Minnesota Sports Forum

Q12543 wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:I gotta hand it to you khans, you never give up!

(and yeah, it is still early, but I think by about June 25th there wasn't a single person that makes their living in basketball that would have taken Okafor over Towns).

I'll give up when it's time to give up. 8 pre-season games isn't that time and I try to give guys 3 years in the league to show their stuff. If Towns isn't the best player from this draft in 3+ years then everybody would be wrong so I don't really care what the consensus is. Towns looks like the best guy now, but that may not be the case in the future. Would you rather have Rose or Love? Rose was the clubhouse leader early and now you're probably better off with Love. Would you rather have Kyrie moving forward or Kawhi? What about Blake versus Curry or Harden? The early consensus isn't always right long-term even with really good players.

Well, of course none of us know for sure what's going to happen. Heck, Russell, Hezonja, or Mudiay may end up being better than both of these guys for all we know. Or may be Towns ends up chronically injured. All I'm saying is that with all the information we have today (and the information we had on June 25th), I think it's pretty clear that Towns was the right pick.

Your inability to give even a millimeter in these types of debates says more about your stubbornness than anything.

Do you want me to apologize for not making a definitive decision on a draft after 8 pre-season games? Who looks the best right now doesn't matter which is why I don't care to comment on the Towns v. Okafor situation right now. Plenty of decisions have looked right at the time and been wrong after the fact. I don't get why I have to commit to Towns or Okafor right now just to keep people off my back. I'm just going to let it play out and let the players decide who's right. I was an Okafor guy at draft time and I'm going to let things play out. I'm not going to re-evaluate the draft already after 8 pre-season games. Making definitive statements like Towns was the right pick now is dumb to me. Especially when none of the games have counted yet. If you are right today, but wrong tomorrow you're still wrong at the end of the day so why would it matter if you were originally right? It's been 8 pre-season games. Why are we even having this discussion?

khans2k5 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:I gotta hand it to you khans, you never give up!

(and yeah, it is still early, but I think by about June 25th there wasn't a single person that makes their living in basketball that would have taken Okafor over Towns).

I'll give up when it's time to give up. 8 pre-season games isn't that time and I try to give guys 3 years in the league to show their stuff. If Towns isn't the best player from this draft in 3+ years then everybody would be wrong so I don't really care what the consensus is. Towns looks like the best guy now, but that may not be the case in the future. Would you rather have Rose or Love? Rose was the clubhouse leader early and now you're probably better off with Love. Would you rather have Kyrie moving forward or Kawhi? What about Blake versus Curry or Harden? The early consensus isn't always right long-term even with really good players.

Well, of course none of us know for sure what's going to happen. Heck, Russell, Hezonja, or Mudiay may end up being better than both of these guys for all we know. Or may be Towns ends up chronically injured. All I'm saying is that with all the information we have today (and the information we had on June 25th), I think it's pretty clear that Towns was the right pick.

Your inability to give even a millimeter in these types of debates says more about your stubbornness than anything.

Do you want me to apologize for not making a definitive decision on a draft after 8 pre-season games? Who looks the best right now doesn't matter which is why I don't care to comment on the Towns v. Okafor situation right now. Plenty of decisions have looked right at the time and been wrong after the fact. I don't get why I have to commit to Towns or Okafor right now just to keep people off my back. I'm just going to let it play out and let the players decide who's right. I was an Okafor guy at draft time and I'm going to let things play out. I'm not going to re-evaluate the draft already after 8 pre-season games.

Stop being so rational about this. Kahns I was an Okafor guy and I haven't watched enough preseason basketball to care. I never do because it is a poor indicator of success in any sport. This was always a question that will be better asked 2 years from now. As far as I'm concerned it is more than premature to be asking this question. I'd still be very happy with Okafor on this team going into this season.

So, the answer to my question would be: yes, there are people that would still take Okafor over Towns if he was their pre-draft choice. That's fine with me. I just wondered if the skills that Karl-Anthony has shown he possesses (perimeter shooting, more than a one-move post game) had swayed anyone. Clearly it hasn't for khans and the doper.

PS: Do we have a Towns stat prediction thread? If we do, can anyone provide a link. If we don't, maybe I'll go start one.

khans2k5 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:I gotta hand it to you khans, you never give up!

(and yeah, it is still early, but I think by about June 25th there wasn't a single person that makes their living in basketball that would have taken Okafor over Towns).

I'll give up when it's time to give up. 8 pre-season games isn't that time and I try to give guys 3 years in the league to show their stuff. If Towns isn't the best player from this draft in 3+ years then everybody would be wrong so I don't really care what the consensus is. Towns looks like the best guy now, but that may not be the case in the future. Would you rather have Rose or Love? Rose was the clubhouse leader early and now you're probably better off with Love. Would you rather have Kyrie moving forward or Kawhi? What about Blake versus Curry or Harden? The early consensus isn't always right long-term even with really good players.

Rose

Khans, It's not about apologizing, completely reversing course, or committing to anyone. It's about the inability to give even a millimeter in such discussions. What I mean by that is saying something to the effect of, "I'm still an Okafor guy, but Towns has looked good. I may have been wrong, but it's way too early still." .....Or something to that effect. Instead, it's a massive stake drilled into the ground and then sealed in cement, never to budge again!

Camden wrote:So, the answer to my question would be: yes, there are people that would still take Okafor over Towns if he was their pre-draft choice. That's fine with me. I just wondered if the skills that Karl-Anthony has shown he possesses (perimeter shooting, more than a one-move post game) had swayed anyone. Clearly it hasn't for khans and the doper.

PS: Do we have a Towns stat prediction thread? If we do, can anyone provide a link. If we don't, maybe I'll go start one.

Don't recall there being one....

Q12543 wrote:Khans, It's not about apologizing, completely reversing course, or committing to anyone. It's about the inability to give even a millimeter in such discussions. What I mean by that is saying something to the effect of, "I'm still an Okafor guy, but Towns has looked good. I may have been wrong, but it's way too early still." .....Or something to that effect. Instead, it's a massive stake drilled into the ground and then sealed in cement, never to budge again!

I'll just leave this here then (from the final wins prediction thread):

"Camden0916 wrote:

Karl-Anthony Towns: 11.7 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 1.0 BPG, 52.6 FG% (30-57 from the field), 88 FT% (22-25 from the line) in 23 MPG over the preseason. Wow."

"Me:
He played well. My only critique of him is he needs to box out better. He got dominated by Monroe the first game and gave up a bad offensive rebound off a free throw the last game to O'Bryant late in the 4th. He can't do that during a real game because that might cost us the game. Everything else looked promising."

I've given props to Towns. I'm just not calling the fight like you guys after 8 fake games.

Khans who is calling the fight after only seeing preseason? Geez. It's not even about that with Cam's question. It was merely asking if seeing him even in preseason has caused anyone who to change their minds despite it being very early yet. It's not outside the realm of possibility that someone may have already. I don't see the need for people to get all serious and defensive. It wasn't a trick question. Sheesh

TheGrey08 wrote:Khans who is calling the fight after only seeing preseason? Geez. It's not even about that with Cam's question. It was merely asking if seeing him even in preseason has caused anyone who to change their minds despite it being very early yet. It's not outside the realm of possibility that someone may have already. I don't see the need for people to get all serious and defensive. It wasn't a trick question. Sheesh

Declaring Towns the right choice already is calling the fight. Who was the right choice is going to be determined in the next couple years and it comes down to who the best player in the draft is. The goal of the number 1 pick is to pick the best player in the draft. That's why I find it hard to declare Towns the right choice after 8 pre-season games.

My main point is that as soon as the Timberwolves drafted Towns I immediately wanted him to be a better player than Okafor. That being said I would be excited about any young player that the Wolves would have drafted #1. So in a sense part of me jumped ship on Okafor already because I am a fan of the much more than any individual player. Do I believe that right now Towns is clearly better than Okafor? Not in any way, and agree with Khans that it is way to early to tell who the best player of that draft is. But I do hope that he Towns runs away with becoming better because he plays on the team I love. I really have no personal stake in my draft preference or in retroactively being right. I just want the Wolves to start winning.