Countdown to NBA Draft: Prospect Talk

[djphan]

Also not taking into account that there is less space in the college game because their 3pt line is shorter. TKF is that you, you sly dog???

i don't understand.... does everyone else in the college game play on a different floor and by different rules or something...

[Worst_to_First]

Didnt watch the game, but followed the gamecast a bit in the background. Towns with another nice showing on paper. 13/12/1blk. Hit his FTs. No assists though. Still hard to judge him until they really make him their go to guy like Jah and Russell are, but he stays looking like that great all around big man this team needs.

It really is funny how different the top 4 prospects are. Especially when you compare Towns to Jah and Russ to Mudiay. One's strength is another's weakness. All give your team a vastly different direction.

I kind of get what you're trying to say here but what weakness of Towns are you particularly referring to that is the strength of Okafor? Of course only my opinion but the reason I slightly prefer KAT right now is that I don't see a true weakness in his game considering his age.

[ibraheim718]

Didnt watch the game, but followed the gamecast a bit in the background. Towns with another nice showing on paper. 13/12/1blk. Hit his FTs. No assists though. Still hard to judge him until they really make him their go to guy like Jah and Russell are, but he stays looking like that great all around big man this team needs.

It really is funny how different the top 4 prospects are. Especially when you compare Towns to Jah and Russ to Mudiay. One's strength is another's weakness. All give your team a vastly different direction.

Another question to ask yourself is.. is Towns going to fall in love with shooting jump shots when he's given the freedom to do so (because he isn't right now)? Because that's going to be the case in the NBA and the knock going into college was that he tends to get pushed out of the low post and he starts settling for J's. So now you'd potentially not only have Melo shooting J's but you'd have your center settling for J's... so who is going to be attacking the offensive glass when those two guys are taking he most inefficient shot in basketball mid range jumpers? He's not going to be able to be a bully down low until he strengthens his lower body (which may never even work due to the way his built) and he develops more than one move down in the block which can take a couple of years.

Now this is where we're probably different but I have a problem with my center drifting and shooting J's if I've got an aging Melo on my team.

Just something to think about.. I'm pretty much the only really critical person of Towns on here (outside of E-balla) so I would hope for the more level-headed person to appreciate the concerns I've raised. I don't need to praise him because that's being done enough.

[Apples]

Towns may go #1 and the Knicks may not get him.

[TrueWarrior]

Didnt watch the game, but followed the gamecast a bit in the background. Towns with another nice showing on paper. 13/12/1blk. Hit his FTs. No assists though. Still hard to judge him until they really make him their go to guy like Jah and Russell are, but he stays looking like that great all around big man this team needs.

It really is funny how different the top 4 prospects are. Especially when you compare Towns to Jah and Russ to Mudiay. One's strength is another's weakness. All give your team a vastly different direction.

I kind of get what you're trying to say here but what weakness of Towns are you particularly referring to that is the strength of Okafor? Of course only my opinion but the reason I slightly prefer KAT right now is that I don't see a true weakness in his game considering his age.

Well I wouldnt say its a weakness (also why I like Towns the most because he doesnt really have any big weaknesses) but Towns' post game is pretty basic right now. Seems to be mostly hooks. Could just be because thats all he needs to do against smaller guys, but who knows. Jah will do some things every game that wow you down there, especially for his size. He has Jah beat everywhere else so its just a matter of how much better you think Jah will be as a scorer compared to Towns' more complete game.

[ibraheim718]

Also not taking into account that there is less space in the college game because their 3pt line is shorter. TKF is that you, you sly dog???

i don't understand.... does everyone else in the college game play on a different floor and by different rules or something...

What does everyone else have to do with it? We're talking about Towns ability to guard in space at the next level why should anyone else come into the conversation? Do you want to talk about everyone else or do you want to talk about Towns specifically?

[djphan]

you are saying the 3pt line is shorter and hence towns will struggle against the pnr because there is less space to work with....

this is universal with every team in college basketball.... the floor he is on is no different than anyone else and every prospect will have to make the same adjustment in the pros...

[TrueWarrior]

Didnt watch the game, but followed the gamecast a bit in the background. Towns with another nice showing on paper. 13/12/1blk. Hit his FTs. No assists though. Still hard to judge him until they really make him their go to guy like Jah and Russell are, but he stays looking like that great all around big man this team needs.

It really is funny how different the top 4 prospects are. Especially when you compare Towns to Jah and Russ to Mudiay. One's strength is another's weakness. All give your team a vastly different direction.

Another question to ask yourself is.. is Towns going to fall in love with shooting jump shots when he's given the freedom to do so (because he isn't right now)? Because that's going to be the case in the NBA and the knock going into college was that he tends to get pushed out of the low post and he starts settling for J's. So now you'd potentially not only have Melo shooting J's but you'd have your center settling for J's... so who is going to be attacking the offensive glass when those two guys are taking he most inefficient shot in basketball mid range jumpers? He's not going to be able to be a bully down low until he strengthens his lower body (which may never even work due to the way his built) and he develops more than one move down in the block which can take a couple of years.

Now this is where we're probably different but I have a problem with my center drifting and shooting J's if I've got an aging Melo on my team.

Just something to think about.. I'm pretty much the only really critical person of Towns on here (outside of E-balla) so I would hope for the more level-headed person to appreciate the concerns I've raised. I don't need to praise him because that's being done enough.

The triangle stresses post play so I dont think Towns becoming Frye will be an issue. Of course he has to get stronger below the belt but that will come with a caloric surplus and some squats.

Your boy Anthony Davis' 43 pt game lately was mostly mid range jumpers it looked like, so hey if you can hit em then take em. Towns being forced to play on the block and add weight this year has been good for his overall game. Hopefully he mixes the inside and outside in the pros.

[ibraheim718]

Didnt watch the game, but followed the gamecast a bit in the background. Towns with another nice showing on paper. 13/12/1blk. Hit his FTs. No assists though. Still hard to judge him until they really make him their go to guy like Jah and Russell are, but he stays looking like that great all around big man this team needs.

It really is funny how different the top 4 prospects are. Especially when you compare Towns to Jah and Russ to Mudiay. One's strength is another's weakness. All give your team a vastly different direction.

I kind of get what you're trying to say here but what weakness of Towns are you particularly referring to that is the strength of Okafor? Of course only my opinion but the reason I slightly prefer KAT right now is that I don't see a true weakness in his game considering his age.

Well I wouldnt say its a weakness (also why I like Towns the most because he doesnt really have any big weaknesses) but Towns' post game is pretty basic right now. Seems to be mostly hooks. Could just be because thats all he needs to do against smaller guys, but who knows. Jah will do some things every game that wow you down there, especially for his size. He has Jah beat everywhere else so its just a matter of how much better you think Jah will be as a scorer compared to Towns' more complete game.

Okafor is stronger than Towns.
Okafor is better at trailing fast breaks for put backs.
Okafor is a better offensive rebounder.
He's arguably just as good a passer as Towns.
He's better at staying out of foul trouble.
Okafor is better at dribbling away from double teams and overall he handles the ball better than Towns does.
Today I saw that Okafor is better on his feet when he's retreating on PnR's.
It's not just low post scoring.

[ibraheim718]

Didnt watch the game, but followed the gamecast a bit in the background. Towns with another nice showing on paper. 13/12/1blk. Hit his FTs. No assists though. Still hard to judge him until they really make him their go to guy like Jah and Russell are, but he stays looking like that great all around big man this team needs.

It really is funny how different the top 4 prospects are. Especially when you compare Towns to Jah and Russ to Mudiay. One's strength is another's weakness. All give your team a vastly different direction.

Another question to ask yourself is.. is Towns going to fall in love with shooting jump shots when he's given the freedom to do so (because he isn't right now)? Because that's going to be the case in the NBA and the knock going into college was that he tends to get pushed out of the low post and he starts settling for J's. So now you'd potentially not only have Melo shooting J's but you'd have your center settling for J's... so who is going to be attacking the offensive glass when those two guys are taking he most inefficient shot in basketball mid range jumpers? He's not going to be able to be a bully down low until he strengthens his lower body (which may never even work due to the way his built) and he develops more than one move down in the block which can take a couple of years.

Now this is where we're probably different but I have a problem with my center drifting and shooting J's if I've got an aging Melo on my team.

Just something to think about.. I'm pretty much the only really critical person of Towns on here (outside of E-balla) so I would hope for the more level-headed person to appreciate the concerns I've raised. I don't need to praise him because that's being done enough.

The triangle stresses post play so I dont think Towns becoming Frye will be an issue. Of course he has to get stronger below the belt but that will come with a caloric surplus and some squats.

Your boy Anthony Davis' 43 pt game lately was mostly mid range jumpers it looked like, so hey if you can hit em then take em. Towns being forced to play on the block and add weight this year has been good for his overall game. Hopefully he mixes the inside and outside in the pros.

Yeah the "if you can hit em tale em" philosophy isn't really the kind of sound basketball philosophy I was looking for. It's a low percentage shot... and the reason why AD got so many good looks that game is because he was a threat to drive to the bucket.

I don't know about the caloric surplus and squats theory either... that ish obviously didn't work for Tyson Chandler.

[mpharris36]

Didnt watch the game, but followed the gamecast a bit in the background. Towns with another nice showing on paper. 13/12/1blk. Hit his FTs. No assists though. Still hard to judge him until they really make him their go to guy like Jah and Russell are, but he stays looking like that great all around big man this team needs.

It really is funny how different the top 4 prospects are. Especially when you compare Towns to Jah and Russ to Mudiay. One's strength is another's weakness. All give your team a vastly different direction.

Another question to ask yourself is.. is Towns going to fall in love with shooting jump shots when he's given the freedom to do so (because he isn't right now)? Because that's going to be the case in the NBA and the knock going into college was that he tends to get pushed out of the low post and he starts settling for J's. So now you'd potentially not only have Melo shooting J's but you'd have your center settling for J's... so who is going to be attacking the offensive glass when those two guys are taking he most inefficient shot in basketball mid range jumpers? He's not going to be able to be a bully down low until he strengthens his lower body (which may never even work due to the way his built) and he develops more than one move down in the block which can take a couple of years.

Now this is where we're probably different but I have a problem with my center drifting and shooting J's if I've got an aging Melo on my team.

Just something to think about.. I'm pretty much the only really critical person of Towns on here (outside of E-balla) so I would hope for the more level-headed person to appreciate the concerns I've raised. I don't need to praise him because that's being done enough.

of course there are concerns about towns. He is far from perfect and he is very young. He needs to get stronger with his lower part of his body. That is 100% the case.

Also he needs to get a more defined post game. He has great touch around the hoop and an accomplished right hook. But he doesn't use his left (which he will need to) and he doesn't finish as well through contact as Okafor does. We have to hope when he gets stronger that will improve.

But now we go to the postives. You wont have to worry about him defensively for the most part. He is the best rebounder in the draft I have seen, he is very adept at block shots both m2m and as a help defender. He also is an excellent FT shooter and already has an accomplished mid range shot. And from what we have seen in the triangle Jason Smith and Bargs have gotten many open mid range shots and I think Towns fits right into the offense in that role with some added post ups and better passing.

As for OK4 we know how dominant he is on the low block. His footwork and touch around the hoop are that of a season vet for a 19 year old. Now does OK4 compliment Melo as much in terms of playing off the ball when Melo has it. I am not so sure. Towns will obviously provide Melo more floor spacing when he drives.

OK4 is a solid rebounder. He really doesn't go after boards like Towns does and Towns boxes out much better. Ok4 obviously has concerns defensively, he just doesn't really make much of an impact on that end.

Also on offense he will need to develop a mid range game (which I believe he will). He also needs to really improve his FT shooting because that is a concern as well.

I don't think we can go wrong with either and I see them as the 1 and 2 picks. Personally I like my bigs to play both ends and I like the idea of Towns getting bigger and developing more of a post game to take him to the next level than OK4 becoming an impact defensive player. That right there is why my choice would be Towns.

[TrueWarrior]

I kind of get what you're trying to say here but what weakness of Towns are you particularly referring to that is the strength of Okafor? Of course only my opinion but the reason I slightly prefer KAT right now is that I don't see a true weakness in his game considering his age.

Well I wouldnt say its a weakness (also why I like Towns the most because he doesnt really have any big weaknesses) but Towns' post game is pretty basic right now. Seems to be mostly hooks. Could just be because thats all he needs to do against smaller guys, but who knows. Jah will do some things every game that wow you down there, especially for his size. He has Jah beat everywhere else so its just a matter of how much better you think Jah will be as a scorer compared to Towns' more complete game.

Okafor is stronger than Towns.
Okafor is better at trailing fast breaks for put backs.
Okafor is a better offensive rebounder.
He's arguably just as good a passer as Towns.
He's better at staying out of foul trouble.
Okafor is better at dribbling away from double teams and overall he handles the ball better than Towns does.
Today I saw that Okafor is better on his feet when he's retreating on PnR's.
It's not just low post scoring.

Ill give you that Jah is stronger/bigger now and has more experience dealing with double teams this year. The rest is dubious. Towns just grabbed 6 offensive rebounds and had 0 fouls today.

[ibraheim718]

you are saying the 3pt line is shorter and hence towns will struggle against the pnr because there is less space to work with....

this is universal with every team in college basketball.... the floor he is on is no different than anyone else and every prospect will have to make the same adjustment in the pros...

Damn TKF you're getting dense in your old age. I'm saying that having a 6'10" and a 7' teammate flanking each side of you and the fact that the college game and basketball in general is spaced around their respective 3pt lines, the College 3pt line being shorter AND also no defensive 3-seconds calls that there is way less space created by the team on offense so hence what may appear to look like Towns being able to guard in space isn't quite the truth because he's covering way less space than he would have to cover in the NBA.

[ibraheim718]

I can't do the 1 vs 5 thing today. I've got stuff to do. Sorry boys.

[mpharris36]

Ill give you that Jah is stronger/bigger now and has more experience dealing with double teams this year. The rest is dubious. Towns just grabbed 6 offensive rebounds and had 0 fouls today.

Towns contests a lot more shots than OK4 too. Like my coach in high school always told me if you left the game with no fouls you weren't playing any defense.

I think they are equally good offensive rebounders (both very strong at this).

[djphan]

those are a lot of reaches... trails better on fastbreaks? really? i'm pretty sure that's wrong but whatever...

and okafor does nothing better on defense than towns... he needs to start trying first and foremost and then you can have a discussion about it... this is just so far from reality i wonder if we are watching the same games...

[TrueWarrior]

Yeah the "if you can hit em tale em" philosophy isn't really the kind of sound basketball philosophy I was looking for. It's a low percentage shot... and the reason why AD got so many good looks that game is because he was a threat to drive to the bucket.

I don't know about the caloric surplus and squats theory either... that ish obviously didn't work for Tyson Chandler.

Tyson skips leg day.

As far as worrying that Towns might settle for jumpers lets just cross that bridge when we get to it. If guys like Amundson and Cole Aldrich can be raining hooks in this system then Towns will too.

[djphan]

and all this talk that he will fall in love with jump shots.. i mean first... it could be effective... second... all players not named shaq eventually move further and further away from the basket as their career progresses and it will happen with okafor too... and third... you have no evidence to say that this will happen or will have a higher likelihood of happening when he gets into the league....

that is a ridiculous statement...

[moocow007]

Didnt watch the game, but followed the gamecast a bit in the background. Towns with another nice showing on paper. 13/12/1blk. Hit his FTs. No assists though. Still hard to judge him until they really make him their go to guy like Jah and Russell are, but he stays looking like that great all around big man this team needs.

It really is funny how different the top 4 prospects are. Especially when you compare Towns to Jah and Russ to Mudiay. One's strength is another's weakness. All give your team a vastly different direction.

Another question to ask yourself is.. is Towns going to fall in love with shooting jump shots when he's given the freedom to do so (because he isn't right now)? Because that's going to be the case in the NBA and the knock going into college was that he tends to get pushed out of the low post and he starts settling for J's. So now you'd potentially not only have Melo shooting J's but you'd have your center settling for J's... so who is going to be attacking the offensive glass when those two guys are taking he most inefficient shot in basketball mid range jumpers? He's not going to be able to be a bully down low until he strengthens his lower body (which may never even work due to the way his built) and he develops more than one move down in the block which can take a couple of years.

Now this is where we're probably different but I have a problem with my center drifting and shooting J's if I've got an aging Melo on my team.

Just something to think about.. I'm pretty much the only really critical person of Towns on here (outside of E-balla) so I would hope for the more level-headed person to appreciate the concerns I've raised. I don't need to praise him because that's being done enough.

I have to agree with you. While I have no problem with a C that can hit an occasional jumper, or jump shooting C's in general, I'm not sure I want to spend my no.1 overall pick on one. And I also have concerns about Towns ability to really be proverbially "the man" on a winning team. Can he? Sure. Is it a reasonable certainty? I'm not sure. And yes, one of the concerns about Towns, was his ability to be the guy that can dominate around the paint area.

It's definitely hard to gauge. Him being on that Kentucky team makes it hard to judge how good he really can be in various aspects of the game because he's rarely ever by himself and the sole focus of the opposing team.

[TrueWarrior]

Ill give you that Jah is stronger/bigger now and has more experience dealing with double teams this year. The rest is dubious. Towns just grabbed 6 offensive rebounds and had 0 fouls today.

Towns contests a lot more shots than OK4 too. Like my coach in high school always told me if you left the game with no fouls you weren't playing any defense.

I think they are equally good offensive rebounders (both very strong at this).

Yes the whole worrying about Towns' foul trouble is a huge reach as a weakness. Okafor barely attempts to raise his arm or move his feet to contest half the time so thats why he doesnt foul as much. Not a strength in the slightest. Thats the Eddy Curry school of D. Id much rather have my center be a tad too aggressive on D as a youngn than the opposite.