Camden wrote:Guess you guys didn't watch much Kentucky basketball last year, but that doesn't really surprise me.
I can't speak for the others, but I watched a lot of Kentucky basketball last year. I knew that we were going to be a lottery team, and was intrigued by the possibility of adding a guy like Towns. Right from the start, I was impressed with his skills. But I also had some toughness concerns, and detected some inconsistency in motor, strength and ability to hold his position. And I wasn't alone in my thoughts. You don't have to search too hard to find a lot of observations by those who do this for a living that matched mine. Here are just a couple sources I found in 5 minutes (among many others) that questioned his toughness and intensity.
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Karl-Towns-61831/
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/nba-scout-karl-anthony-towns-has-to-embrace-kevin-garnett/ar-BBmgiEO
Wow, lo and behold the second article actually suggests KAT could learn a lot from KG in continuing his development!
No player is perfect, and several of us mentioned these potential soft areas for KAT in the pre-draft period, but most of us still thought he was the clear choice and were delighted when Flip selected him. Then when he got pushed around in SL by Tariq Black, Bobby Portis and others, many of us were not too surprised and it was natural that some of us were concerned that some of the weaknesses pundits cited in KAT were on display in Vegas. But something happened to Karl during training camp, and he seems like a much tougher, driven player than most of us saw in Vegas or at Kentucky. Who knows what the reasons are for his transformation. Maybe he just became a different player through hard work on his own, as you and some others have suggested. Or maybe, he has been driven to become a better, tougher player by watching and listening to a coach who can be tough on players and a future HOFer that he clearly admires and emulates. It really doesn't matter...the key thing is that he is playing basketball at a much higher level than he was just two months ago, and that's a very good thing.
You belives that everything he is doing now was on display at Kentucky, and I don't...that's okay, we're all entitled to our own opinions. Try not to be so defensive when somebody suggests that things are not exactly the way you see them. It's okay, and actually more fun, to have differing opinions!
