bleedspeed177 wrote:The key to the team being better then last year hinges on 3 things.
1. Towns living up to 1st pick
2. Rubio and Shabazz being healthy for at least 60 games
3. LaVine's improvement.
I think all are realistic. (I am hoping we get 40 games out of Pek)
I don't think living up to the top pick ever really happens in year 1. Even Wiggins never really "lived" up to it until he and Lavine were almost literally the only 2 guys on the court who could score the ball and he even still has work to do to live up to the pick. I think people are too quick to assume Towns is going to be a massive upgrade in the frontcourt when the reality is he's gonna struggle (especially with fouls) then start to play better and then probably hit the rookie wall because nobody is conditioned for an 82 game season right out of the gate, especially a big who played 20 MPG's in college.
Health and development are the keys to being better. Not relying on rookies to be big factors in our success. Rookies just don't move the winning needle much because they typically hurt just as much as they help. We need everyone who's been here to stay healthy and show improvement and that's how we'll win more than 16 games which really shouldn't be that hard.
I don't expect Towns to be an all-star this year. I expect him to be better then Payne from day one and Dieng by the All-star break. 12/8/1.5 on 28 mpg would be pretty solid first year.
Cam that is BOLD. I hope they are at the end of the year, but I would say today I would got with last years crew just based on what we saw in Summer League. I think Jones would get worked and Towns is not ready to dominate.
Camden wrote:Towns and Bjelica are the best players right now out of those 10 players, so I'll take the new guys by a landslide.
We hope. But neither guy has played a minute of NBA ball yet. We are all painfully aware that there have been plenty of guys who just can't make the jump to the NBA. Not trying to be a downer....but just can't get too giddy until I see how those guys look in NBA games. Based on what I've seen, the "new guy honeymoon period" wears off pretty quick with some fans - so they better start off good! :-)
Camden wrote:Towns and Bjelica are the best players right now out of those 10 players, so I'll take the new guys by a landslide.
We hope. But neither guy has played a minute of NBA ball yet. We are all painfully aware that there have been plenty of guys who just can't make the jump to the NBA. Not trying to be a downer....but just can't get too giddy until I see how those guys look in NBA games. Based on what I've seen, the "new guy honeymoon period" wears off pretty quick with some fans - so they better start off good! :-)
I don't know how quickly Bjelica will adept to the NBA ( I expect much more quickly than a 19-year-old), but anyone expecting a big season from Karl Towns needs to dial back expectations. We all saw him get pushed around by Tariq Black in Summer League and guess what...he's going to go up against centers much better than Black. I see Towns as a future all-star, but probably 4-5 years down the road. Sam Mitchell was wise to temper our expectations when he reminded us that Towns only played KG-like minutes for just one year in college. We need to be patient with this guy.
Camden wrote:Towns and Bjelica are the best players right now out of those 10 players, so I'll take the new guys by a landslide.
We hope. But neither guy has played a minute of NBA ball yet. We are all painfully aware that there have been plenty of guys who just can't make the jump to the NBA. Not trying to be a downer....but just can't get too giddy until I see how those guys look in NBA games. Based on what I've seen, the "new guy honeymoon period" wears off pretty quick with some fans - so they better start off good! :-)
I don't know how quickly Bjelica will adept to the NBA ( I expect much more quickly than a 19-year-old), but anyone expecting a big season from Karl Towns needs to dial back expectations. We all saw him get pushed around by Tariq Black in Summer League and guess what...he's going to go up against centers much better than Black. I see Towns as a future all-star, but probably 4-5 years down the road. Sam Mitchell was wise to temper our expectations when he reminded us that Towns only played KG-like minutes for just one year in college. We need to be patient with this guy.
You guys realize that this thread was comparing new guys to old guys, right? That means that we should be comparing Towns to Hamilton and Bjelica to Bennett, as the OP stated, as well as the other positions.
Camden wrote:Towns and Bjelica are the best players right now out of those 10 players, so I'll take the new guys by a landslide.
We hope. But neither guy has played a minute of NBA ball yet. We are all painfully aware that there have been plenty of guys who just can't make the jump to the NBA. Not trying to be a downer....but just can't get too giddy until I see how those guys look in NBA games. Based on what I've seen, the "new guy honeymoon period" wears off pretty quick with some fans - so they better start off good! :-)
I don't know how quickly Bjelica will adept to the NBA ( I expect much more quickly than a 19-year-old), but anyone expecting a big season from Karl Towns needs to dial back expectations. We all saw him get pushed around by Tariq Black in Summer League and guess what...he's going to go up against centers much better than Black. I see Towns as a future all-star, but probably 4-5 years down the road. Sam Mitchell was wise to temper our expectations when he reminded us that Towns only played KG-like minutes for just one year in college. We need to be patient with this guy.
You guys realize that this thread was comparing new guys to old guys, right? That means that we should be comparing Towns to Hamilton and Bjelica to Bennett, as the OP stated, as well as the other positions.
What I'm saying is pretty damn logical.
No. You said Towns and Bjelica were the 2 best out of all 10 players, not between just them and Hamilton/Bennett. Don't try to backtrack. Brewer and Thad weren't on the list for some reason, but those two and Mo are all highly likely to be better players this year than Towns and NB and Neal and Bud are pushes because in the right situations they are likely to produce more as well.
