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Julius Randle’s oldest son never really stopped being a New York kid. Even after the family moved to Minnesota, he and his old buddies stayed on FaceTime every day and played video games together. Friends flew out to see him. He made trips back. They found ways to keep being kids together, whatever the distance. Now he’s back at his old school. The friendships maintained through screens and plane tickets are part of everyday life again. Randle’s wife has her circle of friends nearby, and the veteran forward has his own community outside basketball. Monday brings another visit to Madison Square Garden, this time in a Nets uniform. But the family’s homecoming is already well underway.
One win leaves plenty unresolved for the Nets. Monday’s visit to the Garden is the next test. Randle described a sense of stability away from basketball that makes the demands of the job easier to manage. “And when things are easier off the court, when they’re great at home and you’re happy and all of those things, it makes the basketball part, the work part that much easier,” Randle said.
That comfort reaches well beyond the familiarity of an arena where he played for five years. It’s in the people his family stayed close to while they were away, and the everyday life they have resumed here. “I feel really balanced, really happy, at peace here,” Randle said.
The Nets had been humiliated at home by this Pacers team a week ago. In Sunday’s rematch, they finally got their first win of the season. They scratched, clawed and defended their way to a 98-90 victory over shorthanded Indiana before a sellout crowd of 17,274 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Michael Porter Jr. led the way with a team-high 23 points to go with nine rebounds. Julius Randle had 20 points, six assists and five boards to go with a plus-17. Center Day’Ron Sharpe tallied his 20th career double-double with season highs of 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Julius Randle admits it’s on the veterans like himself and Michael Porter Jr. to help guide this young team through its growing pains. But how? “That’s a great question. I don’t know. We’ve just got to find ways to keep making improvements,” Randle said. “We did that, [though] we didn’t get the result we wanted in Boston, we did it. I felt like we were on the path to doing that to start the [Detroit] game, and then we took steps back. So, I won’t accept it, but I understand it. “Taking bumps and bruises with the season, just gaining experience. But we’ve got to find a way collectively to be better and not let adversity affect us so much as a group. We keep talking about it, but we gotta find a way to come together. And yeah, it probably is on the vets. We gotta bring guys together in the moments of adversity and recognize those situations quicker than what we are right now.”
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Cavaliers defeat Nets 125-121 behind 22 points from Donovan Mitchell, 20 points, 10 rebounds and four assists from Evan Mobley. Michael Porter Jr. had 28 points, nine rebounds and four steals for Brooklyn, while Julius Randle had 23 points and Egor Demin had 22 points and six assists.
“That September gym, I thought at times there was a lot of kind of bad blood there,” Finch said on Friday night after a 115-93 victory over the Orlando Magic. “There were a lot of times I thought it had boiled over. But it was great to see the intensity. Those guys were really going at it. They enjoyed it. They’ve been able to bring that edge into training camp and now the season.” The decision to turn the workouts at Mayo Clinic Square into a sequel for “Fight Club” was entirely premeditated. Over the summer, Minnesota replaced Naz Reid and Julius Randle with LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga. The moves changed the body composition of their roster — 497 pounds out the door and 405 pounds in to replace it. The Wolves were no longer the hulking beasts with a surplus of bigs to out-muscle their opponents. They became leaner and faster, and they knew how everyone would attack them.
NBABase: Julius Randle was "one of the culprits" behind Minnesota’s moody locker room last season, per @JonKrawczynski “Everyone immediately looks at Julius Randle and he is certainly one of the culprits... They could be every once in a while... Julius certainly was a part of that when his name got brought up in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade talks. He didn't really like that at all and he wears his heart on his sleeve, so you could see that.” “But Naz Reid could get moody, Jaden McDaniels could get moody. Like, there's a lot of quiet, brooding personalities that were in the locker room last year. You bring LaMelo Ball in here and he's much more upbeat and energetic, so there's definitely been a vibe shift.” (Via @bballilluminati)
“I think that this could be [Julius'] best playmaking year,” Fernandez said early in training camp. “He's proven that he's a very efficient player at very different levels. Seasons with the Knicks when he shot eight-plus threes, seasons where he's isolated more, been in the pick-and-roll more, [he's shown] his ability to playmake. And you put all those things together, for me as a coach, being able to use somebody in many different ways, it makes my life easier. I think that he will make his teammates better.”
Brooklyn Nets star Julius Randle has had a lot of success in his career, but he marveled at the fact that James is entering his 24th season. "It’s crazy," Randle said shaking his head. "Some days I wake up and I'm like, I'm retiring today. You know what I mean? Like, I'm like, 'All right, I'm done.' I’m just kidding. It's crazy, the longevity. It’s not just the physical part how he takes care of his body, but it.ma the mental. People don't understand the grind that it takes mentally, every single day, day in and day out to play at that level, specifically, but to play at any level."
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That mental side of the game is something some don't fully understand. James' family is still in LA while he joins the Sixers and is looking to help the franchise win its first title since 1983. He is still committed to the grind and that's something that many don't really factor in to his greatness. "The toll it takes, the time away from your family, like all those different things, aspects, that weigh on you as a human being," Randle added. "So, ito mentally be as locked in, as engaged as he is, for going into his 24th season; it's pretty impressive, honestly."
Brian Lewis: Julius Randle on #Knicks winning: “I’m happy. I kept in touch with guys. I had a lot of great moments here. I spent five years here...So I was excited, happy for those guys…It was a great thing not just for them, for the city...We plan to do the same thing here.” #nyk #NBA #Nets
Etienne Catalan: Ochai Agbaji ( @youngoch ) will wear No. 30 for the #Knicks. Number last worn by Julius Randle in 2024. #NBA
Mike Vorkunov: The Nets are young. Julius Randle learned that quick on the golf course. "I learned that really, really fast on the golf course," Randle said. "Third hole in, they were trying to take their shirts off. You know, it's just like they didn't understand golf etiquette. Mikel (Brown) broke a club, a driver on one of the holes. So I learned really fast that I'm dealing with kids."
