Poll: Who should the Wolves take with the #1 overall pick?

[Mattya]

Derrick Williams being the consensus #2 pick doesn't make me feel any better that he busted. A lot of people here wanted JVal and Kanter. Either of those guys would have been better options.

[Worm Guts]

Scouts are afraid of a center that can't play defense, and that's pretty much the reason Towns has passed Okafor, but the idea that there's a huge gap between the two as prospects is pretty absurd. The way people talk, It's like the gap is getting bigger and they're not even playing.

[Merc_Porto]

but the idea that there's a huge gap between the two as prospects is pretty absurd. The way people talk, It's like the gap is getting bigger and they're not even playing.

If there isn't a huge gap between this 2, why scouts, mocks, polls (whatever) dont divide the picks a little bit more ?

[Worm Guts]

but the idea that there's a huge gap between the two as prospects is pretty absurd. The way people talk, It's like the gap is getting bigger and they're not even playing.

If there isn't a huge gap between this 2, why scouts, mocks, polls (whatever) dont divide the picks a little bit more ?

Like I said, teams want a center that can play defense but Okafor was the consensus top pick in February. They stopped playing games in March. How much do you think can change in a month?

[Mattya]

Consensus doesn't tell you how much more a scout/mock likes a player over another, it only tells that the scout/mock only likes that player over the other.

[Merc_Porto]

Like I said, teams want a center that can play defense

And that its a huge factor in the NBA this days.

but Okafor was the consensus top pick in February. They stopped playing games in March. How much do you think can change in a month?

That is even more worrying, shows that someone developed during the season and the other showed no development at all.
And i dont think Okafor was the consensus until February, before that, people started to question a lot if Okafor was worth the no.1 pick.

And for some reason i dont think people question a lot if Towns is worth the no.1.

[phonzadellika]

I think if Okafor had shown more on defense during the tournament that we probably wouldn't be having this discussion and Okafor would be the clear cut #1.

But he didn't, so here we are.

[Worm Guts]

Like I said, teams want a center that can play defense

And that its a huge factor in the NBA this days.

but Okafor was the consensus top pick in February. They stopped playing games in March. How much do you think can change in a month?

That is even more worrying, shows that someone developed during the season and the other showed no development at all.
And i dont think Okafor was the consensus until February, before that, people started to question a lot if Okafor was worth the no.1 pick.

And for some reason i dont think people question a lot if Towns is worth the no.1.

People are worried about Okafor's defense, and that's the main issue. DX had Okafor in the top spot until the last mock of the season. The development thing isn't an issue, Okafor was the best player on the team that won the national championship and runner-up as college player of the year (to Frank Kaminsky).

[TRKO]

At one point in time consensus said the world was flat. They were wrong. Flip cannot cow down to consensus. He has to do the work and make a gut decision. I would rather Flip make the decision based on his gut over a decision not to look stupid.

[Merc_Porto]

At one point in time consensus said the world was flat. They were wrong. Flip cannot cow down to consensus. He has to do the work and make a gut decision. I would rather Flip make the decision based on his gut over a decision not to look stupid.

We are talking abou the #1 pick, not #2 or #3.
Looking at #1 picks in the last 10 years. I see 2/11 failures.

And only 1 of this 11 #1 picks wasnt the obvious choice at no.1 at that particular time (A.Bennett)

[Takingbaconback]

At one point in time consensus said the world was flat. They were wrong. Flip cannot cow down to consensus. He has to do the work and make a gut decision. I would rather Flip make the decision based on his gut over a decision not to look stupid.

My god I hope he doesn't make a gut decision. Just keep it simple and pick Towns, the guy that makes so much more sense logically.

[Feilong]

At one point in time consensus said the world was flat. They were wrong. Flip cannot cow down to consensus. He has to do the work and make a gut decision. I would rather Flip make the decision based on his gut over a decision not to look stupid.

I agree that a coach shouldn't make his decision based on mock drafts or consensus. He should trust his own judgement.
My only problem is that i don't trust Flip's judgement because of some really questionable decisions he made in the past.

[TRKO]

At one point in time consensus said the world was flat. They were wrong. Flip cannot cow down to consensus. He has to do the work and make a gut decision. I would rather Flip make the decision based on his gut over a decision not to look stupid.

We are talking abou the #1 pick, not #2 or #3.
Looking at #1 picks in the last 10 years. I see 2/11 failures.

And only 1 of this 11 #1 picks wasnt the obvious choice at no.1 at that particular time (A.Bennett)

The best player wasn't picked first in every draft either.

I've said this many times, if Flip feels like he can get Okafor to play solid defense and he feels that his post game will translate to the NBA, it's hard to fault him taking Okafor first.

[TRKO]

At one point in time consensus said the world was flat. They were wrong. Flip cannot cow down to consensus. He has to do the work and make a gut decision. I would rather Flip make the decision based on his gut over a decision not to look stupid.

I agree that a coach shouldn't make his decision based on mock drafts or consensus. He should trust his own judgement.
My only problem is that i don't trust Flip's judgement because of some really questionable decisions he made in the past.

That's fair for you to feel that way. I would say that in the last 2 years he has added Muhammed, Dieng, LaVine, and Wiggins. The moves he has made have given us an extremely promising future. Trading firsts for Young and Payne were horrible.

[Merc_Porto]

My only problem is that i don't trust Flip's judgement because of some really r he made in the past.

Special after the trade for Payne. That wasnt a draft pick choice, but the decision (trade) was based on Payne as prospect.
Almost the same thing.

[C.lupus]

but the idea that there's a huge gap between the two as prospects is pretty absurd. The way people talk, It's like the gap is getting bigger and they're not even playing.

If there isn't a huge gap between this 2, why scouts, mocks, polls (whatever) dont divide the picks a little bit more ?

It's 8-4 in this latest consensus mock:
http://www.nba.com/news/2015-consensus-mock-draft/

Not a perfectly even split but far from a landslide either.

Also, as Mattya said, this doesn't really say how close people rate them, either. Towns could have a rating of 95 and Okafor 94 and the person would put Towns #1. That doesn't necessarily mean the guy thinks Towns is significantly better than Okafor, just slightly better. The other thing to remember with mock drafts is that some will take team needs (or should I say "perceived" team needs) into acount and other mocks won't.

[jpatrick]

but the idea that there's a huge gap between the two as prospects is pretty absurd. The way people talk, It's like the gap is getting bigger and they're not even playing.

If there isn't a huge gap between this 2, why scouts, mocks, polls (whatever) dont divide the picks a little bit more ?

It's 8-4 in this latest consensus mock:
http://www.nba.com/news/2015-consensus-mock-draft/

Not a perfectly even split but for from a landslide either.

Also, as Mattya said, this doesn't really say how close people rate them, either. Towns could have a rating of 95 and Okafor 94 and the person would put Towns #1. That doesn't necessarily mean the guy thinks Towns is significantly better than Okafor, just slightly better. The other thing to remember with mock drafts is that some will take team needs (or should I say "perceived" team needs) into acount and other mocks won't.

The reason it's 8-4 is that people are trying to predict the actual draft results and all the whispers are that Flip prefers Okafor. It seems that when we hear about front office "big boards" or reporter "big boards," they are unanimously Towns. I would say that Towns is doubling up Okafor in mocks, even though all the whispers say Okafor, just shows that people think Towns is clearly better and that Flip will eventually figure that out. Doesn't make him the better player long term though.

[C.lupus]

If there isn't a huge gap between this 2, why scouts, mocks, polls (whatever) dont divide the picks a little bit more ?

It's 8-4 in this latest consensus mock:
http://www.nba.com/news/2015-consensus-mock-draft/

Not a perfectly even split but for from a landslide either.

Also, as Mattya said, this doesn't really say how close people rate them, either. Towns could have a rating of 95 and Okafor 94 and the person would put Towns #1. That doesn't necessarily mean the guy thinks Towns is significantly better than Okafor, just slightly better. The other thing to remember with mock drafts is that some will take team needs (or should I say "perceived" team needs) into acount and other mocks won't.

You realize the reason it's 8-4 is that people are trying to predict the actual draft results and all the whispers are that Flip prefers Okafor. It seems that when we here about front office "big boards" or even almost all reporter "big boards," they are unanimously Towns. Doesn't make him the better player long term though.

That's true (though trying to predict what a GM is going to do on draft day is a fool's errand). Most articles I've read have also said that the choice between Towns and Okafor is a philosophical choice, not one based solely on talent. This isn't a case of one player being heads and shoulders better than the field. It's a case of if you want play style A, choose this guy. If you want play style B, choose the other guy. And I guess that was my main point. The perceived gap in the mock drafts does not reflect the talent gap between the two players.

[AQuintus]

Scouts are afraid of a center that can't play defense,

And for good reason. It's very hard to win consistently in the NBA without good help defense from the C position.

It's 8-4 in this latest consensus mock:
http://www.nba.com/news/2015-consensus-mock-draft/

Of those 4:

1. Sporting News hasn't been updated since before the lottery. They have the Knicks (!) taking Okafor at 1.

2. USA Today's reasoning for picking Okafor is this:

General manager Flip Saunders and the Wolves are very big on Jahlil Okafor. That being said, they are still very much undecided with their top pick. It could be Okafor and or Karl-Anthony Towns.

There reasoning seems to be based around Flip's supposed preferences, not who they believe is the better prospect.

3. Bleacher Report is based on one mock out of several and it has no explanations for each pick. A more recent mock, posted a few hours ago, by a different author has Towns at 1.

4. CBS Sports, like Bleacher Report, is focusing on one mock when their are several. One has Towns 1st, one has Okafor 1st because he thinks Okafor is the best prospect, and the third, the one mentioned by NBA.com, has Okafor 1st because Zach Harper thinks Flip likes him more.

and they get to end up with Flip Saunders' favorite prospect in the draft with Jahlil Okafor

[Klomp]

1. Sporting News hasn't been updated since before the lottery. They have the Knicks (!) taking Okafor at 1.

This is false. It was posted after the lottery, and it has us at No. 1.