks in 2020-21 and ’22-’23 sandwiching a thumb’s-down valley in ’21-’22, and even within them. chances are, you’re going to find Randle at the bottom of the list. When you filter that quantity by quality, though, stacking up the production of those luminaries over the last three-plus seasons and sorting it by a variety of advanced metrics - value over replacement player, box plus-minus, win shares per 48 minutes, effective field-goal percentage (which accounts for 3-pointers being worth more than 2-pointers), true shooting percentage (which factors in 2-point, 3-point and free-throw averages), etc. And Randle - who has played more minutes than anybody but Mikal Bridges since 2020 - has done that. You earn your way onto those ballots by being good enough and productive enough, often enough, to stand out in voters’ minds. I will admit: That feels uncharitable! Like, you don’t whoops your way into a pair of All-Star nods and All-NBA picks. Here is a brief musical accompaniment to that list: ![]() Here is the list of players who have made multiple All-NBA teams since 2020: Antetokounmpo, Lillard, Chris Paul, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Joel Embiid, LeBron James, Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokić, Stephen Curry … and Julius Randle. But after writing about them last month, and reading plenty of discussion of the state of their two-man game and their search for defensive consistency - which, BTW, Milwaukee still ranks near the top of the NBA in scoring efficiency while figuring itself out, and ranks 13th on defense since toggling back to drop coverage in the pick-and-roll - I found myself focusing more on the other All-NBA forward in the matinee. To be clear: I still find the Bucks and their still-buffering superstar duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard very interesting. 33rd Streets” close enough: Julius Randle, Knicks We begin with someone trying to author a miracle on … well, not 34th Street, but I think we can consider “7th Avenue between W. By and large, though, it looks like the NBA’s Christmas lineup will offer plenty for fans to feast on: rivalries old and new, bona fide legends and new stars to get more familiar with … and, with any luck, a handful of games that stay tight late, treating those who’ve popped in between eggnog and dessert to a reminder of just how awesome highly competitive NBA basketball can be.Īs we get set to tear open the presents and cut into the fruitcake, let’s take a look at the five most interesting players - to me! - in the 2023 Christmas quintuple-header, with one from each game. The powers that be at the league office don’t have a crystal ball when they’re making the schedule, so we miss out on a couple of teams off to hot starts - the soaring Timberwolves, say, or the exciting, young Thunder. (We see you, Tyrese Maxey and Jalen Brunson.) We’ll see six Most Valuable Player winners, 11 of last season’s 15 All-NBA selections and nearly 30 players who’ve earned an All-Star berth - plus several more who might be mere weeks away from receiving their first. The slate features the last four NBA champions, as well as three more teams that have recently made the NBA Finals and a few other perennial powers. This year’s NBA’s Christmas Day showcase is teeming with talent.
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