Julius Randle's second try at a regular season debut proved how fearless he is.
The "Julius Randle Debut Tour: Volume 2," got off to a nice start in the Los Angeles Lakers' opening night loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Randle muscled his way to a team-high 11 rebounds, also chipping in 15 points for his first career double-double. What stood out more than any statistic was the edge to Randle's game, a barely controlled brashness that belies his relative lack of experience and stature in the league.
This was an ongoing theme throughout preseason, and it manifested itself on opening night in against 20-year NBA veteran Kevin Garnett, long one of the league's leading trash talkers and scuffle inciters as well as a former MVP and Defensive Player of the Year.