New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau will be in his sixth season with the franchise in 2024-25.<\/p>\n
A two-time Coach of the Year, the Knicks rewarded Thibodeau for his success with the organization this offseason, signing him to a rich contract extension<\/a>. New York has also given Thibodeau, a defensive guru whose pedagogy has led to multiple players\u2019 improvement, a roster with upper echelon defenders. OG Anunoby<\/a>, Mikal Bridges<\/a>, Josh Hart<\/a>, Donte DiVincenzo<\/a>, and Mitchell Robinson<\/a> all can be game-changers at that end.<\/p>\n Yet, for all the reasons to believe in the Knicks, there\u2019s a big question: how do their additions affect Julius Randle<\/a>?<\/p>\n \u201cI think Julius has always adapted to whatever challenge he\u2019s faced each year,\u201d Thibodeau considers. \u201cPeople forget the level that he\u2019s played at. Four years ago, he had a monster season and we didn\u2019t have the shooting we have now, so the floor is going to be more open. We got a glimpse of that in January, which was his last month of basketball.<\/p>\n People forget the guy was 25, 10 and 5,\u201d he continues. \u201cHe\u2019s had a lot of success and he\u2019s been a big part of winning the last four years in New York. The more good players you have, the more sacrifices you have to make. Not only by Julius, by everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the exact sacrifices Randle has to make, nobody knows for sure<\/a> just yet.<\/p>\n Due to the arrival of Bridges, it looks like the Knicks will have to infringe upon his minutes at power forward this season. It\u2019s also possible that other teams will look to play small when they face New York. This could be the result of their opponent\u2019s offensive philosophy or a situational approach, taking advantage of what they feel is a mismatch.<\/p>\n For example, Robinson is one of the NBA\u2019s best interior defenders. However, he\u2019s not as impactful when asked to guard in space. Indeed, this is one of the reasons that Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a> was prized by the Knicks; he excelled as a perimeter defender. With Hartenstein signing with the Oklahoma City Thunder, either Jericho Sims<\/a> or Precious Achiuwa<\/a> will be Robinson\u2019s primary backup.<\/p>\n Yet, Thibodeau can also see Randle manning the five, at least in spurts.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll probably have to do it by committee,\u201d Thibodeau says of replacing Hartenstein. \u201cWe\u2019ll look at some different things, because we have versatility \u2014 we could see Julius more at the 5. I don\u2019t want to do that for long stretches, it would take its toll, but to have him do it for 10 or 15 minutes, I think he can do it well. He also would create a lot of [offensive] advantages.\u201d<\/p>\n At 6-foot-8 and 250 pounds, Randle would be undersized at center, even in this era. Centers don\u2019t rely on their low-post game as much these days, but they still bang around on the boards. Randle is a phenomenal rebounder, but that could be tiring. For a player still recovering from a dislocated shoulder, it might be even more challenging.<\/p>\n Still, Randle\u2019s a dynamic offensive threat who creates mismatches with his skill and physical traits.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s added the 3-point shot, he can put it on the floor, he can play back to the basket, he can face up and play off the screen,\u201d Thibodeau muses. \u201cHe can run the floor \u2014 I always tell him, \u2018You\u2019re at your best in transition, getting downhill.\u2019 When he plays that way, he\u2019s impossible to stop. It\u2019s speed, it\u2019s strength, it\u2019s all those things.<\/p>\n He commands two on the ball, and he\u2019s got to trust the pass from there.\u201d<\/p>\n Named an All-Star in three of his last four campaigns, Randle likely wants to keep that momentum going. Jalen Brunson<\/a> usurping him as the No. 1 option on offense makes that a bit harder. However, by taking advantage of his own versatility, his teammates\u2019 may not take him too far from the spotlight.<\/p>\n If he can dominate and the Knicks are winning on top of it, it\u2019ll be a pretty good season. A contract extension could even be on the horizon<\/a>. But, if not, trade talks surrounding the Texas native could get pretty loud<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau will be in his sixth season with the franchise in 2024-25. A two-time Coach of the Year, the Knicks rewarded Thibodeau for his success with the organization this offseason, signing him to a rich contract extension. New York has also given Thibodeau, a defensive guru whose pedagogy has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":96402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1608,62,3],"tags":[993,510,1484,1616,4557,215],"class_list":["post-96394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knicks","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-isaiah-hartenstein","tag-julius-randle","tag-mikal-bridges","tag-mitchell-robinson","tag-nba-offseason","tag-tom-thibodeau"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Knicks Head Coach Tom Thibodeau Opens Up About Julius Randle\u2019s Importance<\/h2>\n
Sacrifices, Situations, Skills<\/h3>\n