⭐ OFFICIAL 2020-2021 NBA Off-Season Thread: Olympics begin 7/23; NBA Draft 7/29⭐

[pmatic]

Derrick Rose can still race up the floor and get to his spots in the halfcourt. A miracle given all the injuries.

 

[don ramon]

Between Russ and Orange Julius, I'd take Julius. Carrying a pathetic Knicks team by himself and making them playoff contenders. Not to mention has cheaper salary base. Doesn't even need triple double numbers to get good winning results. No more excuses for Russ. He had great teammates that are now doing much better without him. In fairness to Russ, he is playing much better than the stat padding player he was back at OKC.

julius is the leader, but he's not carrying this team
nor is this team "pathetic" in any way
this is a full team effort

 

[don ramon]

Are Randle and Thibs locks for MIP and COTY? I don’t see anyone beating them.

said this back a bunch of months ago

 

[QU!K]

Julius Randle been cooking the Raptors.

Surprised Thibs hasn’t broken Rose’s legs yet.

 

[pmatic]

Are Randle and Thibs locks for MIP and COTY? I don’t see anyone beating them.

Randle should win MIP by a landslide. I think COTY is between Thibbs and Monty Williams.

 

[SneakerProSr.]

Are Randle and Thibs locks for MIP and COTY? I don’t see anyone beating them.

Julius hasn't improved dramatically numbers wise except from 3 and passing.

He was always a good player in bad situations.

 

[harlemtothebronx]

I don’t like all these uninformed Knicks opinions.

 

[Moheezy]

Randle should win MIP by a landslide. I think COTY is between Thibbs and Monty Williams.

the thing about the suns is that I think CP3 will get more COTY votes than Monty lol

 

[addict4sneakers]

Glad I was wrong about the trade. Very different player now than his first stint in NY.

He & Thibs have that rare trust & chemistry.

Feels like he finally adjusted to being less athletic and added to his skills

also been able to train and not rehab over the summer

 

[Moheezy]

Julius hasn't improved dramatically numbers wise except from 3 and passing.

He was always a good player in bad situations.

the raw numbers have improved (although less dramatically) but last year he was basically big Westbrook. Now he’s extremely efficient, a threat from 3 and is one of the better defensive 4s in the league.

the type of improvement he has shown should be the true definition of MIP as opposed to a player getting more minutes because of a trade or a 2nd year player naturally progressing into his role. What Julius did is much harder and more rare to find in the league.

 

[pmatic]

So wild seeing Julius getting doubled 25-30 feet from the basket.

 

[ballinsam23]

We were ready to trade Randle for a bag of chips last year. He had an all time low IQ.

This type of transformation never happens in 1 year. Crazy.

 

[QU!K]

Hot take. Julius Randle should be a top 10 MVP candidate.

 

[HOU$TON]

Stat muse wildn lol

 

[ny mavurs]

Hot take. Julius Randle should be a top 5 MVP candidate.

 

[reconic supreme]

is ben simmons okay? I haven't seen him play in a good minute

 

[amitt5504]

is ben simmons okay? I haven't seen him play in a good minute

Sick

 

[storm2006]

Julius hasn't improved dramatically numbers wise except from 3 and passing.

He was always a good player in bad situations.

You have a fair point here but who would you go with over him? From just a numbers perspective, there's been a leap in his 3P and FT %'s as well as his assists which I think are a testament to his improvement as a shooter and playmaker which is a part of the reason why his team isn't bad this time around.

I know it's just a "narrative" but I think when the conversation about a player goes from "I would trade him for literally anything" to "Top 15 player in the league" that he has to be a MIP frontrunner

 

[Air Pope]

NUEVE

 

[addict4sneakers]

Good for Julius. Wanted him back home instead of porzingis

 

[HOU$TON]

Glad I was wrong about the trade. Very different player now than his first stint in NY.

He & Thibs have that rare trust & chemistry.

 

[nick.]

Think we're 18-7 when Rose plays.

It's just a completely different pace & style with him over Elfrid Payton.

 

[big j 33]

I was wrong about the Rose trade for sure. Happy for him considering everything.

 

[lawdog1]

Think Knicks-Hawks 1st round playoff match-up could be pretty spicy. Hope that’s what we get.

 

[akajae]

Are Randle and Thibs locks for MIP and COTY? I don’t see anyone beating them.

Crazy when you think Knicks fans didn’t want either of them dudes