Timberwolves’ Julius Randle shows his Mamba Mentality with educating Anthony Edwards

As the great Kobe Bryant did for him early in his career, Timberwolves veteran Julius Randle now does for young star Anthony Edwards.

Wolves coach Chris Finch has praised Randle for helping Edwards hone his pregame routine.

“That’s all him, man,” Randle said. “I’m just trying to find way I can improve. Ant’s the same way. He’s a student of the game. I don’t need to push Ant. Ant is his own man. I try to do my best and lead by example. Ant has never had a problem working his butt off. He’s always in the gym, always getting his reps and extra work in.”

Randle spoke Sunday as the Wolves prepared for their Western Conference semifinal playoff series.

Drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2014, Randle played two seasons at the start of his career with Bryant, who retired in April 2016 and died in a helicopter crash in January 2020 at age 41.

Now Randle is the wily veteran playing for his fourth NBA team who wants to pass along what he has learned from others, particularly Bryant.

“The further I go in my career, the different experiences I have, the things he passed down to me, things I learned from him,” Randle said. “It may not have made sense when I was 19, 20 years old, but now that I’m 30, it definitely makes a lot more sense.

“I used to be like, `What is the dude talking about?’ But now I give it a lot more. I try to cherish those things, hold on to those things. The true blessing is being able to pass it on to others. so that’s what I do.”

Randle averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists and shot 39.3% on three-pointers in the Wolves’ five-game, first-round playoff victory over the Lakers.

“He’s playing both sides of the ball at a high level,” said Finch, who coached Randle with New Orleans as well. “I’ve never seen him locked in as defensively as he has been, over the last half of the season in particular and into the playoffs. He’s shooting the ball well. He is pretty efficient overall. There are a lot of things I like.”

Randle calls a lot of it an attempt to help Edwards.

“Just help him,” Randle said. “He makes the game easy for us because he pulls in so much gravity on the court. It’s obviously easy playing with him because he just gets so much attention out there. Throughout the course of the year and being able to sit out [injured], I was able to see how I can best help him. From the beginning, I said this dude has the chance to be one of the greatest players to touch a basketball, so what can I do to maximize his talent and make the game easier for him?”

Finch planned to watch Sunday night’s Golden State-Houston Game 7 from the comfort of his own home.

“I spend way too much time with the staff, so I choose to be at home,” he said with a wry smile.

.The Wolves will play host to the Warriors in Game 1 on Tuesday after Golden State beat the Rockets 103-89.

“We’re prepared for either team,” Finch said. “Like everything else, there’s pros and cons with both teams.”

Finch said this second-round playoff series might present the opportunity to play some younger players that the first round didn’t.

Finch said he thought the first-round series might have presented more opportunities for rookie Terrence Shannon Jr. He played 13 minutes over parts of three games against the Lakers.

“We thought it might be a series where T.J. could help us,” Finch said. “We threw him in a few times and thought we’d use him more. We’re already ready to do that. This series could give us the opportunity to play some of our young guys, too. We’ll just see how it goes.”