Jan. 11--It wasn't the greatest accuracy for a power forward, but the Lakers hope it's an upward trajectory.
Julius Randle made five of 12 shots (41.7%) Sunday against Utah, a change from the previous four games when he made only three of 23 (13%).
The end of a trend? Tough to tell.
"I don't think he's lost confidence. I think he's just frustrated," Lakers Coach Byron Scott said Sunday. "This league, everybody, they watch tape and they scout. What they're doing right now is just laying back and letting Julius take the jump shot, which we want him to do when he has a good look at it. And then when he doesn't, he's bringing it to the teeth of the defense" on drives.
Randle is shooting a shaky 40.3%, particularly poor for someone with only 18 three-point shots. He is last among the 21 power forwards with enough field goals to qualify for accuracy leaders. Detroit's Marcus Morris is 20th at 42.1%.
Randle's improvement from outside will "probably not [be] much" over the final three months of the season, Scott said.
"We don't have that much time to really work on it like we want to," Scott said. "We can't change it until really the summertime when we can spend tons and tons of hours really trying to work on the mechanical part of it. We're not going to change it right now at this particular point. I think it would be useless."
Larry Nance Jr. has shown much better touch than Randle since replacing him in the starting lineup 19 games ago, continually hitting midrange jumpers and earning praise from Scott.
Nance does not have enough field goals to qualify for league leaders but is shooting 54%, which would place him at the top of the NBA's power forwards. Denver's Kenneth Faried is shooting 53.4%.
"[Nance] has been able to shoot that all season long. We saw that in training camp. He was just very reluctant to shoot it," Scott said recently. "We just kept telling him, 'You're passing up great shots, young man, and those are shots that we know you can make.'
"He really does have three-point range. He won't probably take one unless the clock is running down, but I have a lot of confidence in him when he shoots the ball."
Bryant questionable
Kobe Bryant is questionable for Tuesday's game against New Orleans because of a strained right Achilles' tendon that kept him out Sunday against Utah.
"He seems to respond well from rest and treatment, so we'll just have to wait and see," Scott said.
D'Angelo Russell (sprained ankle) and Brandon Bass (scratched cornea) are expected to play.
