**The Official Karl-Anthony Towns Thread**

[MNbornCAraised]

Here's my take:

"Don't be a box score whore"

If you guys are concerned about his summer league scoring, rebounding, and blocks per game, you're missing the effectiveness of Towns.

1) During the regular NBA season, he will be option 3-4 on offense with Wiggins, Martin, and Lavine on the floor. He will most likely be passing to cutting players and or fighting for a put back when Wiggins, Martin, or Lavine take a shot. His scoring contribution will be less than his defensive contribution (which is why we drafted him)

2) Towns' hustle, energy, defensive help, and selfless play on offense are what make him great. No, he's no Okafor in the post, but he's not suppose to be like Okafor. Do you really want another Kevin Love? All offense no defense? Look where that got us.

3) Defense wins championships. Although it would be nice if Towns could score 25 ppg, if he were inept at defense like Okafor, it wouldn't matter. Okafor might score 19-20 points a game, but will probably give us 12-16 points on defensive with poor mobility and bad defensive rotation. That pretty much negates most of his "contribution" to a +3-4 per game.

Versus Towns may only give us 14-15 points per game, but his defensive energy and versatility will affect the other aspects of the game that don't show up on the Box Score.

Remember people, Towns wasn't drafted for offense.

Please don't be a box score whore. This has been a PSA for those suffering from Summer Leagueitus.

[Mattya]

Surprised the Sixer fan didn't say Wiggins sucks to

Too busy praying at their Embiid monument; maybe tomorrow?

Give the sixers fan a break. He obviously had a rough day with his team looking a lot worse than it did a month ago.

Can we please quit with the Sixer-fan obsession here?

Sixers fan trolls, people respond, and it's Sixers obsession? Puh lease

[Klomp]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JerryZgoda/status/620293449074409474[/tweet]

[Calinks]

Surprised the Sixer fan didn't say Wiggins sucks to

Too busy praying at their Embiid monument; maybe tomorrow?

It would be kind of cool to see Embiid play and I wouldn't say anything bad about him, but Sixer fans have made it pretty hard to cheer for him. I know there's some good ones over there, but the vocal minority like 76iology...

Don't let a few clowns warp your perception of a totally unrelated young man.

[BigBennett2013]

Okafor is looking better so far, but Towns will be better once he plays with more fire

[Dleavitt24]

My opinion is to trade him as fast as possible and take something real good.

Good thing you agreed to not post again till the season, should take that a step further and not post at all anymore...depressing .

This type of posting is unnecessary and needs to stop immediately!
-Klomp

Sorry

[lance-pier]

Still think we should have taken Okafor over Towns. We will regret this.

[mondry]

Towns is almost exactly where I thought he'd be so I'm pretty happy about that since I had high expectations for him. His game isn't the type that you would expect to thrive in the chaotic summer league environment. Actually I think I'm way more worried about Okafor cause you would expect his post up game and skills to dominate this level of competition but his FG% has dropped way off.

Either way though it's way too early to talk about anyone being a bust or not worth their pick based off of glorified pick up games. That's all I can really say about some of these ridiculous posts here without crossing the line. They don't even deserve a response.

[Calinks]

Okafor has had several more games in summer league to get his feet under him. Okafor was already the more comfortable and complete offensive player, that was not a debate. No one should be shocked if they see him looking good, making buckets. We drafted Towns for what he can become in 3-5 years not for what he can do in two summer league games.

I don't know if people expected Towns to average 15 points and 10 rebounds or they expected Okafor to keel over with a heart attack midway through his first game or what. Several of these young guys seem to have immense talent, enjoy the influx of new players int the league and remeber not to judge anyone to harshly in a few summer league games. This isn't a draft where one guy is just light years beyond everybody else its arguable that 5-7 guys could all have a chance at being the best player from this draft in 10 years.

[Basti]

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.

[urinesane]

It's weird how short many fans memories are when it comes to rookies.

Rookies in the NBA rarely contribute much their first year, but every year people hype up players as if they are an immediate savior of their franchise.

I've been impressed with Towns so far, his ability to pass out of the double team is already at a very high level.

Summer League means nothing, it's just a way for the new guys to get their feet wet, and hopefully come out of it healthy.

[urinesane]

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?

[Killboard]

OKAFOR impressive summer league play:

vs Spurs
9-21 FG
0-4 FT
4 TO

vs UTA
5-10 FG
6 TO
6 reb

VS lakers
6-14 FG
7-12 FT
5 TO
3 blocked attemps

Considering that he is the most NBA ready center of this year and his elite generational footwork, I think we need keep watching all year at least before make some stupid comments about who is a bust and who will shine over his carreer.

[urinesane]

OKAFOR impressive summer league play:

vs Spurs
9-21 FG
0-4 FT
4 TO

vs UTA
5-10 FG
6 TO
6 reb

VS lakers
6-14 FG
7-12 FT
5 TO
3 blocked attemps

Considering that he is the most NBA ready center of this year and his elite generational footwork, I think we need keep watching all year at least before make some stupid comments about who is a bust and who will shine over his carreer.

Good points, your sig picture is still misspelled though.

[Killboard]

OKAFOR impressive summer league play:

vs Spurs
9-21 FG
0-4 FT
4 TO

vs UTA
5-10 FG
6 TO
6 reb

VS lakers
6-14 FG
7-12 FT
5 TO
3 blocked attemps

Considering that he is the most NBA ready center of this year and his elite generational footwork, I think we need keep watching all year at least before make some stupid comments about who is a bust and who will shine over his carreer.

Good points, your sig picture is still misspelled though.

YES! thanx for the tip. English is not my native and I dont have enough time recently.
I will remove it right now and fix it when I have more time.

[horaceworthy]

OKAFOR impressive summer league play:

vs Spurs
9-21 FG
0-4 FT
4 TO

vs UTA
5-10 FG
6 TO
6 reb

VS lakers
6-14 FG
7-12 FT
5 TO
3 blocked attemps

Considering that he is the most NBA ready center of this year and his elite generational footwork, I think we need keep watching all year at least before make some stupid comments about who is a bust and who will shine over his carreer.

Meh, the Okafor camp got their feet held to the fire enough by a few of the more zealous Towns supporters enough through the draft process that a little chest pounding is understandable given the summer league numbers so far.

[urinesane]

OKAFOR impressive summer league play:

vs Spurs
9-21 FG
0-4 FT
4 TO

vs UTA
5-10 FG
6 TO
6 reb

VS lakers
6-14 FG
7-12 FT
5 TO
3 blocked attemps

Considering that he is the most NBA ready center of this year and his elite generational footwork, I think we need keep watching all year at least before make some stupid comments about who is a bust and who will shine over his carreer.

Good points, your sig picture is still misspelled though.

YES! thanx for the tip. English is not my native and I dont have enough time recently.
I will remove it right now and fix it when I have more time.

It's a keeper though! Just one letter away!

[urinesane]

OKAFOR impressive summer league play:

vs Spurs
9-21 FG
0-4 FT
4 TO

vs UTA
5-10 FG
6 TO
6 reb

VS lakers
6-14 FG
7-12 FT
5 TO
3 blocked attemps

Considering that he is the most NBA ready center of this year and his elite generational footwork, I think we need keep watching all year at least before make some stupid comments about who is a bust and who will shine over his carreer.

Meh, the Okafor camp got their feet held to the fire enough by a few of the more zealous Towns supporters enough through the draft process that a little chest pounding is understandable given the summer league numbers so far.

It's Summer League. The bold part has zero value for predicting future success.

[horaceworthy]

I'm not complaining or part of the Okafor camp. Perfectly happy with the guy we got, just saying I understand some summer league chest thumping given how the draft threads played out.

[urinesane]

I'm not complaining or part of the Okafor camp. Perfectly happy with the guy we got, just saying I understand some summer league chest thumping given how the draft threads played out.

You understand how pointless it is? Or you think it's justified?