NEW ORLEANS – This week, when Chris Finch made a change to his starting lineup, he substituted Donte DiVincenzo in at point guard for Mike Conley. Staying in the starting lineup, perhaps to the chagrin of a portion of Timberwolves fans, was Julius Randle.
Those hoping that Finch might not stop with the Conley-DiVincenzo swap should read what Finch said after the team’s 104-97 win over New Orleans on Tuesday.
As he has at various points this season, Finch reiterated how much the team has asked of Randle since bringing him in via trade. This came after Randle guarded Zion Williamson and posted 16 points, six rebounds and three assists while being a team-high plus-21.
“Listen, I got a lot of respect, admiration for Julius,” Finch said. “His shot attempts overall are down from where he was in New York. His numbers have been in line with them, too, so he’s having a bit more of an efficient season for us. We’ve asked him to do different things at different times as our team ebbed and flowed. ‘Hey, we need you to score more. Hey, we need you to pass more. Hey, we need you to create more offense. We need you to handle more. Pick up the pace for us.’ He’s tried to respond to it all.”
Randle is averaging 14.1 shot attempts per game, which is down from 18.2 a season ago in New York. His three-point shooting has improved from 31% to 36%. His turnovers have decreased from 3.5 to three per game. But on the nights when Randle doesn’t have it, such as Monday’s 108-106 win over the Clippers, Finch has gone away from Randle late in games, which was a change from how Finch was handling the beginning of the season. Randle played only 23 minutes against the Clippers before playing 35 against the Pelicans. He had five points and three turnovers Monday.
So while Finch hasn’t wavered from starting Randle, he has shown an adaptability to cut Randle’s minutes later in games. He also played only 27 minutes in a recent loss to Oklahoma City.
There’s plenty of blame to go around for the Wolves’ inconsistent first half of the season, and fans have zeroed in on Randle as a lightning rod for that blame. But the team has taken a more holistic view of its issues — trying to get Conley going, trying to get Jaden McDaniels out of his offensive struggles — than just pinning it on Randle. As Finch’s comments suggest, there seems to be a significant difference in how the team views Randle and how fans might view him.
“I’m always conscious we’re asking him to do a lot of things, and maybe he’s not able to settle into his own rhythm sometimes,” Finch said. “But he’s been a trouper. He’s guarded a lot. Taken a lot of really good matchups for us, and [Tuesday night] was a good example of that.”
