Tom Thibodeau on Julius Randle ‘blaming’ New York’s poor season

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The New York Knicks are in the midst of a brutal streak. They have now lost three in a row, including Thursday’s bitterly disappointing 102-91 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Now at 22-24 and sitting in 11th place in the East, it’s safe to say the Knicks are having anything but a great season.

New York head coach Tom Thibodeau has now spoken about his team’s current crisis and how the media has blamed All-Star forward Julius Randle for it. According to the 64-year-old shooter, he fully understands why everyone is blaming Randle. This prompted Coach Thibs to come to the defense of his beleaguered star:

“It’s easy to say,” Thibodeau said, blaming Randle, via The SunHerald’s Stefan Bondy. “but it’s really our whole team. When things don’t go our way, Julius will take on a lot. He gets a lot of credit, but that goes with the turf. But it’s a team game, and we didn’t go into it with just one individual.

As Thibodeau said, the blame game is part of being the lifeblood of a team. Randle is the Knicks’ best player and he took a lot of credit when that team made the playoffs last season. Naturally, the spotlight on him will be just as bright the other way around.

Randle himself has spoken about all the criticism he has received this season. In his mind, the reigning Most Improved Player remains confident in his own talent:

“People who say that know me,” Randle said. “If you look at my career, if you look at me playing every year, I’ve improved, so that just reflects my mindset as a player. So if you think that, have fun with this take.

Randle’s numbers have dropped from his All-Star campaign last season. The 27-year-old is currently averaging 18.8 points per game on 41.1% shooting – a far cry from his average of 24.1 points last season on a 45.6% clip. The good news for Randle and the Knicks is that there is still time for them to change their season. There’s still so much basketball left to play this year and Randle is more than capable of getting this team back on the path to victory.

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