The Brooklyn Nets are banking on Julius Randle to bring a different kind of edge to the roster, and head coach Jordi Fernandez isn’t hiding how much he expects the veteran forward to matter.
Brooklyn landed Randle from the Minnesota Timberwolves in one of the offseason’s more notable moves, sending center Nic Claxton to the Chicago Bulls in the deal. The Nets are trying to win more games next season than they did last year, and Fernandez sees Randle as the kind of presence who can push that along.
"Julius is an established, all-star playoff player, a player that is going to come here and show everybody else how it's done. I'm very excited to get to coach him, and for him to raise the floor," Fernandez said of Randle during a recent episode of the Nets ' " The Bridge" video series.
Randle sounds ready for the change, too. He spoke to the media during the Las Vegas Summer League earlier this summer and made clear that Brooklyn feels like a natural fit.
"It feels great to be here, I just feel like it's just such a great opportunity. It's a city I'm already really familiar with, a situation that I'm familiar with," Randle said when he spoke to the media during the Las Vegas Summer League earlier this summer.
"There's just a lot of great people here in the organization, from top to bottom, ownership all the way down. For me, it's simple: I just get to come in and be a leader."
The 31-year-old is coming off another productive season in Minnesota, where he put up 21.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game while shooting 48.1% from the field and 31.5% from three. That production came alongside Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert, and now he’ll be part of a Brooklyn group featuring forward Michael Porter Jr. and guard Egor Demin.
Fernandez enters his third season as Brooklyn’s head coach, and there’s a sense around the league that he can squeeze more out of this group than people might expect. The Nets are still rebuilding, but with Fernandez already getting plenty out of his players, the addition of Randle gives them another veteran starter who could help change the tone sooner rather than later.
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Egor Demin has drawn the most attention so far, thanks to his summer league showing, but he is hardly the only rookie under scrutiny. Around the league, the early read on Brooklyns draft class has been mixed, and the front offices approach has sparked debate for the same reason: several of these players will have to earn their place quickly if they want real minutes once training camp gets rolling. [Read more 🡒]
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Brooklyns reset has brought in some new names, and Julius Randle is one of the additions that could quietly matter the most as the Nets try to push higher in the East. The roster is still taking shape with Mikel Brown Jr. among the fresh pieces, but Randles ability to get into the paint and draw contact gives the Nets a different kind of pressure point on offense than they had a year ago.
Free throws were already a decent part of Brooklyns profile last season, when the team ranked 16th in accuracy and 18th in attempts while shooting 78 percent from the line. If Randle can consistently create more trips there, it gives the Nets a built-in way to squeeze extra points out of games where half-court possessions matter most, which is exactly the kind of edge that can help in a crowded conference. [Read more 🡒]