Julius Randle, Knicks (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
One of the many reasons why the New York Knicks have been so unsuccessful this millennium is due to the lack of elite talent on the roster.
In today’s NBA, you need at least one all-star caliber player to be competitive, and if you want to compete for a championship, you are gonna need at least two of those players. But make no mistake, one of those two has to be a top 10 player at minimum.
Clearly, the Knicks have not been so lucky to acquire such a talent. While they have been able to add the next best thing, they’ve only managed to have stars who end up being alone on the team as far as that designation goes.
And it’s been a minute since New York has had a perennial all-star.
Where do you rank Knicks’ All-Star Julius Randle amongst the elite?
Carmelo Anthony was the last one. He made six straight all-star games from 2011-2017. God bless him for trying, but his desire to play in the Mecca of Basketball never lead to another elite player joining him.
The only other player that ever reached the heights Melo did in a Knicks uniform post-Ewing was Amar’e Stoudemire. If not for injuries, he certainly would have made more than just one all-star game. He was granted that honor in his first year in NY back during the 2010-11 season.
But how good were those two players among other NBA stars?
For a short time, many people used to argue Anthony was the third-best player in the league having finished third in MVP voting for his 2012-13 heroics. While Anthony was certainly a top 10 player for most of his prime, he was always outshined by more successful and skilled players like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and Kevin Durant.
As for Stoudemire, he definitely played the part of a top 10 player with NY for that one season. But before he famously ‘brought the Knicks back,’ STAT was never any better than top 15 in the league, and that may be generous.
It wasn’t his fault though. He played in an era where the best big men in the league were the likes of Dwight Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, and Tim Duncan, to name a few.
Heck, he wasn’t even the best player on his team because of the great Steve Nash.
Since those two were around, (if you don’t count that tall lanky guy always in street clothes with the Dallas Mavericks,) the best Knick player has been Julius Randle.
Randle in his second year just recently secured his first all-star selection, and since he wants to stay in New York long-term, he may get a chance to be the latest NY perennial all-star.
But that begs the question, where does Julius Randle currently rank among the best players in the league?
New York Knicks</a> have been so unsuccessful this millennium is due to the lack of elite talent on the roster.</p>
<p>In today’s NBA, you need at least one all-star caliber player to be competitive, and if you want to compete for a championship, you are gonna need <em>at least</em> two of those players. But make no mistake, one of those two has to be a top 10 player at minimum.</p>
<p>Clearly, the Knicks have not been so lucky to acquire such a talent. While they have been able to add the next best thing, they’ve only managed to have stars who end up being alone on the team as far as that designation goes.</p>
<p>And it’s been a minute since New York has had a perennial all-star.</p>
<h2>Where do you rank Knicks’ All-Star Julius Randle amongst the elite?</h2>
<p>Carmelo Anthony was the last one. He made six straight all-star games from 2011-2017. God bless him for trying, but his desire to play in the Mecca of Basketball never lead to another elite player joining him.</p>
<p>The only other player that ever reached the heights Melo did in a Knicks uniform post-Ewing was Amar’e Stoudemire. If not for injuries, he certainly would have made more than just one all-star game. He was granted that honor in his first year in NY back during the 2010-11 season.</p>
<p>But how good were those two players among other NBA stars?</p>
<p>For a short time, many people used to argue Anthony was the third-best player in the league having <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/03/14/julius-randle-rank-among-best-players/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_2013.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" ref="nofollow">finished third in MVP voting</a> for his 2012-13 heroics. While Anthony was certainly a top 10 player for most of his prime, he was always outshined by more successful and skilled players like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and Kevin Durant.</p>
<p>As for Stoudemire, he definitely played the part of a top 10 player with NY for that one season. But before he famously ‘brought the Knicks back,’ STAT was never any better than top 15 in the league, and that may be generous.</p>
<p>It wasn’t his fault though. He played in an era where the best big men in the league were the likes of Dwight Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, and Tim Duncan, to name a few.</p>
<p>Heck, he wasn’t even the best player on his team because of the great Steve Nash.</p>
<p>Since those two were around, (if you don’t count that tall lanky guy always in street clothes with the Dallas Mavericks,) the best Knick player <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/03/14/julius-randle-rank-among-best-players/"https://dailyknicks.com/2021/02/02/knicks-rather-julius-randle-kristaps-porzingis/">has been Julius Randle</a>.</p>
<p>Randle in his second year just recently secured his first all-star selection, and since he wants to stay in New York long-term, he may get a chance to be the latest NY perennial all-star.</p>
<p>But that begs the question, where does Julius Randle currently rank among the best players in the league?</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/03/14/julius-randle-rank-among-best-players/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Not quite elite? </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-116304" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/03/14/julius-randle-rank-among-best-players/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1127,w_1600/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1304459314.jpeg" alt="Julius Randle, Knicks" width="1600" height="1127" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1304459314.jpeg 1600w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1304459314-768x541.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Julius Randle, Knicks (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)</p>
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<h2>Would you consider Julius Randle of the Knicks to be elite?</h2>
<p>I think it’s fair to say that to be worthy of the title of “elite” among NBA stars, you should have an argument for being one of the league’s top 10 players.</p>
<p>To put it bluntly, Julius Randle is not an elite player.</p>
<p>Now, that is not to say that a player such as Randle can’t be elite in certain areas. For example, Randle is certainly an elite rebounder. He is <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/03/14/julius-randle-rank-among-best-players/"https://www.landofbasketball.com/year_by_year_stats/2020_2021_leaders_rebounds_pg_rs.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11th in rebounds per game</a> at 11.0.</p>
<p>He, along with those other 10 players are the only guys averaging double-digit rebounds, unless you would like to include Jarrett Allen’s 9.9 RPG.</p>
<p>Randle is also definitely an elite inside scorer and mid-range shooter. However, Randle’s great all-around game simply lacks the incredible talent that many guys I would rank ahead of him have.</p>
<p>There are 13 players that I would call elite players (in no particular order); James, Durant, Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Jimmy Butler, and Kyrie Irving.</p>
<p>There is simply no argument that Randle is currently better than any of those players. Not only are they all more talented, but they are all players in their prime with incredible resumes to boot.</p>
<p>Randle might be able to put together more great seasons and add some accomplishments that will one day put him in the conversation for the league’s elite, but right now he falls short.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/03/14/julius-randle-rank-among-best-players/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> So, who is Julius Randle better than? </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-116305" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/03/14/julius-randle-rank-among-best-players/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2133,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1298383866.jpeg" alt="Julius Randle, Knicks" width="3200" height="2133" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1298383866.jpeg 3200w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1298383866-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Julius Randle, Knicks (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)</p>
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<h2>Who would you consider Knicks’ Julius Randle to be better than?</h2>
<p>Of course, there is no concrete answer as to what players Julius Randle is better than.</p>
<p>Player rankings are different for everyone. My opinion will likely be based on different thinking than you currently reading this article.</p>
<p>We all have attributes we value more than others.</p>
<p>All that is to say that I will do my best now to present the argument for who I believe Randle is currently better than. This is just my opinion, so feel free to drop your list for the NBA’s top 10, 20, whatever number you like in the comments.</p>
<p>For this exercise, I’m first going to name you 16 players, who will be split into two tiers.</p>
<p>The first tier will contain nine players who I think are just below the elite. The other tier will contain 7 players who I simply think aren’t quite on the same level as the people listed above them.</p>
<p><strong>Tier 1: </strong>Jayson Tatum, Bradley Beal, Karl Anthony-Towns, Paul George, Chris Paul, Demar Derozan, Bam Adebayo, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker.</p>
<p><strong>Tier 2: </strong>Rudy Gobert, Trae Young, Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Nikola Vucevic, Ben Simmons, Khris Middleton.</p>
<p>That, roughly, is a list of my top 30 players when you include the first 13 players named and Randle.</p>
<p>The lists are compiled of players off the top of my head who are having great seasons and who I think are the best players on their team and in the league. I would even expand the second tier to fit Domantas Sabonis, Jaylen Brown, Russell Westbrook, Kyle Lowry, De’Aaron Fox, and Zach Lavine as guys in the mix for the top 30 NBA players.</p>
<p>So which tier does Randle fall into?</p>
<p>I would put him in tier 1 right now. Julius Randle as mentioned is a player who is elite in some areas while also very highly skilled in others. He has been the best player on a Knicks team that has been slotted as high as the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference. He plays every game and is consistently the best player on the floor for his team, if not the best player period.</p>
<p>This slots him somewhere in the top 22.</p>
<p>Which player’s do I think are better than Randle in this tier?</p>
<p>I’ll say that Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum are firmly ahead of him. I would argue Randle plays at a level that on any given night will rival George, Towns, Paul, Mitchell, Derozan, Booker, and Adebayo.</p>
<p>Right now, I would say he has the edge over Derozan and Adebayo. This means I think Randle falls somewhere in the 15-21 range.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/03/14/julius-randle-rank-among-best-players/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Final Verdict </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-116306" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/03/14/julius-randle-rank-among-best-players/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2200,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1297890399.jpeg" alt="Julius Randle, Knicks" width="3200" height="2200" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1297890399.jpeg 3200w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1297890399-768x528.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Julius Randle, Knicks (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)</p>
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<h2>The final verdict when making the case for Knicks’ star, Julius Randle.</h2>
<p>Ok, fine.</p>
<p>If I had to give Julius Randle a specific number, I would rank him 19th.</p>
<p>I would put the following players ahead of him in order; Tatum, Beal, George, Paul, and Mitchell.</p>
<p>You can argue the other players are better. You can argue some of those tier 2 players are better than Randle if you want to as well.</p>
<p>However, I feel this is a fair ranking. My reasoning for slotting Randle in at 19th is because he is a player with a fantastic all-around game.</p>
<p>He is an efficient three-level scorer, a fantastic rebounder, a great passer, and even a decent defender. His numbers make him worthy of the <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/03/14/julius-randle-rank-among-best-players/"https://dailyknicks.com/2021/03/11/knicks-julius-randle-most-improved-player/">Most Improved Player Award</a> nod at the season’s end.</p>
<p>They’re even good enough that they could win him an MVP if he was leading a contending team.</p>
<p>After all, he is one of only four players averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists per game (along with Giannis, Sabonis, and Jokic).</p>
<p>Randle may never win an MVP, be the leader on a contending team, or even be in the top 10 player argument. But Knicks fans have to love the way he’s playing right now. I think it is more than fair to say Randle is a top 20 player right now.</p>
<p>For the Knicks, that’s good enough for now.</p>
<p>And who knows, maybe one day he can reach his full potential as a player that can achieve any number of those accomplishments while playing in Madison Square Garden.</p>
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