Draft prospects - Who do we want?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Hockey and Cam- I've had Towns at the top of my draft board all year, based largely on potential based on what I have read about him. And I have been waiting all year for him to consistently show what I think he can. I thought it was starting to happen for him after he put up a string of strong games in March, but I have been immensely disappointed with him on the big stage the past two games. Yes, he was terrific against Hampton, a team that earlier in the year lost by 14 to Upstate Southern Carolina, but he was unimpressive against Cincy and AWOL against West Virginia. 1 point and 2 rebounds in 13 minutes against WV :shock: ! I don't want to overreact to one bad game, but it was the 20th game this season that Towns has failed to score in double figures. Okafor, in contrast, has scored in single digits only once, when he was held to 6 in 19 minutes during a 40-point win over Wake Forest. Okafor has clearly moved ahead of Towns for me, if we are fortunate enough to have them both available when we pick.

Cam posted a great article about Towns last night, and it had this impact on me: it made me like him personally more (and I already thought he was a top-notch guy). and want him less in the draft. Frankly, he came across to me as too docile and nice in that article...wonderful qualities in a person, but not necessarily wonderful qualities in an NBA player. I found the part where he told his dad before the Georgia game "It's on" quite revealing. He had a great game against Georgia, but why isn't it "on" every game? There were too many times this season when I turned on a Kentucky game primarily to watch Towns , and found him largely invisible. After reading the article about him, I was curious about which Towns would show up against a smash-mouth (albeit, much less talented) team like West Virginia, and unfortunately he didn't show up. Flip was in Cleveland last night (more likely to visit his ailing dad than specifically to scout Towns), and couldn't have come away too impressed by what he saw.

I get that Kentucky is an absurdly deep team, and that's why from the start of this year I have been saying that Towns would not get the minutes to justify a #1 spot in the draft. But now I worry that his issues are more than being on a talented team...he may be just too laid back to be a star in the NBA. We should get three more chances to watch Towns against Notre Dame and 2 more good teams, so maybe Karl-Anthony can show a little more grit and put up some numbers befitting a #1 pick. But right now, I can't see him going first.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Kentucky seems to have the easiest road to the championship game. I wish they would have had to play both Wisconsin and Duke.

Wisconsin and Duke could be Kentucky's Final 4 games. After they play Notre Dame, they get the winner of Wisconsin/Arizona (both tough teams), and then Duke seems most likely to emerge out of the right side of the bracket. Kentucky is clearly the class of the tournament, but it's not a cakewalk the rest of the way.

[Monster]

Hockey and Cam- I've had Towns at the top of my draft board all year, based largely on potential based on what I have read about him. And I have been waiting all year for him to consistently show what I think he can. I thought it was starting to happen for him after he put up a string of strong games in March, but I have been immensely disappointed with him on the big stage the past two games. Yes, he was terrific against Hampton, a team that earlier in the year lost by 14 to Upstate Southern Carolina, but he was unimpressive against Cincy and AWOL against West Virginia. 1 point and 2 rebounds in 13 minutes against WV :shock: ! I don't want to overreact to one bad game, but it was the 20th game this season that Towns has failed to score in double figures. Okafor, in contrast, has scored in single digits only once, when he was held to 6 in 19 minutes during a 40-point win over Wake Forest. Okafor has clearly moved ahead of Towns for me, if we are fortunate enough to have them both available when we pick.

Cam posted a great article about Towns last night, and it had this impact on me: it made me like him personally more (and I already thought he was a top-notch guy). and want him less in the draft. Frankly, he came across to me as too docile and nice in that article...wonderful qualities in a person, but not necessarily wonderful qualities in an NBA player. I found the part where he told his dad before the Georgia game "It's on" quite revealing. He had a great game against Georgia, but why isn't it "on" every game? There were too many times this season when I turned on a Kentucky game primarily to watch Towns , and found him largely invisible. After reading the article about him, I was curious about which Towns would show up against a smash-mouth (albeit, much less talented) team like West Virginia, and unfortunately he didn't show up. Flip was in Cleveland last night (more likely to visit his ailing dad than specifically to scout Towns), and couldn't have come away too impressed by what he saw.

I get that Kentucky is an absurdly deep team, and that's why from the start of this year I have been saying that Towns would not get the minutes to justify a #1 spot in the draft. But now I worry that his issues are more than being on a talented team...he may be just too laid back to be a star in the NBA. We should get three more chances to watch Towns against Notre Dame and 2 more good teams, so maybe Karl-Anthony can show a little more grit and put up some numbers befitting a #1 pick. But right now, I can't see him going first.

I haven't been blown away by Towns but I don't take anything away from his performance last night. That game was over 5 mins in. The announcer that said Towns wasn't playing with any fire drove me nuts. When he picked up that foul he was diving to the floor for a loose ball when his team was up like 30 points and they were calling fouls like crazy last night. I am looking forward to watching Towns play in another game to get a better sense of him but last night didn't bother me that much. He didn't dominate but his team did. Next

[TRKO [enjin:12664595]]

Towns has the potential, but I would go with the high floor guys in Okafor and Russell at this point.

[Coolbreeze44]

Regarding Stanley Johnson: There has to be at least 5 better draft eligible players than him. If you have to spend a top 5 pick on Johnson, you better trade out of that pick. He's a first rounder, but I don't see much more than that.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Kentucky seems to have the easiest road to the championship game. I wish they would have had to play both Wisconsin and Duke.

The went undefeated during the regular season. They don't deserve a hard road to the championship game.

[Monster]

Regarding Stanley Johnson: There has to be at least 5 better draft eligible players than him. If you have to spend a top 5 pick on Johnson, you better trade out of that pick. He's a first rounder, but I don't see much more than that.

I haven't seen Johnson play yet but Justice Winslow was pretty impressive in the game I saw so yeah.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I was on the opposing side of this argument last year, but this Okafor/Towns debate seems very similar to Parker/Wiggins.

We took the potential over "sure thing" in that scenario. Think we'd do the same here, and in my opinion, rightfully so. It'd help build an identity, that's for sure.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Chad Ford said in an interview yesterday he thinks 10 Kentucky players could get.drafted this year!

I'm not quite convinced Towns is even the best player on this team. I think I'd be ok taking any of these guys after watching the game last night.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Hockey and Cam- I've had Towns at the top of my draft board all year, based largely on potential based on what I have read about him. And I have been waiting all year for him to consistently show what I think he can. I thought it was starting to happen for him after he put up a string of strong games in March, but I have been immensely disappointed with him on the big stage the past two games. Yes, he was terrific against Hampton, a team that earlier in the year lost by 14 to Upstate Southern Carolina, but he was unimpressive against Cincy and AWOL against West Virginia. 1 point and 2 rebounds in 13 minutes against WV :shock: ! I don't want to overreact to one bad game, but it was the 20th game this season that Towns has failed to score in double figures. Okafor, in contrast, has scored in single digits only once, when he was held to 6 in 19 minutes during a 40-point win over Wake Forest. Okafor has clearly moved ahead of Towns for me, if we are fortunate enough to have them both available when we pick.

Cam posted a great article about Towns last night, and it had this impact on me: it made me like him personally more (and I already thought he was a top-notch guy). and want him less in the draft. Frankly, he came across to me as too docile and nice in that article...wonderful qualities in a person, but not necessarily wonderful qualities in an NBA player. I found the part where he told his dad before the Georgia game "It's on" quite revealing. He had a great game against Georgia, but why isn't it "on" every game? There were too many times this season when I turned on a Kentucky game primarily to watch Towns , and found him largely invisible. After reading the article about him, I was curious about which Towns would show up against a smash-mouth (albeit, much less talented) team like West Virginia, and unfortunately he didn't show up. Flip was in Cleveland last night (more likely to visit his ailing dad than specifically to scout Towns), and couldn't have come away too impressed by what he saw.

I get that Kentucky is an absurdly deep team, and that's why from the start of this year I have been saying that Towns would not get the minutes to justify a #1 spot in the draft. But now I worry that his issues are more than being on a talented team...he may be just too laid back to be a star in the NBA. We should get three more chances to watch Towns against Notre Dame and 2 more good teams, so maybe Karl-Anthony can show a little more grit and put up some numbers befitting a #1 pick. But right now, I can't see him going first.

I haven't been blown away by Towns but I don't take anything away from his performance last night. That game was over 5 mins in. The announcer that said Towns wasn't playing with any fire drove me nuts. When he picked up that foul he was diving to the floor for a loose ball when his team was up like 30 points and they were calling fouls like crazy last night. I am looking forward to watching Towns play in another game to get a better sense of him but last night didn't bother me that much. He didn't dominate but his team did. Next

I don't want to take too much away from one game either, monster, but this was the 20th time he has been held to single digits this year...highly unusual for a lottery pick. And I agree with you that the announcers shouldn't have questioned his effort last night. But despite seeming to work hard, he had almost nothing to show in the box score...either offensively or defensively. I agree with Cam that he is such a terrific guy that he is a really easy guy to cheer for, and I have been all year. But he needs to pick it up in these next three games to demonstrate that he is more than just enormous potential. I want to see some results.