Lakers News: Julius Randle has reportedly been shooting 1,000 jumpers a day this summer

The knock on Los Angeles Lakers forward Julius Randle has always been, and might always be, his jump shot. Or more accurately, his lack of one. Randle shot just 21.3 percent on jumpers last season, an abominable mark when factoring in that he attempted 268 jump shots, his most frequent shot type by over 100 attempts.

There might be reason for hope, however. Randle has impressed with his shooting so far in training camp, and he’s done what he can during the offseason to remedy his biggest weakness.

"Everybody I've talked to over there says he's shooting 1,000 jumpers a day, he's working at it relentlessly,” John Ireland of ESPN told Locked on Lakers. Ireland says that he sees Randle’s ceiling as Charles Barkley, and that someone who knew the Round Mound of Rebound agrees.

“I texted somebody the other day that knew Charles Barkley when he was young, and he said 'Barkley came into the league like that,'“ Ireland said. “Barkley had this raw power and skill that nobody could contain, but he couldn't shoot. He turned himself into a good shooter, and that turned him into a Hall-of-Famer."

Barkley is a Hall-of-Famer more for his unparalleled skill and rebounding combined with his size more so than his jumper, and while we haven’t seen anything from Randle outside of his rebounding to suggest he’ll quite reach Sir Charles’ heights, if he developed a jump shot it would raise his ceiling as a player considerably. It sounds like he’s putting in the work to make it happen.

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