Lakers' goal is for Julius Randle to play in Summer League

Julius Randle is still rehabbing from his broken leg sustained in the season opener, but according to Lakers strength and conditioning coach Tim DiFrancesco, the team's goal is for Randle to play when Las Vegas Summer League begins on July 10th:

"The goal is to get [Randle] ready to play in Summer League, but we don't want to marry ourselves to that just in case he isn't 100 percent ready for that. There certainly can't be any rushing with him."

It is good to hear the team is being responsible and not rushing Randle back, but the possibility of the former Wildcat suiting up in Las Vegas again is also exciting. Fans will just have to wait and see what happens.

There has also been a lot of talk regarding Randle's weight loss, and whether it means he will have to move down and play small forward. That does not sound like the plan when reading this for DiFrancesco:

"Being a little more lean for [Randle] is only going to help him, because his frame is robust no matter what. We can keep him lean, but he's going to have big, giant hips and a big, solid upper body. That's just how he's put together. His body is some combination between Metta World Peace and Zach Randolph. If you picture Metta in his most athletic days, while Zach is just a big, solid guy out there. Julius being a little more lean without 10-15 extra pounds of non-functional body fat weight does not reduce his power and explosiveness at all. If anything, it helps."

If Randle's power and explosiveness are not detrimentally affected by his weight loss, it sounds like a move to the wing is not in the cards. This is probably good news, as Lakers fans saw up close and personal what can happen when a versatile power forward is shoe-horned in at small forward this year with Ryan Kelly.