The podcast is up. Yeah, it's down right torture listening to Sid attempt to conduct an interview these days. Earlier in the show Glen Taylor was on. It was amazing how lucid Glen was! I don't know if it was Sid making Glen seem so sharp, or maybe he has more wits about him in the morning!
For posting that, Tim, Pat Murray wants you and Glen to come in and enjoy a couple of his Silver Butter Knife steaks!
CoolBreeze44 wrote:I've been a Towns guy since the tourney. But I think this board overrates his defense somewhat, and underrates his offense. He can surely defend in the NBA, but I don't think he's a shoo-in to be a dominant defender at the next level. His offense on the other hand really intrigues me. He has a post game. He can shoot free throws. Apparently he's a 3 point dynamo just waiting to be unleashed. He should be able to flourish on the fast break. He has a great combination of size and athleticism. Why can't he become a 25 point per game scorer? I'm certainly not going to plug him in a just a decent offensive player.
Who is underrating his offense? Most the posts and articles I have read speak as though he's a surefire stretch 5 from a workout video and his mystical high school stats. He can become a 25 pt/game scorer but theoretically so could Kaminsky (hell he actually shot some 3s in a game). Kat has a lot to prove offensively before there is any tangible evidence that he'll get there. I hope he does it, but based on what's there currently I think hes being overrated personally.
We're not reading the same stuff then. Most of the forecasts I see for him say he should be a 17-9 type guy. And on the board, it seems like great defensive play is a given. I think he was a good, not great defender at Kentucky. Of course he has the raw tools to be great on both ends of the floor.
Versatility is nice, but what does he do really well offensively? Players don't traditionally dink and dunk to 25 PPG's. There's a degree of offense that they create themselves to get to that kind of elite average. The top scoring bigs in the league each have an area on the court they dominate. Dirk has the turnaround jumper. Aldridge lives in the mid post face up game. Griffin takes his guys off the dribble. Love got to the free throw line a lot for a big guy who hit them at a good clip. Cousins bullies guys on the block.
My question is what is Towns' bread and butter going to be? Every great scorer has a bread and butter along with the versatility to score in other ways. I'm hearing a lot of things Towns can do, but not many that he's going to be really good at outside of transition which isn't a big enough part of the game to fall back on. Okafor has his post game and can develop enough versatility to offset his bread and butter. That's why I think the numbers are lower offensively for Towns. Good at many, master of none. You have to be a master of something to get to 20+ PPG's.
I agree with what you're saying here. But I would counter by saying no one knows what COULD be his bread and butter because of the team he played on in college. No one was going to be given enough opportunity to stand out on that team. For al we know Karl could be impossible to guard without fouling in the post.
I'm so sick of all this COULD be stuff related to Towns. The reality is they didn't win the college championship. Like I said in a different thread, Calipari is in the business of winning titles in collegiate play. If Towns COULD be dominant, then don't you think we would have seen him get the ball against Wisconsin plenty more? He was even protected against guarding Kaminsky. Everyone says he's a transitional type defensive player, yet he wasn't even the best defensive big on his own team, and people even have questions about WCS's defensive projections at the next level, i.e. low post D. The only game I saw Towns relied upon offensively was in the Notre Dame game, and that was when a 6'9 guy was guarding him. A guy who was nothing special on defense. If the Kentucky team was so dominant as a whole that Towns didn't see 30 mins a game, then wouldn't it make sense that they would run the table to the title? Yes, their depth got them far. Their depth that didn't have a star who showed himself. If there was a superstar on that team paired with that depth, nobody could have touched them. Town's does not have a bread and butter. He is a project. He has promising tools, but not one skillset is set in stone superior to any of his top competition. Yes, he had decent rebounding, scoring, and blocking numbers when you take his minutes/stats and times them by 2. But don't we all agree that every facet of basketball comes easier when you're well rested and your competition isn't? I'll be happy with Towns as a pick, but let's stop this nonsense about him being a godsend and changing the shape of this franchise. So far I've heard he's going to be a low post, mid range, 3pt, and transition threat, as well as a rebounding and blocking machine when he showed very minimal of these skills in college. Oh, and he dribbles and passes very well. As far as I understand, that means he does every single thing great, right?
Who is this guy? LeBronx2 + 4inches??
I don't even expect Towns to have a big impact the first year honestly. He's one of the 2-3 year projects who makes it or busts out. He's the high risk-high reward. He doesn't have a fiery edge. He's not a give me the ball i'm going to dominate you type. He has tools, but I worry about the mindset. I don't see a star upstairs. Like I said in the same other thread, look back and you'll see I was on the Towns bandwagon right along with Camden, but it has gotten a bit out of hand here.
I a couple things to add to the conversation here.
You probably haven't heard Coach Cal say multiple times he isn't there to win championships it's to get guys drafted and play well at the next level. Part of that I think is him making a joke but I also think that's somewhat true and if he is successful at that he is gonna keep getting stud recruits. He must be doing something right basically his whole team is probably going to ebdrafted and Towns is probably going to be #1 pick. Just sayin
On Towns mindset...I don't see the mindset of Okafor being a superstar anymore than Towns. He doesn't seem to have that much fire and isn't a very vocal person in general from what I can gather.
Sidenote: To some extent I think that star mindset when we talk about prospects is either BS or it's rare guys that happen to have everything. There have been plenty of really good players that many people never saw that star quality coming. And then you have they guys with the "I'm the best" and they are selfish guys and that's a bad thing. One thing I agree on with Bill Simmons is his take on what guys "get it". That's more what I am looking for. I think the fact that Towns is so good at Couponing shows me he gets it. Just kidding. Lol
I don't think people are getting as carried away as you think. I think every poster here likes Okafor alot it's just they like Towns better and have to give reasons why. It's the #1 overall pick the first of this franchise and Okafor and Russell are really good prospects. You have to have some rational to pick another player over them.
Does Towns become the first top overall pick to lose PT to his late first round/second round teammates for the sake of building their draft stock over his? WCS and Johnson had previous college seasons to build their draft stock so shouldn't Cal have had his cake and eat it too by playing his best player in Towns more than anybody else on the team who came back because their draft stock had already largely been decided and he was trying to become the #1 pick? It just rubs me the wrong way that the excuse for Towns' lack of playing time is because his coach is trying to get guys drafted over putting the best product on the floor to prepare to win a title when he could have done both by just playing Towns the same as his previous stars. Wall, AD, Randle, Noel and Bledsoe all got 30+ MPG's and Randle played with the same frontcourt teammates. Cousins was the closest good player in terms of MPG's and talent at 23.5 and a lot of his bench time was to keep him from getting tossed or fouling out with his 5.5 per 40 minute foul rate. I'll stop ranting because we're going to get Towns so all I can do now is hope he can live up to the hype so we can be a really good team again.
Just a few thoughts about this Towns overhype concern.
1. The view that Towns is the best prospect in the draft is not the overhyped view of some rubes on a message board. It's the near consensus view of respected analysts, scouts and front office personnel. Unless nearly everything we've been reading and hearing is false.
2. I don't think any of us think Towns has the upside of Anthony Davis, Shaquille, Hakeem or Tim Duncan. He just seems to be the best prospect in this draft.
3. Towns' limited playing time probably stemmed largely from the fact that Coach Cal had Towns playing in an unfamiliar role in the low post. It was in Towns' best interest, but it also made him a liability at times for a team trying to win every game. Note that Towns' minutes increased later in the season, reflecting his improvement as he learned to adapt to a low post style he hadn't played much before.
4. You don't have to multiply Towns' blocks by 2 to be impressive. 2.3 blocks per game would be impressive at 30 minutes per game - particularly compared to Okafor's 1.4 blocks in 30 minutes. Towns' potential as a shot blocker is even more intriguing when you extrapolate his blocks to 30 minutes -- 3.4 blocks per.
5. Finally, nearly everyone on this board, myself included, likes Okafor's potential. And while I'd be disappointed if Flip picked him, I'd get over it pretty quickly knowing that we'd have a heck of a low post scorer with very good passing skills.
I think Flip will take Towns. But I wouldn't be distraught if he takes Okafor. Either way, I trust that Flip has done his homework and that he'll apply good judgment. I initially started to get worked up over the reports that Flip was inclined to take Okafor. But I have since reminded myself that David Kahn is gone. Flip may make mistakes, but he's not a guy who would sign Darko, much less compare him to V. Divac.
So I'm in a happy place right now and I think all Wolves fans should enjoy the next few days. I think Flip will pick Towns and in my view that would be the right decision. But I'll be content with Okafor or Russell. I really do trust in Flip.
Cal also had to manage egos (ie minutes) so he wouldn't have someone become disgruntled and possibly wreck the teams chemistry as a result thus give Cal a bad rap of not playing top recruits. Lyles, WCS, and Dakari is one extra big man minutes that possibly ate into Towns minutes. Or it could be that Calipari was trying something new with the platoon thing. Cal won't do himself any favors by getting big recruits and then not playing them
Hell we're all outsiders looking in speculating; I don't think people are trying to make up excuses for Towns per se just trying to guess at the reasons why he had fewer minutes
A Friendly Flatulence wrote:Cal also had to manage egos (ie minutes) so he wouldn't have someone become disgruntled and possibly wreck the teams chemistry as a result thus give Cal a bad rap of not playing top recruits. Lyles, WCS, and Dakari is one extra big man minutes that possibly ate into Towns minutes. Or it could be that Calipari was trying something new with the platoon thing. Cal won't do himself any favors by getting big recruits and then not playing them
Hell we're all outsiders looking in speculating; I don't think people are trying to make up excuses for Towns per se just trying to guess at the reasons why he had fewer minutes
Well said, Flat. By the way, after listening to the Sid podcast, I guess I will be shocked if Flip takes Okafor next Thursday.
A Friendly Flatulence wrote:Cal also had to manage egos (ie minutes) so he wouldn't have someone become disgruntled and possibly wreck the teams chemistry as a result thus give Cal a bad rap of not playing top recruits. Lyles, WCS, and Dakari is one extra big man minutes that possibly ate into Towns minutes. Or it could be that Calipari was trying something new with the platoon thing. Cal won't do himself any favors by getting big recruits and then not playing them
Hell we're all outsiders looking in speculating; I don't think people are trying to make up excuses for Towns per se just trying to guess at the reasons why he had fewer minutes
Well said, Flat. By the way, after listening to the Sid podcast, I guess I will be shocked if Flip takes Okafor next Thursday.
Yeah his comment that Towns was the best 2 way player in the draft and him saying he feels good right now I think it's a done deal.
Also I think you can gather Rubio isn't going anywhere. Flip mentioned him as a guy to build around.
When asked about Bjelica Flip again said he was out of his contract July 1st and that's when he is free to sign. These last 2 radio spots make me feel like Flip is actually looking at bringing him into the team and actually values him as a player. Obviously he isn't going to say openly he is looking to trade the guy either but yeah. Any thoughts to anyone that listened this weekend?
I agree, monster, bringing over Bjelica seems like a real possibility. I will not be surprised to see Bud as part of a draft day package...
Although this question has crossed my mind: If the Wolves were to use their Love trade exception before July 1st, would that put them into luxury tax territory?
60WinTim wrote:I agree, monster, bringing over Bjelica seems like a real possibility. I will not be surprised to see Bud as part of a draft day package...
Although this question has crossed my mind: If the Wolves were to use their Love trade exception before July 1st, would that put them into luxury tax territory?
I forgot about trade exceptions the Wolves have one from the Brewer trade also right?
