When the New York Knicks were looking for a new head coach in the summer of 2020, Julius Randle had an idea.
The 25-year-old franchise centerpiece started dropping hints to upper management after David Fizdale was fired midseason. By the time the season was over, Randle was letting anyone and everyone in the organization know who he thought would be the perfect fit.
“I wanted Finchy to come on staff there. I’m telling them, man, Finchy’s a great coach,” Randle said with a wide smile. “But they had their plans of what they wanted to do. But I was like man, Finchy would be an amazing coach for us. It just didn’t happen.”
Finchy was Chris Finch. At the time, he was a highly regarded assistant coach whose name was just starting to circulate as a possible future head coach in the NBA. He was the offensive coordinator in New Orleans during Randle’s lone season with the Pelicans, and the two clicked on a basketball level that Randle never had before or since.
“Julius was a joy to coach,” Finch said. “Really, really enjoyed working with him. Great pro. Loves being in the gym, comes in with a smile on his face every day. He’s hungry for feedback. Really pleasant.”
Now the two are reunited in Minnesota, where Finch is the head coach of the Timberwolves and tasked with incorporating Randle’s style of play into the team after a blockbuster trade just before training camp started. At first glance, Randle’s fit with Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert and the rest of a Wolves team that went to the Western Conference finals last season is not seamless.
The Wolves are counting on the trust that was built between Finch and Randle in New Orleans to travel up the Mississippi to Minnesota. If they can pull it off, this is a team that can go as far as it wants to go in the West. The Wolves would not have traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks for Randle and Donte DiVincenzo if they thought the deal was going to hurt their chances to contend. Finch’s connection to Randle played a major role in their decision to make such a significant move after planning to run it back.
“If anybody knows anything about me, I’m a rhythm player and Finchy does a great job of putting me in spots where I’m catching it in the flow, catching it in rhythm, making my reads simple and just playing,” Randle said. “Not thinking too much, just playing. We view the game in a very unselfish way and I just try to let that be contagious with the rest of the team.”
Unselfishness is going to be paramount if this is going to work.
In five years in New York, Randle became known as a powerful isolation scorer, a deliberate player who liked to milk the shot clock, wear down his defender and get buckets. But in Minnesota, he will need to move the ball to accommodate Edwards, another player who can get his shot whenever he wants.
When Wolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly and Finch would invariably discuss team-building scenarios during meetings throughout their two years together, Connelly would ask the coach which players around the league he liked and which ones he didn’t. Finch always endorsed Randle, believing that his passing ability was often overlooked while he was scoring more than 20 points per game. Randle averages 3.7 assists per game in his career and has dished at least 5.0 per game in three of the last four seasons.
On an offense that ranked a disappointing 17th in efficiency last season, the Wolves need a boost. DiVincenzo’s 3-point accuracy and volume figures to be an immense help, as does anticipated individual improvement from Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid. But if Randle can direct some of the offense, click with Edwards and Gobert and also provide the physical presence going to the rim that he was known for in New York and New Orleans, then the Wolves will have a chance.
When Randle arrived in New Orleans, he was on a prove-it type of deal after four solid but unspectacular seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. Fellow Kentucky Wildcats player Anthony Davis recruited him hard to New Orleans in the summer of 2018, pitching the chance to form an unstoppable frontcourt tandem. Randle signed a two-year deal with a player option on the second season, only to see Davis request a trade to submarine things in New Orleans.
In the middle of all of that chaos, Randle found a kindred spirit in Finch. Both were talented basketball men who were confident that bigger things were just around the corner for them. They are quiet and serious-minded in their approach and their competitive natures can be revealed with a saltiness that surfaces when things break down.
Randle saw his scoring average increase from 16.1 points in his last season with the Lakers to 21.4 with the Pelicans. His 3-point percentage leaped from 22.2 percent to 34.4 and his free-throw attempts went from 5.2 per game to 6.7.
“He’s a great communicator, knows how to get the best out of his players,” Randle said. “So I remember playing for him there and I always felt super prepared for the games, knowing what was going to happen, where I was going to get my shots from, what he needed from me.”
The belief in Randle’s ability to move the ball does have some statistical support behind it.
In his five seasons with the Knicks, Randle ranked second, first, first, second and second in number of passes per game, per NBA.com. He also finished in the top two in assists in each of those seasons, including averaging a career-high 6.0 per game in 2020-21, his first All-Star season. Even when Jalen Brunson arrived and essentially took over the role as the primary scorer for the Knicks offense, Randle still managed to be one of the team’s most active ball movers.
“Probably the thing that gets overlooked is the playmaking,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “When you average close to five assists per game, you’re making a lot of plays. The scoring is obvious. The rebounding is obvious. Whatever role you ask him to play, that’s what he’s going to do. I think winning is very important to him.”
In his last two seasons in New York, Randle paired with a high usage, All-NBA caliber guard in Brunson and a huge center in Mitchell Robinson who operated almost exclusively at or near the rim on offense. It was working beautifully last season right before he went down with a shoulder injury in January. The Knicks had won 12 of their previous 14 games to climb the ladder in the Eastern Conference. Randle played a starring role during the stretch, averaging 24.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists.
Randle said his iso-scoring was more a product of what that Knicks roster needed from him. Now that he is in Minnesota, he is looking forward to spraying the ball around even more and helping Minnesota’s offense catch up to its top-ranked defense.
“I’ve always liked to say I’m more of a passer than a scorer,” Randle said. “That’s what I genuinely like to do. That’s how I grew up playing basketball.”
Randle only played in one preseason game for the Wolves, which was part of the plan as he returned from a shoulder injury that ended his final season with the Knicks at the end of January. He is healthy now, but it likely will take a little time for him to get fully acclimated to his new team, starting on Tuesday night with the season opener in Los Angeles against the Lakers, another former team of his.
Towns was here for nine years, and his style of play is entirely different from Randle’s. Towns spaced the floor with his 3-point shot and drove to the rim for finishes or dump offs to Gobert. Randle isn’t the 3-point shooter that Towns is, preferring to work the midrange and play bully ball at the rim. He also is adept at driving and kicking to open shooters around the perimeter.
Point guard Mike Conley said there have been moments in practice where they have been caught off guard by Randle’s ability to push the ball in transition and initiate.
“You’ve got to get used to your big guy bringing the ball up, making plays, guards running to the corner and letting them do that and giving them that freedom,” Conley said. “We’ve had to step to the side a few times, push him in different spots so he understands his spacing for us. That’s been the learning curve so far.”
While they figure each other out, Randle feels welcome in his new surroundings. There is more room to roam in Minnesota than there was in New York, a pace of life that he likened to his native Texas. In the locker room, he has found a hungry group of competitors eager to build on last season’s success.
“Everybody’s allowed to be them, the best versions of themselves. We all blend and go together really well,” Randle said. “It’s a good group of guys. They’ve done more than an amazing job of making me feel comfortable here.”
Randle was not able to get Finch to New York all those years ago. The Knicks hired Thibodeau, who has been a resounding success. Even so, Randle said he would continue to get messages from Finch periodically through the years checking in on him and offering little nuggets of observation.
“He would text me to get my ass attacking the rim. He thought I was settling for too many jumpers,” Randle said. “He was like, ‘You’ve always been at your best when you’re downhill and attacking the rim.’ Just that relationship and that trust I’ve always had with him.”
Added Finch: “Always kept an eye on him, just happy for his success in New York, particularly in the beginning when he helped turn around a franchise that needed somebody to come in there and do some work. I was excited at the opportunity to be reunited with him just because of that connection.”
Randle has a player option next year on his contract, meaning he can become a free agent next summer. He turns 30 next month and no doubt envisions another long-term contract. In some ways, it’s similar to when Randle arrived in New Orleans in 2018 with a two-year deal that included a player option on the second season.
“When I got to New Orleans, Finchy just gave me a tremendous amount of more confidence and opportunity,” Randle said, “and I just took it and ran with it.”
Now, they need to do it again.
(Photo of Chris Finch and Julius Randle: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
