'It Ain't Fun' - Julius Randle Complaining About The Scrutiny Of Playing In New York Is Exactly Why The Knicks Had To Trade Him

I don't get this from Julius Randle. Don't get me wrong, there were fans who couldn't wait to ship him out and hated his entire run here, but the guy played at Kentucky and for the Lakers before playing for the Knicks. You're telling me he was complaining about pressure? It makes no sense. You can say it's not fun having fans scream at your family, whatever, things like that. But saying you can't focus on the game because fans are living and dying with every shot? Yeah, man, that's how it is when people care about a team. 

The whole Julius Randle era in New York is a little difficult to explain. He was the 'leftover' who signed with the Knicks, people were ready to shit on it and then he turned into an All-Star and All-NBA player. He helped lead the Knicks to the playoffs and ended that drought, he then let Jalen Brunson come in and be the face. But then the playoffs happened where people immediately blamed Randle for the way he played ISO ball, forced shots and then was hurt last year. 

I don't think it's necessarily that Randle wasn't made to play in New York, if that was the case he would have sucked here. It's more that Randle needed to get moved from New York. Whether it was the thumbs down or the fans losing our minds about him in the playoffs, you had to get new blood in here. And you can't argue it wasn't the right call. The Knicks are in the conference finals, KAT is a major reason why. The Wolves are in the conference finals and Randle helped them get there. All good in my book. Just don't complain about the pressure of playing in a city when it gave you the best basketball since the title game run at Kentucky.