“It’s like the backup quarterback, everyone thinks he should start till he starts”: Tom Thibodeau defends Julius Randle, dismisses talk of benching the 2021 NBA All-Star

You might’ve thought that Julius Randle is under a bit of fire from coach Tom Thibodeau. But the Knicks forward seems to have Thibs’ full backing.

NBA players need to have a short memory for bad spells on the field and for bad shots. There are too many games during the course of a regular season campaign to get too hung up with one game.

But at the same time, there were signs that Tom Thibodeau had lost faith in his Knicks starters. He did, after all, bench his All-Star for an entire 4th quarter – one in which the bench mob completed a comeback that was on the cards.

That game against the Detroit Pistons would definitely have been a really low point for Julius Randle. It would’ve served as a stark reminder to the former Laker that the NBA is an unforgiving business.

Randle has had one of the worst seasons by any All-Star from the 2020-21 season this year thus far. His shot looks way off, and he’s finding it harder than ever to distribute to his Knicks teammates.

In addition, his energy on the defensive end takes a real hit as soon as he misses a shot. Julius Randle looked in clear need of a reminder that he needs to pull his socks up. The win against Detroit should definitely have served a good role in that.

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Tom Thibodeau defends Julius Randle, dismisses talk of benching the 2021 NBA All-Star

Given that Tom Thibodeau believes his player’s learnt his lesson, it is stupid to expect him to call out his own star in a press conference. Coach Thibs is, after all, a model professional – especially when it comes to the media.

He found the perfect way to rebuke people rallying for Obi Toppin to start over Julius Randle.

Tom Thibodeau asked about social media criticism of Julius Randle:

“That’s the day and age of social media. That’s why you don’t pay attention to it. It doesn’t matter. …It’s like the backup quarterback. Everybody thinks he should start until he starts.”

— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) January 2, 2022

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Judging from the reactions, it seems NBA Twitter nephews are finding it pretty hard to cope with this immaculate analogy.