**The Official Karl-Anthony Towns Thread**

Sugarless · Post #261 » by **Sugarless** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 10:29 pm

Lots of knee-jerk reactions, as expected.

So far Towns has shown exactly what anyone who knows the guy expected out of him: good help defense, a nice motor, excellent passing, a promising shooting touch and a long way to go before becoming a top one-on-one NBA defender or an imposing scoring threat (and you better not bet your house on him becoming an alpha-dog on offense, because he's never had a killer mindset and he may never develop it, he's happy as a team-first guy who will help in a variety of ways). Those KG comparisons and the like were absurd due to the huge difference in their mentalities and how they approach the game, and those who expect him, Bjelica or Tyus to turn this team around on their first year are being terribly unfair and up for a most probable disappointment.

I for one couldn't be happier with him. He's as promising as it gets on most areas of the game, and he's an excellent kid who will help the team in any way he can. That's all you can ask for in a 19 yo kid.

Post #262 » by **Basti** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 11:16 pm

urinesane wrote:
Basti wrote:It's the freaking Summer League. Didn't Ndudi freaking Ebi dominate the SL about ten years ago? It means absolutely nothing when it comes to real NBA basketball. I haven't watched any SL game in the last few years because I couldn't stand watching some journeymen trying their luck by chucking their way into a training camp roster but that kinda fits the point. There's no cohesive teamplay and for someone who's still a project it makes it more difficult to get acclimated.

Give KAT a proper training camp and at least a month into the actual NBA season and then we could talk about whether he's a disappointment or not. Yikes.

How about a couple seasons?

Personally speaking, I agree with your notion but I was trying to say that generally speaking nobody should complain until at least one month into the season. If he completely sucks, which I doubt, one month into the season it's legitimate to start complaining, which I personally wouldn't do, but not already after two freaking Summer League games.

urinesane · Post #263 » by **urinesane** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 11:45 pm

Basti wrote:
urinesane wrote:
Basti wrote:It's the freaking Summer League. Didn't Ndudi freaking Ebi dominate the SL about ten years ago? It means absolutely nothing when it comes to real NBA basketball. I haven't watched any SL game in the last few years because I couldn't stand watching some journeymen trying their luck by chucking their way into a training camp roster but that kinda fits the point. There's no cohesive teamplay and for someone who's still a project it makes it more difficult to get acclimated.

Give KAT a proper training camp and at least a month into the actual NBA season and then we could talk about whether he's a disappointment or not. Yikes.

How about a couple seasons?

Personally speaking, I agree with your notion but I was trying to say that generally speaking nobody should complain until at least one month into the season. If he completely sucks, which I doubt, one month into the season it's legitimate to start complaining, which I personally wouldn't do, but not already after two freaking Summer League games.

I don't think it is legitimate to start complaining about a player a month into their career. That's an incredibly unreasonable time line to expect anything out of rookie.

Obviously you don't close your eyes the entire time, but I give guys 2-3 years usually. As long as they are improving and give a full effort on the court, I don't think judging them early helps (often times it hurts their confidence).

If they slack off and don't show effort, crap on them earlier, but expecting anything out of a 19 year old rookie 1 month into his NBA career is flatout ridiculous. It's just our current ADHD society with instant gratification and the delusional expectations of fans that would even entertain the notion of judging a player that early.

jpatrick · Post #264 » by **jpatrick** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 12:10 am

One month into his rookie season, Wiggins had been fairly bad. He turned out alright.

Post #265 » by **C.lupus** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 12:13 am

Are people really ragging on Towns after one meaningless summer league game? smh

Post #266 » by **Klomp** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 1:29 am

C.lupus wrote:Are people really ragging on Towns after one meaningless summer league game? smh

Two, actually

Takingbaconback · Post #267 » by **Takingbaconback** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 1:35 am

Towns showed a lot in his first two games. He looked a bit hesitant and nervous at times but his skillset and talent is as advertised. Same with Okafor, he looks as advertised to me.

Saltine · Post #268 » by **Saltine** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 5:01 am

We need to stop giving idiots keyboards, that's the real issue here.

Feilong · Post #269 » by **Feilong** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 5:44 pm

sheefo13 · Post #270 » by **sheefo13** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 6:17 pm

This guy has a long career ahead of him. He is in the best possible position for his career to get drafted on a young team he can grow with and build a mentorship relationship with someone like KG. I have seen a few clips from the summer league and what has surprised me is his vision/ passing ability and the shooting. These skills will improve including his post game and his defense. But the thing that makes me confident he is going to be a big part of this franchise moving forward is his composure and his BBIQ. He keeps working on getting better with Wiggy, Lavine, and Shabazz and mentally improves himself with KG, the kid is going to be good.

Like many have said. Its two summer league games. He has played well given all the variables. I hope he and Lavine develop a chemistry. My expectations are quite low this coming season for him. If you watched any Karl Towns games he is very much a guy who appears to you on the screen and not always the box score. He will probably struggle early like Wiggins did and show some development towards the end of the year.

CometGM · Post #271 » by **CometGM** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 6:22 pm

That Willie Mays quote by KAT is awesome. It's a great mindset to have.

For those that were killing KAT and saying Bobby Portis will be better take a look at Bobby Portis' stats the next game:
1-10, 5pts, 6r, 3TO.

As the quote says, "...what's tough is being good every day".

Anybody at any given time can have a great game, but you have to dig deeper and see who has a greater positive impact on the game, day in, day out.

He has all the intangibles you want in a player.

zDank · Post #272 » by **zDank** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 7:59 pm

Interesting that he says versatile forward and not versatile big. Probably will pull the Aldridge card and request us to get him a legit center to play along side of. That being said who, realistic or not, do you see as the perfect center to play along side with KAT?

On a side note did anyone else get a really happy feeling inside during the post game interview of KAT & LaVine from that first game? Already building a strong bond.
"We love you Andrew"

Mattya · Post #273 » by **Mattya** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:07 pm

are there people that really think KAT looked bad?

Krapinsky · Post #274 » by **Krapinsky** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:20 pm

Summer league is not a big man's game. It's quick guards that usually stand out.

Post #275 » by **The J Rocka** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:00 pm

Towns has handled himself quite well for someone who's constantly being double/triple teamed on almost every possession.

jpatrick · Post #276 » by **jpatrick** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:03 pm

zDank wrote:Interesting that he says versatile forward and not versatile big. Probably will pull the Aldridge card and request us to get him a legit center to play along side of. That being said who, realistic or not, do you see as the perfect center to play along side with KAT?

I think KAT will play whatever Flip asks, but it is interesting that he apparently sees himself as a forward. I think he can play some PF, but I think eventually he becomes a fulltime center. His frame has plenty of filling out to do and he's already 250.

Note30 · Post #277 » by **Note30** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:32 pm

I have a strong feeling him and Gorgui are going to be amazing complements.

Sugarless · Post #278 » by **Sugarless** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 10:28 pm

Note30 wrote:I have a strong feeling him and Gorgui are going to be amazing complements.

I'm eager to see them share the court. What an excellent combo they're going to form.

urinesane · Post #279 » by **urinesane** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:07 pm

jpatrick wrote:
zDank wrote:Interesting that he says versatile forward and not versatile big. Probably will pull the Aldridge card and request us to get him a legit center to play along side of. That being said who, realistic or not, do you see as the perfect center to play along side with KAT?

I think KAT will play whatever Flip asks, but it is interesting that he apparently sees himself as a forward. I think he can play some PF, but I think eventually he becomes a fulltime center. His frame has plenty of filling out to do and he's already 250.

This. I think right now he probably will consider himself a forward, but I think he will fill out more and definitely be a Center (with PF ability).

Nitroglycerin · Post #280 » by **Nitroglycerin** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:52 pm

I think Dieng and Towns can work. That enables Dieng to be a weak side shotblocker which I think suits him better because he loves to jump and swat. And they are interchangeable