Souhan: It’s time to stop complaining about Timberwolves’ Julius Randle

Agitated Timberwolves fans whined for years about Karl-Anthony Towns complaining to referees.

When Towns was traded to the Knicks last fall and thrived this season, the ATF (Agitated Timberwolves Fans) suddenly missed KAT, but they found a new target for their angst: newcomer Julius Randle and his habit of running down the shot clock before making a decision with the ball.

The ATF were right about Towns, but they allowed their frustrations to skew their perception of his overall value as a tremendous offensive player, strong rebounder and improved defender.

The ATF were right about Randle for much of this season. He did dribble too much; he did delay making a decision for too long in many possessions; and he rarely looked comfortable in Wolves coach Chris Finch’s offense.

Because of longstanding frustration with his style of play, and the fact that Towns was having a tremendous season in New York, Randle became the fans’ convenient scapegoat.

In reality, Randle has been one of the Wolves’ most effective and decisive players since returning from injury in early March. He has looked increasingly comfortable running the Wolves offense as a point forward, and making quicker decisions in the paint. He has adapted to Wolves star Anthony Edwards’ style of play, and the two now look like they have been playing together for years.

When Randle returned from a right adductor strain on March 2, the Wolves were 33-29 and had lost two in a row. Since then, they are 17-4 and won eight of their last nine games to close the regular season.

Money aside, there were two good basketball reasons for making the deal:

1. Getting two good players for one good player would improve the Wolves’ depth, and the current Wolves regime has always valued DiVincenzo.

2. Towns is an exceptional offensive player, but he’s not at his best when needing to create his own shot. The Wolves lost in the Western Conference finals last year to a Dallas team that relied on two playmakers — Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. The Mavericks always had at least one player on the court who could create for himself or teammates.

After months of adjusting to the Wolves, and watching from the sideline while injured, Randle has given Connelly what he wanted — a second player, along with Edwards, who can create his own shot, or draw defenders and make the right pass.

“He’s willing to do whatever the team has needed,” Finch said. “Donte arrived here as a 40-minutes-a-game starter in New York, down the stretch and into the playoffs. Julius has been a scorer his whole career. Those guys have really adjusted and found their roles here and at times propelled us during this season.”

As the Wolves prepare for a playoff series against the Lakers, Randle’s strength could play a major role on defense. The Wolves’ two best on-the-ball defenders, Jaden McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, aren’t strong enough to play physically against Doncic and LeBron James without fouling. Randle might not be an ideal match for either, but he won’t be overpowered by them.

Connelly’s trade for Gobert looked terrible until Gobert’s second season in Minnesota. Connelly’s trade for Randle and DiVincenzo looked terrible early this season, when Towns was thriving and the new Wolves were overcoming the shock of being traded to the tundra.