Its really a testament to Ant and Rudy that the Wolves are on a 50 win pace with such a flawed roster.

They dont have a real point guard and they have no defensive backup big.

Tbf, Randle was never known as a shot blocker. He’s ground-bound. Mike Conley having 7 blocks at this age is honestly impressive

u/JonEnterprise pointed out in the Wolves subreddit last night that Joan Beringer tied Randle in blocks on the season.

Beringer has played 53 total minutes.

Wolves have Rudy covering the paint basically lol 

Considering Mike Conley is younger than me, I don’t feel like the very old part was necessary.

Randle got short ass arms

Julius Randle is the Romelu Lukaku of basketball

Very good resume on paper with the stats and accolades to match and definitely has clear strengths but he plays so big and awkward that he’s not really the easiest player to build a team with

At least we know what kind of defense we are getting from KAT. With Randle it was always dependent on his mood

Derrick white got 7 blocks last game…

Mike Conley dumped all his VC into blocking, obviously.

Google says Mike Conley has an almost 6’6” wingspan, which is +5” over his height, whereas Randle is listed at 6’9” with a 7’ wingspan (+3” over height). I don’t watch enough Wolves basketball to know if Randle is dogging it on defense, but he always struck me as more of a short/powerful PF than someone with notable length and shot blocking prowess.

However bad you think Julius Randle has been on defense, you don’t know the half of it. Low effort, walking back on plays, pouting when he misses rebounds to Rudy, barely contesting shots - you name it, he does it.

LMAO Yep that’s the Randle experience alright. That’s who he is, that’s who he’s always been.

Julius has never been interested in playing defense. At times he’ll play the Carmelo-type defense where he plays super hard and physical for one possession to let you know he’s not totally asleep, but more often than not he’s just a body out there.

Julius’s trade value 📉

He’s been solid, this is a low effort post by op

He’s never been a shot blocker. Career average is 0.4. That doesn’t inherently mean somebody is playing bad defense though, just like getting steals wouldn’t inherently mean somebody is playing good defense.

That’s not saying he isn’t playing bad defense, I haven’t watched the Timberwolves. But even at his best basketball he’s never been a shot blocker.

Julius can play some pretty solid on ball defense, but off the ball he takes possessions off. Him not blocking shots really isn’t an issue to me. It’s a lack of consistent effort in team defense. I watched him a whole lot more in NY, however I see the same inconsistencies in the Wolves games I have watched since the trade. Julius can really be a force when he’s locked in, it just doesn’t seem to happen for a full 48 that often. That being said, very few other “star” players really do that either. He was just in a harsh media climate while entering his prime and that sort of paints his image to this day

Knicks fan here - Gotta say I prefer KAT’s stupid fouls and complaining to Randle’s lack of effort and pouting. At least he’s trying.

Nothing new. Randle never played D

His lack of shot blocking doesn’t really concern me, as that isn’t really his style and he doesn’t have a body that lends to be a good shot blocker. It’s the rest of the defensive issues and laziness on that side of the ball that bothers me.

Mike Conley is one of the two smartest players in the NBA

I’m not invested in the Wolves or Randle but I swear I see him either being all-nba worthy to this being lakers trailer trash since his NY days.

Bizzare

Isaiah Stewart, 6’8 and usually coming off the bench, has had multiple 5-block games this season. 

I was so happy when the Knicks traded him away. I can’t believe we got KAT for him.

I’m ngl Julius Randle “guarding” Jokic for most of Christmas night is half the reason the Joker made history that night. When Gobert was out there it was a different vibe entirely but Jokic absolutely owned Dubious Handles.

It’s scheme. Randle’s strength defensively is his rebounding. But Gobert gets most of the defensive rebounds in Minnesota. Randle went from averaging 8 defensive rebounds per game in NY (often finishing in the top 3 amongst 4s) to only 5 per game in MIN.

the t-rex

TIL Mike Conley is still playing

And yet the Wolves as a team are a narrow 6th in DefRtg, Randle is having arguably the best individual seasons of his career going by a number of measures (WS/48, PER, BPM, VORP, TS%, AST%), and is putting up a career-best STL% too.

Now do Harrison Barnes who’s 6’8 with a 40 inch vertical

Why aren’t yall posting Randle defensive lowlights? Oh yeah that’s right, it doesn’t get you the same Karma as Luka lol

Julius ranle

The NBA reclassifying strips as blocks has artificially inflated guard blocks.

Kind of awhile ago but wonder if Randle and stuff for kd was ever on the table

I just watched Isaiah Stewart get 5 in a half lol

Mike Conley is a saint 😇

Derrick White, a 6’4 guard, just had more blocks in one game.

This who Randle’s been his whole career. He’s never been a good defender

The Wolves FO & Coaching Staff honestly needs to soul search due to this roster construction as the team needs a PG badly and doesn’t have the picks to do it.

A hard sell yet partial retool/rebuild might have to happen for this team to compete. Boston Post-²⁰²²⁄₂₃ Season is a Blueprint.

Yikes. And here I’m complaining how awful Kat is on defense I forget how horrendous Randle was. Lose lose trade in my books.

No one hates the Minnesota Timberwolves more than Wolves flairs on reddit