Los Angeles Lakers rookie Julius Randle had one of his better games of the preseason on Sunday night against the Utah Jazz. The 19-year old scored eight points, grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots. There will likely be some growing pains for Randle throughout the season, but Kobe Bryant has not been afraid to put pressure on the former Kentucky star.
After Sunday’s 98-91 victory, Kobe was asked about the opportunity Randle has been presented with to learn from people like Bryant himself, Carlos Boozer, Steve Nash and Lakers coach Byron Scott. His response was classic Kobe.
“It means he can’t f— up,” Kobe said. “Seriously, if you f— this up you’re a really big idiot, you know what I mean? ESPN are idiots, but you’re a really big idiot if you manage to f— this up.”
Bryant’s remark about ESPN was a reference to a comment he made last week about the World Wide Leader being a bunch of idiots for ranking him No. 40 in their preseason list of the NBA’s top 500 players.
To his credit, Randle agreed with Kobe that he is in a perfect situation and would have no one to blame but himself if he doesn’t learn from it.
“It’s up for me to mess it up. Kobe said, ‘You can’t mess it up, unless you want to,’” Randle said. “I [would] intentionally have to mess things up, having a coach like Byron, learning from greats like Kobe, Boozer, Nash, all those guys. And, on top of that playing for the Lakers organization. I’m in the perfect situation, I can’t mess it up.”
The Lakers were horrible last season, and they no longer have Pau Gasol. They need Randle to make an impact as a rookie if they’re going to succeed. Here’s a video of Kobe’s comments:
