I’ve been waiting for column ideas for about a month. It foreshadowed Julius Randle’s return to the court, but at the time Tom Thibodeau had consistently provided positive — if misleading — updates on his rehabilitation. I felt it was imminent.
The gist of the column was that fans should temper their expectations and tone down their harsh words if Randle is struggling. Dislocated shoulders are difficult to manage without surgery. it hurts.
I didn’t expect to see the All-Star version of Randle back this season. Apparently Randle is as well, as he injured his shoulder again during a contact session about five weeks ago.
“My health wasn’t stable,” Randle revealed to Bleacher Report. “I think I was in a similar situation when I first dislocated it, but it’s been a tough battle ever since.” [the setback]”
Following Thursday’s announcement of Randle’s season-ending surgery, Thibodeau said before the game that the default position is to lose the power forward for the season, as if the manager hadn’t said the opposite until this week. . Thibodeau also denied that Randle has hindered his recovery, insisting for weeks that the power forward simply hasn’t been cleared for contact yet.
Due to a shoulder injury. Jason Suzens of the New York Post
Randle said otherwise in an interview with Bleacher Report, but the article later edited Randle’s direct quote from “full contact session” to “full contact session in pads.”
So either there was a huge miscommunication, damage control, or stupidity on Thibs’ part.
A Knicks spokesperson said they had “no comment” on Randle’s interview.
Between OG Anunoby’s injury roller coaster and Randle’s false reports, the Knicks have had issues with the reliability of their injury information.
So we turn to Anunoby — who Thibodeau claimed to have been granted access to on Thursday — and why I brought up the idea for a month-old column about Randle.
Everyone remembers what happened last year when Randle was well below 100 percent. The postseason ended with a group of Knicks fans gathered outside MSG, upset after the Heat’s loss, tearing down Randle’s poster from the wall and stomping, dancing, and kicking it.
“Who is that? Is that Julius Randle?” a cameraman asked during the social media video. “Okay, that makes sense.”
The scene was disgusting and embarrassing, but it made sense for the cameraman to call out Randle because he was so horribly ineffective in the playoffs. If there’s anyone to blame for their second-round exit, it’s definitely not Jalen Brunson. Despite Candice Parker’s claims to the contrary, they had a dominant win against Miami.
Maybe it was because Thibodeau was coached by Erik Spoelstra, or a role player wasn’t available (Immanuel Quickley), or he shot poorly (Josh Hart).
But the obvious candidate was Randle. He suffered a sprained ankle towards the end of the regular season and then sprained it again in the first round against Cleveland. He continued to play without surgery and even tried to play until the top of the hourglass was empty this year.
Randle would have helped the offense this time around, but he wasn’t the key to unlocking the Knicks as he was hurting his shoulder with no runway to strengthen heading into the playoffs.
Randle needs to be effective with the ball, and it’s difficult to control the ball without shoulder coordination. Yes, without a healthy Randle, a three-time All-Star, the team’s ceiling has dropped significantly. But that’s not a drastic change from Randle’s injury ceiling, especially since Randle hadn’t played in over two months and was coming off what seemed like a pretty devastating setback. Last year’s Miami series showed that.
Anunoby is a different story.
He has already undergone surgery. He’s also a 3-and-D player who doesn’t need a rock to impact wins and fits into any lineup like a skeleton key.
The Knicks are probably not the favorites, and haven’t been since Randle beat Jamie Jaquez Jr. by fall in January. But it can still be dangerous with Brunson steering the Villanova ship, as he did in Thursday’s impressive 120-109 win over the Kings. And Anunoby, rusty or not, only strengthens it.
I understand the Knicks probably won’t be proactive about that, but we’ll have to wait and see if he comes back.
