A Friendly Suggestion: Julius Randle Should Ask Himself "WWJD" - What Would Jeter Do

This is a town in which Patrick Ewing, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter have all been booed at different points in their legendary careers.

A Friendly Suggestion: Julius Randle Should Ask Himself "WWJD" - What Would Jeter Do

Before getting into the next installment of the 2021 trade primer (which will be posted this afternoon), I wanted to take a minute to address the Julius Randle controversy hovering around the team over the past few days. 

To recap: Last Thursday, Knicks fans inside MSG booed Randle and his teammates after they fell behind by 25 points. At one point in the fourth quarter, Randle aimed a 'thumbs down' gesture at the crowd. After the game (which included a miraculous Knicks comeback capped off by RJ Barrett sinking a miraculous buzzer-beater), Randle was asked about the gesture and acknowledged it was directed at the fans. "Shut the fuck up," Randle declared.  

The NYC tabloids, of course, had a field day with dissension. Instead of focusing on the first Knicks buzzer-beater at MSG in more than a decade, the back cover of the Post ridiculously claimed that Randle "declared war" with the fans. 

The following day, Randle apologized. In a statement posted to his Instagram account, Randle explained that the gesture was "an example of how sometimes you say things you regret to people you love" and admitted he should have handled things differently."

Kudos to Randle for attempting to quell the controversy.

However, Randle struggled mightily in his return to MSG on Monday, scoring just two points on 1-of-7 shooting in the Knicks blowout victory over the Spurs. As expected, there was a slight smattering of boos for the All-Star forward during the game, his first appearance at The Garden since the "shut the f–k up" comment. Afterward, Randle chose not to speak with reporters. He did meet with the media on Tuesday, and when asked about the ongoing saga, Randle responded by repeatedly stating, "I've already addressed it."

As I explained last week, I was more than willing to give Randle the benefit of the doubt after the initial incident. We all have bad days at our jobs. While we'd prefer to constantly keep our emotions in check, we sometimes lash out, even at loved ones. 

However, Randle's poor body language on the floor Tuesday night (and throughout the season whenever his shots don't fall), his refusal to speak with reporters afterward, and his terse answers Wednesday are a bit concerning.

Keep in mind, Randle made the STFU comment the same night MSG erupted in the second half, with fans, who paid hundreds of dollars to attend the contest, vociferously cheering on the Knicks, including Randle, the team's highest-paid player. After the game, Celtics center Robert Williams said the crowd was so loud they couldn't hear their head coach, Ime Udoka, during timeouts and that the team was focusing on attempting to calm themselves down amid the chaos. 

Again, this was the very same night Randle told the fans to shut up. 

Randle was superb last season and, as a result, was treated as a deity nearly everywhere he went, especially inside the friendly confines of the Garden, where boisterous "M-V-P" chants rang down from the rafters almost every time he stepped to the free-throw line. 

He and the team have failed to live up to expectations this season. And, as a result, the knowledgeable fanbase has expressed their frustrations and disappointment, especially when they feel the players on their favorite team are not giving maximum effort every time they step on the floor. 

It's crucial to note that many fans are not booing Randle for missing shots; they are booing him for slumping his shoulders and not sprinting back on defense after he misses a shot. 

More importantly, here's what Randle needs to understand: Nobody gets a lifetime pass in New York.

Throughout the late 1990s, especially during his last few years as Knicks, Patrick Ewing would often be booed by the Garden faithful. Patrick freaking Ewing. If the greatest Knick of all time (yes, he is the best player in franchise history), a player that carried the Knicks to more than 80 playoff victories (!!) can get jeered by the home crowd, so can a player that's had one good year in New York, and won a grand total of one playoff game. 

Please remember, this is a town in which both Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer in the history of baseball, and the incomparable, beloved Derek Jeter, were both booed in the Bronx at different points in their legendary careers. 

In 2005, after blowing two straight blown saves within 24 hours against the Red Sox, Rivera heard Bronx cheers inside Yankee Stadium. "It doesn't bother me," Rivera said afterward. "I have my teammates." Mel Stottlemyre, the Yankees pitching coach at the time, told reporters: "That's New York. They are the same people who cheer and give you a standing ovation when you get the job done."

In early April of 2004, Derek Jeter was booed after going 0-for-4 against those same Red Sox, which forced his average to dip below the Medoza line to .197. Both Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi got an earful in that series as well. 

Yet, Jeter didn't pull a page out of the Javier Baez playbook and give the fans a thumbs-down or curse at them through the press. 

Here's how the Captain responded: "I don't blame them," Jeter said. "We would have booed ourselves tonight, too. It's hard to imagine being worse than we were tonight. Put me at the front of that list." 

When Jeter made that comment, his resume included four World Series titles, a World Series MVP award, six All-Star appearances and an All-Star game MVP.

The moral of the story is that every athlete that plays in the great city of New York should be required to take a public relations course on handling stardom, taught by Mr. Jeter himself. 

If you are a superstar in NYC and are unsure of how you should handle a particular situation, ask yourself, "WWJD" - What Would Jeter Do.