Draft prospects - Who do we want?

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I still have Okafor as my No. 2, but I think he's a sure thing ONLY as a low post scorer. He's not a great rebounder despite his good profile. He's somewhat limited as a scorer by his inability to make free throws. No perimeter shot so you have to wonder if he's a one-trick pony. And he's a liability on defense.

You cannot call him a sure thing while he has so many questions to his game. Is he a safe pick? Probably, but he's not the runaway best player in this class like you (@doper) make him out to be. My opinion.

Okafor hit multiple elbow jumpers in the tournament and even took his man off the dribble from the 3 point line once. He's more than just post offense. He has a semblance of a face up game as well. If he can handle the ball with those paws and his length he can be an elite face up guy going to the basket while offsetting the move with a bank shot he hit a couple times in the tournament. When you can score at will in the post it doesn't make sense to try those other shots, but by the end of the tournament when he was struggling to get inside because teams were going all out to stop it, he started showing those other parts to his game.

[bleedspeed]

I am not worried about Okafor adding more to his offensive game. I think he will be just fine. I worried more about his boxing out and just seems like he might be a little on the slow side for fast pace game.

[Coolbreeze44]

I am worried about Okafor carrying to much weight on those knees. He's the type of guy who could use a Kevin Lovesque body transformation after entering the league. His game is great, we just need someone we can count on to play 75 games per year.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I am not worried about Okafor adding more to his offensive game. I think he will be just fine. I worried more about his boxing out and just seems like he might be a little on the slow side for fast pace game.

We don't have the makeup to be a good fast pace team. We have a PG who can't score and doesn't push the pace of the game. We struggle defending the 3 point line when being forced to rotate. We don't take many 3's ourselves. Why would we try to build a pace and space team when we have guys like Wiggins and Bazz who are effective post players? Okafor would be added to that list. The way to fight pace and space is exactly what Memphis is doing. Slow the game down, muck it up and use your efficiency to your advantage because outside of GS, most pace and space teams are good because of the volume of chances they have. Take away the volume and now you have the advantage. LAC is another team that slows the game down and plays for efficiency over pace. Lavine is a one man fast break to push the ball in transition if we need it, but for the most part we should be trying to slow games down, not speed them up.

It's really hard being a good defensive team and a high pace team. GS is very rare to do both, but they have multiple elite defenders while still playing small ball which lets them get up and down the court quicker while still defending at a high level. The Bulls and Grizzlies of the world are great defensively because they slow you down and make you have to do more with less possessions which they are designed to do, but most teams they play aren't.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

The Bulls and Grizz also have terrific defenders anchoring the middle of their defenses in Noah and Gasol, respectively. Newsflash: that's not Okafor.

[GymRat [enjin:6592663]]

The fact is you need a really good individual perimeter defender, a really good individual interior defender, and the rest need to be passable individual defenders with the ability to play plus team defense. The interior anchor defender is there to correct for perimeter defense. The Timberwolves need the anchor more than they need an offensive player. It allows them to do so many more things on the perimeter, like defend the 3 point line with aggression, because it would funnel the attack to the basket where they have a guy capable of stops. The Wolves can't gameplan to funnel the attacks into their strength because they don't have any to lean on. It all starts on the interior.

Okafor can not guard the perimeter in space or the interior like Towns can. Towns is the type of player that can completely reshape your defensive philosophy and effectiveness. Okafor is not. The Wolves have a decent offense, and like any team that isn't the Warriors or Hawks, they could use more long range shooters, but their defense is so historically bad they would make a much bigger jump by improving their defensive efficiency even a few points rather than their offense.

With Okafor you need to be sure that his gain in offensive efficiency for your team more than offsets the defensive efficiencies already in existence or those he brings with him.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

So nobody has any reservations about Towns' defense considering he played next to the best defensive player in the country? Got it.

[bleedspeed]

I have plenty of concerns about Towns. I don't think the pick is a slam dunk that is for sure. I would guess he won't be the best player in this draft when we look back at it. I think Favors type player.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

The fact is you need a really good individual perimeter defender, a really good individual interior defender, and the rest need to be passable individual defenders with the ability to play plus team defense. The interior anchor defender is there to correct for perimeter defense. The Timberwolves need the anchor more than they need an offensive player. It allows them to do so many more things on the perimeter, like defend the 3 point line with aggression, because it would funnel the attack to the basket where they have a guy capable of stops. The Wolves can't gameplan to funnel the attacks into their strength because they don't have any to lean on. It all starts on the interior.

Okafor can not guard the perimeter in space or the interior like Towns can. Towns is the type of player that can completely reshape your defensive philosophy and effectiveness. Okafor is not. The Wolves have a decent offense, and like any team that isn't the Warriors or Hawks, they could use more long range shooters, but their defense is so historically bad they would make a much bigger jump by improving their defensive efficiency even a few points rather than their offense.

With Okafor you need to be sure that his gain in offensive efficiency for your team more than offsets the defensive efficiencies already in existence or those he brings with him.

Really? Are we THAT positive that Towns is a game-changer defensively?

While I have Towns ranked ahead of Okafor like everyone else, I am not convinced that he is going to be a defensive dynamo at the next level. He had the luxury of playing with WCS and Trey Lyles up front. The shortest guy of the three is Trey Lyles and he's like 6'9 or 6'10. Even their guards were huge.

Unlike Okafor, Towns did not anchor his team as the sole big man on the court. Okafor had a lot more responsibilities and minutes on both offense and defense. It allowed for him to be put much more under the microscope. If Kentucky wasn't so stacked with big men, we would have had more opportunity to scrutinize Towns.

[GymRat [enjin:6592663]]

@Q - What I'm trying to convey is for the Wolves Towns could become that player. His combination of athleticism, size, and length is something the Wolves do not have right now, and it severely limits our ability to create a cohesive defensive unit. So for us I believe he would be a significant game changer. That might have more to do with how terrible the Wolves are defensively, especially at that position, so in the end it's all relative.

I am in agreement that WCS's presence doesn't allow us to truly evaluate Towns' ability to anchor a defense. I'm a WCS fan for what he can provide and would love to have him on the Wolves. My pipe dream would be to get both, because I feel like it could be a B. Wallace/R. Wallace type combination, but that's incredibly unlikely.