2015 NBA Draft

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I just think it's fishy that Towns could be considered the better athlete, defender, jump shooter, passer and be a more versatile overall player than Okafor and yet Okafor is still the consensus #1. That math doesn't add up so it is either rose colored glasses on what Towns can become when the reality is he is much more raw than believed or guys like Ford put way too much stock in a big man having a good post game this early. Ford had Wiggins ahead of Parker so he usually favors the best overall prospects over something like being good at offense out of the gate so something is fishy to me that Towns hasn't been a challenger to Okafor's #1 spot. I know Ford shouldn't be the end all be all, but that just raised some red flags for me.

I think Towns would be challenging Okafor for that "consensus #1" title if he was getting the same amount of minutes. Right now Towns is under 20 a game, which isn't enough to really show off how good the kid is. There's that and then Okafor's putting up huge stats against the likes of Wofford, Toledo and Elon. Okafor has the polished offensive game on the block. That's his selling point. And he's 6'11, 270. Towns just isn't getting the large amount of minutes as Okafor, and in turn he's not receiving the same hype.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I just think it's fishy that Towns could be considered the better athlete, defender, jump shooter, passer and be a more versatile overall player than Okafor and yet Okafor is still the consensus #1. That math doesn't add up so it is either rose colored glasses on what Towns can become when the reality is he is much more raw than believed or guys like Ford put way too much stock in a big man having a good post game this early. Ford had Wiggins ahead of Parker so he usually favors the best overall prospects over something like being good at offense out of the gate so something is fishy to me that Towns hasn't been a challenger to Okafor's #1 spot. I know Ford shouldn't be the end all be all, but that just raised some red flags for me.

I think Towns would be challenging Okafor for that "consensus #1" title if he was getting the same amount of minutes. Right now Towns is under 20 a game, which isn't enough to really show off how good the kid is. There's that and then Okafor's putting up huge stats against the likes of Wofford, Toledo and Elon. Okafor has the polished offensive game on the block. That's his selling point. And he's 6'11, 270. Towns just isn't getting the large amount of minutes as Okafor, and in turn he's not receiving the same hype.

Towns does get the benefit of the doubt though for getting to be the janitor next to WCS because he just has to clean up what WCS doesn't stop himself. All we can really say about his defense is he can be a weak side shot blocker out of the gate, but we have no idea how he is as a PnR or 1 on 1 defender because WCS does most of that work. Kentucky has so much more size and talent than everyone else that I don't see how you can hold the competition level against Okafor, but not Towns. There's not another frontline in college even close to Kentucky so he's not going to have the competition level until workouts for the draft. It would be interesting to see if he works out against Okafor or if they try to avoid each other leading up to the draft.

[northernhoops [enjin:9491634]]

Couldn't convey my tone through text, but I was making a joke about Stanley and Wes having the same last name. Johnson is a decent prospect, I just think he's the opposite of what our team needs, bigs and shooting. Reminds me of a poor man's combination of Shabazz and Wiggins physically to be honest, which probably makes him a potential All-Defensive team, but I think he will seriously struggle on the offensive side of the ball because he won't be quick enough to get around guys at the NBA level and needs some serious work on his jumper.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I have been thoroughly impressed with Okafor every time I've seen him play.

I want Okafor for the Wolves. The kid is young. Big. Skilled. AND he produces. I don't care if it's against college players or not. It's not like he's hit his ceiling.

I take Okafor if the Wolves are that lucky and never look back.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

http://www.nbadraft.net/2015mock_draft

Nbadraft.net just updated their mock, and interestingly, Towns has dropped down to 6th (draftexpress still has him 3rd). I share Cam's interest in this guy, and think his drop has much to do with all the talent on the Kentucky team, which makes his stats relatively modest. Good news for the Wolves, since I still am wearing my rose-colored glasses and expect Rubio's return to take them out of the top three lottery spots.

Tonight is a good opportunity to watch D'Angelo Russell against the Gophers...8pm CST on ESPN. I like Russell a lot, but I have also noticed that he seems to put up huge stats against weak teams and modest stats against good teams. He is coming off a good game against Illinois, though, so I'm eager to see how he performs against Minnesota.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Russell with a smooth 25 in the first half, and I do mean smooth. And his passing is even better than his scoring.

[northernhoops [enjin:9491634]]

Russell with a smooth 25 in the first half, and I do mean smooth. And his passing is even better than his scoring.

As much as I think LaVine is our SG of the future, I absolutely would love to see this guy play with Rubio and Wiggins

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Russell with a smooth 25 in the first half, and I do mean smooth. And his passing is even better than his scoring.

"Smooth" seems to be the accurate word when describing Russell's game. He moves so fluidly that it's the only thing that comes to mind. There's been a lot of James Harden comparisons thrown out there over the years, and I don't want to make it sound like Russell is a for sure stud, but that's who he reminds me of. The way he can control an offense with his scoring and his play-making for others. Also a shot-maker like Harden in that he loves that jab step in triple threat position before rising up and nailing a three-pointer in his defender's face. It doesn't hurt that he's a decent defender as well. He's in my tier of guys I like.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Russell with a smooth 25 in the first half, and I do mean smooth. And his passing is even better than his scoring.

Good. We should be rooting for everyone of the top 10 or 12 prospects to do really well so that we minimize the chances of Flip screwing up the draft. The more brilliant performances like this, especially in conference play, the merrier! (Well, except may be against the Gophers!).

The one little thing I worry about is that we get so infatuated by the need for a big man that we end up missing out on a guy that ends up being the next Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, or Paul George - All max worthy players that are each outplaying almost everyone from their respective draft classes, yet none were even in the top 5. Talented guards and wings tend to slip into the second tier of most draft boards when there are talented bigs avaiable, even though the game has become much more wing/guard-centric over the past 25 years (at least offensively it has).

While I still think all else being equal, we need to grab the best big man available when we draft, what if not all else is equal? There may be a very dynamic wing or guard that could have superstar potential. Willie Cauley Stein is probably never going to be a superstar. Okafor looks like the real deal. Not sure about Towns, but he seems very promising. If Towns and Okafor are off the board when we pick, we may need to just go with the best talent available at that point, which may end up being a guard or wing, positions we're presumably deep in. But how deep are we when we have only won 5 games? Just something to think about.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

25 points (10-13 FG, 5-5 3P), 5 ast, 3 reb, 2 stl.