Julius Randle’s return from a dislocated right shoulder was always going to take some time.
It’s been almost seven weeks since the Knicks All-Star forward last took the floor in orange and blue, and with OG Anunoby’s triumphant return to the starting lineup on Tuesday, all attention has been shifted to the workhorse forward who’s been out of the rotation since Jan. 27.
The very nature of Randle’s game is the reason his return may take longer than expected — because the lefty’s preferred weapon of choice on the basketball court is the same shoulder he compromised in the late-January victory over the Miami Heat.
Randle’s effective brand of bully ball is made possible thanks to the very shoulder he separated crashing into the ground on a drive to the rim.
Whether he can return in time to help the Knicks is only one half of the question: Whether or not Randle will have to change his game to accommodate his shoulder is another piece of the puzzle at The Garden.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau addressed this after a Knicks practice at the Tarrytown training facility on March 7.
After averaging a career-high 8.3 attempted threes per game last season, Randle re-imagined his game during the summer and came into the year with a heightened focus on bully ball.
This season, he made it his signature move to throw his right shoulder into defenders to create separation, either to get a shot off or to force the defense to collapse to create an open look for a teammate.
His shoulder has been compromised, and while seven weeks may seem like a long time, a dislocated shoulder can feel like it happened yesterday.
“He’ll be at a comfort level when he does come back. He’s handled his injuries that he’s had in the past well,” Thibodeau said on March 7. “I think once he’s cleared, and usually what happens when a player goes through whatever injury they have, every player has to get back to where they trust their body again. And that usually doesn’t happen until there’s a play in the game where you go, ‘Hey, I’m OK.’ So he’s doing all the work that he needs to do, and he’s making good progress, and just work your way through it.”
The timing of it all, however, is the most concerning part.
After all, Randle opted to forego surgery and rehab his shoulder so he could return for a postseason push toward the end of the season.
The Knicks expected Randle to be back on the floor with a handful of games remaining on the schedule to get the team into a rhythm entering the playoffs.
Thursday’s matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers marks Game No. 66 of 82, leaving just 16 more games until the playoffs — or the Play-In Tournament depending on how the Knicks close the season.
And as of Tuesday, even though Randle is traveling with the Knicks for their four-game West Coast road trip, he had not yet begun taking full contact in practice, nor had he advanced to any drills featuring opponents.
“[He] just hasn’t had the contact yet,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said ahead of tipoff against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday. “The conditioning is good, he’s shooting, doing individual work, that’s all good. He can do 5-on-0; that sort of thing. Light contact with the pads. That contact is what you would term controlled. So you know what the move is so you can brace yourself for it. So there’s a progression to what you have to go through.”
Randle still has to strengthen his shoulder. With the strength will come the confidence. With enough confidence will come an injury return.
Rehab, Thibodeau said, serves as games for the All-Star forward until he can make his return.
A reminder: Randle does not like missing games. He has appeared in 70 or more games every year except his injury-shortened rookie season and played in 64 of a possible 66 games when the COVID-19 pandemic shortened the 2019-20 season.
If he was healthy, he would be on the floor.
He isn’t healthy yet, which shouldn’t come as a surprise — but with only 2.5 games separating the No. 4 Knicks from the No. 8 Miami Heat, the sooner Randle can return, the better it’ll be for a Knicks team hoping to stay out of the Play-In.
And maybe retain home-court advantage while they’re at it.
