Kobe: Julius Randle is 'Lamar Odom in a Zach Randolph body'
Consider Kobe Bryant high on Julius Randle's potential.
The Los Angeles Lakers power forward enters his sophomore season essentially as a rookie, having red-shirted all but 14 minutes of his rookie campaign due to a broken leg. He's looked comfortable early in the preseason, following up a seven-point, seven-rebound effort in the team's opener with a 7-of-12, 16-point performance Tuesday that came with five rebounds, three steals, and - perhaps most impressively - four assists.
"He's Lamar Odom in a Zach Randolph body," Bryant said of Randle after the game.
Don't let the way Odom's career ended twist Bryant's comments - that's high praise. It's been largely forgotten in recent years that Odom - the 2011 Sixth Man of the Year - was a key cog on a pair of NBA championship teams. The definition of a point forward, Odom facilitated for teammates from the wing, rebounded like a big man, and could score in a variety of ways.
Bryant's evaluation suggests he sees Randle as a thicker Odom, capable of making a multi-faceted impact on either end of the floor. Odom was last listed as 6-foot-10 and 220 pounds, while Randle checks in at 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds, just 10 pounds shy of the beastly and ground-bound Randolph.
New teammate Roy Hibbert is also among those impressed with Randle.
"Julius is an animal," Hibbert said, after having Randle's back in an on-court skirmish. "He's the future of this team. He's a future face of the NBA. That boy can play."
While this is the time of year for unabashed, unguarded, and untethered optimism, the Randle hype is easy to understand. He was the No. 7 pick, and while he lost a year of on-court time, he also got to spend a great deal of time with Bryant and Metta World Peace, not a bad silver lining.
Expectations for the Lakers' season need to be kept in check, as it's unlikely this is a playoff team. But with the franchise focused on developing their young talent and the fanbase buying in to the youth movement, the 2015-16 season should prove entertaining and worthy of optimism for the future of basketball in Hollywood.