Julius Randle declined to delve into “personal stuff” in the wake of Donte DiVincenzo’s fiery exchange with Knicks assistant Rick Brunson.
“Donte is a grown man. He was standing his ground,” Randle said Tuesday. “And he’s a competitor at heart. That’s just really what it is. I don’t really think much about it, it’s basketball at the end of the day. We’re not going to get into the personal stuff.”
Randle, who is scheduled to make his Timberwolves debut in Wednesday’s preseason game against the Bulls, was on the sideline Sunday when teammate DiVincenzo started trash-talking Tom Thibodeau, yelling at his former coach after converting an and-1, “Can’t finish, right Thibs?”
DiVincenzo then responded to a comment from Rick Brunson, telling the assistant coach, “That’s what happens when they let you run the show. … Let daddy be in charge.”
Rick Brunson and DiVincenzo then exchanged heated words after the game and were separated by teammates and personnel.
Historically, a weakness in DiVincenzo’s game is finishing around the rim, which may have been on the Knicks’ pregame scouting report.
Randle smiled when asked about DiVincenzo’s aptitude in that department.
“From what I know, the back cuts and all that stuff, that man got bounce,” Randle said. “A lob threat.”
Randle and DiVincenzo were both subjects of video tributes during Sunday’s game at the Garden.
“It was cool,” Randle said. “I didn’t really see much of it until afterwards when my son was playing it at home. I was just locked into the game with the guys and trying to help out.”
Randle, 29, hasn’t played since dislocating his shoulder for the Knicks in January.
He attempted to rehab for a chance to compete in the playoffs, but suffered a setback and underwent surgery — snatching away the possibility of competing in the postseason run before he became eligible for an extension.
He was traded in the offseason to Minnesota, with the news breaking just two days after the team’s front office attended a ceremony that, in part, honored Randle for his contributions to a South Bronx HS.
“I didn’t even know they were going to be [at the ceremony], to be honest,” Randle said.
Rich Paul, the power agent and CEO of Klutch Sports, detailed some of his sit-down meeting last season with Knicks president Leon Rose that helped the two sides have a better business relationship.
“I don’t mind the smoke, man. But there ain’t no smoke [now]. Look, people have their alliances, and that’s fine,” Paul, the longtime agent of LeBron James, said on Carmelo Anthony’s podcast, “7 p.m. in Brooklyn.” “It happens in our league and the media picks up on certain things based upon certain things. They know me well, they know how I’m going to handle my business. And we had a conversation and it was clear. He [Rose] understood and he was like, I can totally see where you’re coming from. But the industry knows what’s up and it’s just part of it.”
Paul claimed that Anthony, a former Knicks star and client of Rose, was the reason New York’s current front office was in power: “It started with you. … He started the whole thing. … It’s a beautiful thing.”
Prior to the sit-down with Rose, Paul didn’t deal with the Knicks and was against his clients going there, according to sources.
“The way this thing works is talent will always have options,” Paul added in the podcast. “If I have the right player and the Knicks got the right money, and he wants to be there, he’ll be a Knick. It’s just as simple as that, right? But that doesn’t stop the alliances from running around with the tabloids and the negative nonsense, the headlines. But again, I’m so far above that. This is just 1/18th of what I really love to do.”