Okafor or Towns? Which center is the better pick?

[No-Man]

Towns absolute ceiling is Pau Gasol, different body type but similar game, which will be amazingly good, but Okafor's is higher than that.

[djphan]

the things that towns needs to improve upon are a lot easier than what okafor needs to improve....

towns ceiling is higher because his defense is already worldclass... it's the difference between tim duncan and blake griffin as prospects...

[No-Man]

the things that towns needs to improve upon are a lot easier than what okafor needs to improve....

towns ceiling is higher because his defense is already worldclass... it's the difference between tim duncan and blake griffin as prospects...

The things Towns need to improve are hardly improvable unless he is born again

[Fat]

sexy move from russell

[djphan]

The things Towns need to improve are hardly improvable unless he is born again

ok i will entertain you.. what does towns needs to improve upon and what does ok4 need to improve upon?

[No-Man]

The things Towns need to improve are hardly improvable unless he is born again

ok i will entertain you.. what does towns needs to improve upon and what does ok4 need to improve upon?

Okafor needs to improve his jumpshot, his defense, especially pick&roll and how to move on that end, and continue working on his body, all of them are doable with his talent.
Towns needs new feet, unless you can tell me that there is a way to insert him the feet of another human being without killing him... I will think it looks more complicated, it is just not his feet actually, he needs a whole new lower body in terms of strength and coordination.
Towns has been working with professionals trainers since he was 15, he is much more advanced and ahead the curve than Okafor in that regard, who has had only one summer working seriously in his body.
Okafor potential is far ahead because he has tools that Towns wont have unless he can be born again.

[Fat]

The things Towns need to improve are hardly improvable unless he is born again

ok i will entertain you.. what does towns needs to improve upon and what does ok4 need to improve upon?

Towns
- Lower body strength (gonna get push around at the NBA level imo)
-Fouling (has improved but still need to learn how to stay on his feet)
-Post game (overall post game needs sharpening)

Other than that he's solid so far.

Okafor

-Free throw shooting
-Defense (pick & Roll / Rim protection)
-Conditioning

[LloydFree]

Okafor is the safe prospect. Towns is the better overall prospect. Okafor's Godlike footwork ensure that he'll be a very good offensive big man. His lack of defensive awareness/instincts may hold him back from being great. Towns isnt a uber athlete. Towns is just better at more things. He's good at everything and he is a superior shooter and passer for a Big.

[djphan]

his feet? lower body? really? what evidence is there that it either A)will affect him at the next level B) affecting him now?

yes i am asking for evidence.. if you are going to make an outrageous claim.. you need evidence....

ok4 will probably improve his jumpshot over the course of his career... it's a natural progression for any dominant inside player not named shaq.. it's happened enough times...i agree with you here...

the defense part of the equation is more farfetched.. if we're talking about feet or legs on towns... how are you looking at okafor in the same fair light? are you saying he just needs more work is that it? if it's just a matter of work give me some examples of it working in the past on someone else?

[RightToCensor]

Towns
- Lower body strength (gonna get push around at the NBA level imo)
-Fouling (has improved but still need to learn how to stay on his feet)
-Post game (overall post game needs sharpening)

Other than that he's solid so far.

Okafor

-Free throw shooting
-Defense (pick & Roll / Rim protection)
-Conditioning

Towns is 6'11'', 250 lbs. with broad shoulders, he has room to grow within a year of his NBA Career.
Fouling is easily fixable with experience.
He finishes around the rim at a high percentage, the need of a post game in today's league is irrelevant when becoming a impact player.

I'm not at all worried about Towns. He's gonna end up the #1 pick, he's far more NBA ready on both sides of the floor than Okafor is. Okafor's defense is gonna kill any and all chances of him getting starter minutes his rookie season.

[DickGrayson]

This argument is going to be exactly like Wiggins-Parker last year. Higher ceiling-lower floor vs Lower Ceiling-Higher Floor.

I like Towns slightly. Towns ability to be a shot blocker and his ability to stretch the floor farther is why I have him higher as a prospect although if you have a good player and want a sure big man post scorer then Okafor is your guy.

It is not the same debate because Okafor have both a higher floor and a higher ceiling.

I never got how Towns is considered to have the higher ceiling. Offensively he will never be in the league of Okafor if he pans out (he'll be one of the top 5 offensive C's) and defensively Okafor has the build to be a better Marc Gasol (not that he will be but he has the body and athleticism for it).

Towns has less potential athletically to me because he's not fast enough to be a 100% great finesse big and not strong enough to be a 100% strength big. He's a jack of all trades and his ceiling is super high but I just see more potential in Jahlil.

Towns is the better passer.
Towns is fast for a 7 footer.
Towns is 18 years old. He's 250lbs, he has room to grow strength, especially in the low extremity.
Towns can be like Rasheed Wallace offensively with an inside and out game, but that depends how teams are going to use him. Right now Towns is best in the paint, because if he's fouled, he's one of the best 7 footers in the world right now at hitting free throws. Easy points.

This is why Towns has a higher ceiling, he has more room to grow.

Okafor doesn't display defensive potential.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugCbmikA_hE[/youtube]

he's 270lbs 6"11 but Gasol is massive at 7"1 and Gasol always displayed defensive prowess and ability to move his feet and have a feel for defense before he played in the NBA. Gasol averaged 6 blocks in high school. Okafor averaged around 2.

[Zeitgeister]

Okafor does have good defensive athletic tools. He just doesn't show good fundamentals, anticipation, or effort. Okafor is much more polished offensively and I question whether Towns is a better passer. Okafor does have a red flag with his free throw shooting.

I think Towns is the safer pick because he's pretty good at everything. Okafor has a chance to be dominant as a scorer so I think he has the higher upside.

[E-Balla]

Okafor doesn't display defensive potential.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugCbmikA_hE[/youtube]

he's 270lbs 6"11 but Gasol is massive at 7"1 and Gasol always displayed defensive prowess and ability to move his feet and have a feel for defense before he played in the NBA. Gasol averaged 6 blocks in high school. Okafor averaged around 2.

I addressed your whole post at first before deciding to delete it since it's mostly an opinion based argument (and I respect where you're coming from I've been on the Towns bandwagon even back when most had him as barely top 5). For now I'll focus on this.

First off did you watch the video? If you did the video showed pretty clearly that he had a lot of potential. He does things very right just not consistently (which can also be said about every young player ever). How about this one:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFa_Dax54w0[/youtube]

Also in high school IDK where you got those numbers (I'm guessing maxpreps which only has the numbers of the games they saw but they divide by his total games played - I mean they also said he averaged 10 ppg) but as a freshman he averaged 7/4 with 2 blocks, 25/13 with 6 blocks as a sophomore, 21/9 with 3 blocks as a junior, and 24/11 with 5 blocks a night (I rounded down too because he averaged 5.7 iirc but I can only officially say and find 5.3).

Marc Gasol did average 6 blocks a game as a senior just like Jahlil but remember he wasn't seen as good coming into the league. He might be 7-1 but they're still the same size when you take Jahlil's massive wingspan into account. We don't know Marc's standing reach but using Roy Hibbert (who is 7-2 in sneakers with a 7-4 wingspan) as a base he has a 9-3.5 standing reach. Jahlil has a 7-5 wingspan and a 9-2.5 standing reach. A one inch difference when Jahlil is way more mobile isn't that big a difference. Marc averaged 1 block per game in Europe (and in the league only 1.6) and here's what people thought of his defense back then:

However, Gasol's great statistical production doesn't always necessarily reflect a dominating performance on the floor. Indeed, it didn't in this Copa. He wasn't really a go-to guy for Girona on the offensive end (mainly because of Real Madrid’s double-teaming defense, that's true), but especially he doesn't make a great impact on the defensive end. His limited mobility gets exploited in pick-and-roll situations that the opponents throw at him; he's not a great intimidator, he allows smaller opponents to shoot over him; and given his superb size, he's not the best rebounder around.

Here's a scouting report from his rookie season:

Much of what we documented about Gasol during his European career has held true during his rookie season in the NBA. Given his lack of vertical explosiveness and lateral quickness, he actually creates a surprising number of defensive turnovers (1.0 STLPG, 1.5 BLKPG); however, he still struggles whenever forced to guard perimeter oriented big men or the pick-and-roll. When guarding ball screens, the Grizzlies seem to hedge most frequently, which often results in Gasol getting caught outside of the three point arc and failing to rotate successfully back to his man. Gasol must improve upon his conditioning to improve his lateral quickness and pick-and-roll defense to avoid becoming a defensive liability moving forward. If he fails in this department and/or the Grizzlies don't improve their interior defense this offseason by surrounding him with more talent, we can expect to see Memphis continue their defensive struggles through another season.

In instances where Gasol is defending the interior, he holds his ground well, although he rarely makes highlight-reel defensive stops. Since he's a step slow, he's a victim of quick-footed bigs possessing great wheel or seal moves which pin him on the backside of the offensive player. And although he'll never really be the type of intimidating, explosive defender the Grizzlies desperately need, Gasol still shows good fundamentals to counter the offensive skill sets of more talented NBA players and keep them out of the lane.

Help side defense is the area in which Gasol must improve his defensive game the most. As we previously wrote, he often allows smaller defenders to shoot over him and lacks lateral quickness - both of which usually equate to subpar defense. Gasol also tends to play lackadaisically off the ball, rarely knocking down cutters and looking to aggressively box out on when shots goo up. If he improves on his work ethic and hustle, we should see him develop into a respectable NBA defender - particularly if he increases his tenacity against more athletic players. Being a member of a struggling defensive system like Memphis' certainly hurts Gasol's numbers, but the addition of another interior presence this offseason should help the team's defensive play.

There's a reason why after seeing him as a rookie they took that scrub Hasheem Thabeet 2nd. Every criticism I'm hearing about Jahlil sounds like the stuff we heard about Marc Gasol until he was 26 years old and he fixed his conditioning and mastered positional defense. Now he's a former DPOY. Tell me the bolded doesn't sound familiar...

[E-Balla]

Towns
- Lower body strength (gonna get push around at the NBA level imo)
-Fouling (has improved but still need to learn how to stay on his feet)
-Post game (overall post game needs sharpening)

Other than that he's solid so far.

Okafor

-Free throw shooting
-Defense (pick & Roll / Rim protection)
-Conditioning

Towns is 6'11'', 250 lbs. with broad shoulders, he has room to grow within a year of his NBA Career.
Fouling is easily fixable with experience.
He finishes around the rim at a high percentage, the need of a post game in today's league is irrelevant when becoming a impact player.

I'm not at all worried about Towns. He's gonna end up the #1 pick, he's far more NBA ready on both sides of the floor than Okafor is. Okafor's defense is gonna kill any and all chances of him getting starter minutes his rookie season.

Are you serious? Just like it stops Enes Kanter, Big Al, and Vucci Mane right?

Put Jahlil down for 31-33 minutes a night at least.

[beans-boy]

Mann I alredy told ya'll Townz is Kwamaye Brown 2.0!!

[Ruzious]

It is not the same debate because Okafor have both a higher floor and a higher ceiling.

I never got how Towns is considered to have the higher ceiling. Offensively he will never be in the league of Okafor if he pans out (he'll be one of the top 5 offensive C's) and defensively Okafor has the build to be a better Marc Gasol (not that he will be but he has the body and athleticism for it).

Towns has less potential athletically to me because he's not fast enough to be a 100% great finesse big and not strong enough to be a 100% strength big. He's a jack of all trades and his ceiling is super high but I just see more potential in Jahlil.

Towns is the better passer.
Towns is fast for a 7 footer.
Towns is 18 years old. He's 250lbs, he has room to grow strength, especially in the low extremity.
Towns can be like Rasheed Wallace offensively with an inside and out game, but that depends how teams are going to use him. Right now Towns is best in the paint, because if he's fouled, he's one of the best 7 footers in the world right now at hitting free throws. Easy points.

This is why Towns has a higher ceiling, he has more room to grow.

Okafor doesn't display defensive potential.

he's 270lbs 6"11 but Gasol is massive at 7"1 and Gasol always displayed defensive prowess and ability to move his feet and have a feel for defense before he played in the NBA. Gasol averaged 6 blocks in high school. Okafor averaged around 2.

Rasheed Wallace with more maturity and a little more size is probably the best comparison I've heard for Towns.

[No-Man]

more size? Wallace was 6'11 just like Towns.
Also Sheed was much better as an athlete, quicker, with much better feet, Wallace was one of the all time great post defenders because of that, he moved so well with his feet, he had also an attitude I havent seen with Towns.

[RightToCensor]

Towns
- Lower body strength (gonna get push around at the NBA level imo)
-Fouling (has improved but still need to learn how to stay on his feet)
-Post game (overall post game needs sharpening)

Other than that he's solid so far.

Okafor

-Free throw shooting
-Defense (pick & Roll / Rim protection)
-Conditioning

Towns is 6'11'', 250 lbs. with broad shoulders, he has room to grow within a year of his NBA Career.
Fouling is easily fixable with experience.
He finishes around the rim at a high percentage, the need of a post game in today's league is irrelevant when becoming a impact player.

I'm not at all worried about Towns. He's gonna end up the #1 pick, he's far more NBA ready on both sides of the floor than Okafor is. Okafor's defense is gonna kill any and all chances of him getting starter minutes his rookie season.

Are you serious? Just like it stops Enes Kanter, Big Al, and Vucci Mane right?

Put Jahlil down for 31-33 minutes a night at least.

Nether those three started majority of their rookie season, let alone played 20 mpg.

[E-Balla]

Towns is 6'11'', 250 lbs. with broad shoulders, he has room to grow within a year of his NBA Career.
Fouling is easily fixable with experience.
He finishes around the rim at a high percentage, the need of a post game in today's league is irrelevant when becoming a impact player.

I'm not at all worried about Towns. He's gonna end up the #1 pick, he's far more NBA ready on both sides of the floor than Okafor is. Okafor's defense is gonna kill any and all chances of him getting starter minutes his rookie season.

Are you serious? Just like it stops Enes Kanter, Big Al, and Vucci Mane right?

Put Jahlil down for 31-33 minutes a night at least.

Nether those three started majority of their rookie season, let alone played 20 mpg.

Don't act like any of them were close to Jahlil offensively. That's why he's regarded as first and these people were barely lotto picks.

[DickGrayson]

more size? Wallace was 6'11 just like Towns.
Also Sheed was much better as an athlete, quicker, with much better feet, Wallace was one of the all time great post defenders because of that, he moved so well with his feet, he had also an attitude I havent seen with Towns.

Wallace was never a freak athlete. He had unimaginable skills for a 7 footer which what separated him from a lot of PF's in the NBA. Thats why his game was so effective late into his career with the Pistons, he could play and perform without being in his athletic prime.

Towns attitude is in his play, he doesn't need to get techs to show attitude. Towns isn't soft.