Julius Randle found himself on Charles Oakley-levels of fondness among Knicks fans last season. He was the face of the team’s surprising surge to the playoffs, putting together an All-Star season while winning the NBA’s Most Improved Player award.
Now, Randle has become a source of disdain for the New York faithful, who have watched him regress significantly in production from last year, and, at times, in effort as well. Randle has given the MSG crowd a thumbs down after being booed, saying it was a message of “shut the f--k up,” has been made unavailable to the media after games as many as seven games in a row, and has seen his name surface in trade rumors.
So, when asked by Tiki and Tierney if Randle can salvage his image in New York and regain the popularity he had last year, Oakley himself said Randle is facing a steep uphill climb.
“I think it’s gonna be tough,” Randle said. “I don’t care what type of night you’re having on the court, you can’t do that to the fans…you might be able to do it in New Orleans…but there’s a foundation here. They want you to play hard and consistent.”
Oakley noted the thumbs down incident, but said when Randle looked at teammate Obi Toppin on the ground and didn’t help him up last weekend, that was an even greater foul.
“When he did that, that was two times bad,” Randle said.
Randle hasn’t led the Knicks in scoring since Christmas Day after being the team’s top scoring target all of last season. SNY’s Ian Begley reported last week that Randle, who becomes trade eligible this week, could be dealt for the right price. Oakley doesn’t know what led to Randle’s significant dropoff and fall from grace, but he knows it will be tough to get back on the fans’ good side.
“He used to put up 20 and 10, but that’s not enough in New York,” Oakley said. “You have to be a leader. Maybe he took the summer off and didn’t work on his game and thought he could come into training camp and get back in shape, but other teams got better.
“He’s got talent. But is it a talent that’s for New York? I think it’s gonna be tough.”
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