Before the first quarter was halfway done Thursday night, Julius Randle had committed three fouls.
It's the sort of thing one might expect from a 20-year-old who has barely seen game action in the past year. But it's also the exception for Randle, who has impressed the Lakers as he heads into his second NBA season — and looks forward to playing in only his second NBA regular-season game.
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One year late, Randle has given the Lakers everything they expected when they drafted him seventh overall out of Kentucky in 2014, only to see him suffer a season-ending broken leg in his debut.
“He can do everything,” Kobe Bryant said, via NBA.com. “He can rebound, post, push the ball, pass.”
Randle's growth was on display in Thursday's preseason game against the Raptors. After shaking off that foul frenzy to start the game, he finished with 17 points, five rebounds and three assists.
"Making easy, simple plays, trusting everything I worked on in the summer," Randle said, via the Los Angeles Times. "I was just staying confident."
Thursday's showing came a night after Randle put up 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals against the Jazz. Those back-to-back showings have reminded the Lakers what they missed in a dreadful 2014-15 campaign.
“I’m just very happy with the way he’s playing,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said of Randle. “He’s competing. He’s getting a lot of things right that we talked about on both ends of the floor. And he’s a worker, and he’s worked hard to get to this point. I think he has a lot of ability to do a lot of things on the basketball court. We’re starting to see some of those things come to light.”
