Shaquille O’Neal took Julius Randle to task for complaining about unfair refereeing, asking him to basically be a big boy and play on.
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TNT’s funniest analysts are also the Hall of Famers of the NBA and so Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley do not always troll the players they also help them by giving tips from time to time.
Some of the players in the NBA have had lots of issues since the start of the 2021-22 season, few are struggling with the new ball and others with the changes in rules related to fouls.
Julius Randle of the New York Knicks has been one of the top players from last season who is struggling because of the latter. Although he’s having a decent season averaging over 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists a game, he’s not looking close to his last season self.
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One of the reasons Randle believes in the difference in his performance is because he’s not been going to the charity stripe as much as he should. After a close game against the city rivals Brooklyn Nets, which they lost 112-110, Randle had this to say.
“They said because certain contact doesn’t affect me like it affects other players because I’m stronger, they miss the calls,” Randle said about the officials.
Shaquille O’Neal has some good advice for Julius Randle if he could “stop whining”
The 6’8 forward received advice from 4-time NBA champ Shaquille O’Neal on how to deal with the situation. Shaq believes nobody in the cares about what the big man in the NBA goes through, they treat them as Goliath.
After hearing Julius’ interview after the Brooklyn game, Inside the NBA crew discussed it in the show, where “the Diesel” says Julius should just bring his big elbows up whenever someone is reaching. So if he is not getting a call at least the defenders will get hurt in the process and therefore they will come at him lesser.
“Stop whining, stop complaining, they are not gonna give you the call but that’s okay, just play through it big dog.” Shaq advised Randle.
The 3-time Finals MVP is speaking from experience as he himself took a lot of contacts and went to the foul line. Shaq is 4th in the all-time list of free-throws attempts by an NBA player.
Although he’s also one of the worst shooters from the charity stripe, he knows the best on how to get there in the first place. Randle is a better shooter than Shaq, having shot 74% from the line throughout his career.
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The 2021 All-Star is also getting the same amount of free-throws he was getting in the last season so that might not be the issue for his dip in form.
No doubt he must be getting hit more often on his way to the rim than last season because of rule changes, and Shaq’s advice seems like the best solution for him right now.
