The Case for Towns

[Coolbreeze44]

I've been a Towns guy since the tourney. But I think this board overrates his defense somewhat, and underrates his offense. He can surely defend in the NBA, but I don't think he's a shoo-in to be a dominant defender at the next level. His offense on the other hand really intrigues me. He has a post game. He can shoot free throws. Apparently he's a 3 point dynamo just waiting to be unleashed. He should be able to flourish on the fast break. He has a great combination of size and athleticism. Why can't he become a 25 point per game scorer? I'm certainly not going to plug him in a just a decent offensive player.

[Monster]

I've been a Towns guy since the tourney. But I think this board overrates his defense somewhat, and underrates his offense. He can surely defend in the NBA, but I don't think he's a shoo-in to be a dominant defender at the next level. His offense on the other hand really intrigues me. He has a post game. He can shoot free throws. Apparently he's a 3 point dynamo just waiting to be unleashed. He should be able to flourish on the fast break. He has a great combination of size and athleticism. Why can't he become a 25 point per game scorer? I'm certainly not going to plug him in a just a decent offensive player.

Good post that's about where I am also.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Nice post Drew and very well explained. I agree that Towns may not be a dominant star that will go 25 and 12 night in and night out. I liken him to a bigger version of Al Horford or LaMarcus Aldridge, which is a smart, really good 2-way player.

I was on the Okafor as #1 pick train for quite a while, until two things happened: 1) Towns improved throughout the year and started making more and more of an impact; 2) DX put him at #1. I respect DX more than any other draft site/pundit, so that really influenced me.

Cam is really the only guy on this board (that I can remember) that started with Towns as #1 and stuck with him through and through. Props to him.

Thanks, Q. I appreciate the acknowledgement.

[thedoper]

I've been a Towns guy since the tourney. But I think this board overrates his defense somewhat, and underrates his offense. He can surely defend in the NBA, but I don't think he's a shoo-in to be a dominant defender at the next level. His offense on the other hand really intrigues me. He has a post game. He can shoot free throws. Apparently he's a 3 point dynamo just waiting to be unleashed. He should be able to flourish on the fast break. He has a great combination of size and athleticism. Why can't he become a 25 point per game scorer? I'm certainly not going to plug him in a just a decent offensive player.

Who is underrating his offense? Most the posts and articles I have read speak as though he's a surefire stretch 5 from a workout video and his mystical high school stats. He can become a 25 pt/game scorer but theoretically so could Kaminsky (hell he actually shot some 3s in a game). Kat has a lot to prove offensively before there is any tangible evidence that he'll get there. I hope he does it, but based on what's there currently I think hes being overrated personally.

[Coolbreeze44]

I've been a Towns guy since the tourney. But I think this board overrates his defense somewhat, and underrates his offense. He can surely defend in the NBA, but I don't think he's a shoo-in to be a dominant defender at the next level. His offense on the other hand really intrigues me. He has a post game. He can shoot free throws. Apparently he's a 3 point dynamo just waiting to be unleashed. He should be able to flourish on the fast break. He has a great combination of size and athleticism. Why can't he become a 25 point per game scorer? I'm certainly not going to plug him in a just a decent offensive player.

Who is underrating his offense? Most the posts and articles I have read speak as though he's a surefire stretch 5 from a workout video and his mystical high school stats. He can become a 25 pt/game scorer but theoretically so could Kaminsky (hell he actually shot some 3s in a game). Kat has a lot to prove offensively before there is any tangible evidence that he'll get there. I hope he does it, but based on what's there currently I think hes being overrated personally.

We're not reading the same stuff then. Most of the forecasts I see for him say he should be a 17-9 type guy. And on the board, it seems like great defensive play is a given. I think he was a good, not great defender at Kentucky. Of course he has the raw tools to be great on both ends of the floor.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I've been a Towns guy since the tourney. But I think this board overrates his defense somewhat, and underrates his offense. He can surely defend in the NBA, but I don't think he's a shoo-in to be a dominant defender at the next level. His offense on the other hand really intrigues me. He has a post game. He can shoot free throws. Apparently he's a 3 point dynamo just waiting to be unleashed. He should be able to flourish on the fast break. He has a great combination of size and athleticism. Why can't he become a 25 point per game scorer? I'm certainly not going to plug him in a just a decent offensive player.

Who is underrating his offense? Most the posts and articles I have read speak as though he's a surefire stretch 5 from a workout video and his mystical high school stats. He can become a 25 pt/game scorer but theoretically so could Kaminsky (hell he actually shot some 3s in a game). Kat has a lot to prove offensively before there is any tangible evidence that he'll get there. I hope he does it, but based on what's there currently I think hes being overrated personally.

We're not reading the same stuff then. Most of the forecasts I see for him say he should be a 17-9 type guy. And on the board, it seems like great defensive play is a given. I think he was a good, not great defender at Kentucky. Of course he has the raw tools to be great on both ends of the floor.

Versatility is nice, but what does he do really well offensively? Players don't traditionally dink and dunk to 25 PPG's. There's a degree of offense that they create themselves to get to that kind of elite average. The top scoring bigs in the league each have an area on the court they dominate. Dirk has the turnaround jumper. Aldridge lives in the mid post face up game. Griffin takes his guys off the dribble. Love got to the free throw line a lot for a big guy who hit them at a good clip. Cousins bullies guys on the block.

My question is what is Towns' bread and butter going to be? Every great scorer has a bread and butter along with the versatility to score in other ways. I'm hearing a lot of things Towns can do, but not many that he's going to be really good at outside of transition which isn't a big enough part of the game to fall back on. Okafor has his post game and can develop enough versatility to offset his bread and butter. That's why I think the numbers are lower offensively for Towns. Good at many, master of none. You have to be a master of something to get to 20+ PPG's.

[Coolbreeze44]

I've been a Towns guy since the tourney. But I think this board overrates his defense somewhat, and underrates his offense. He can surely defend in the NBA, but I don't think he's a shoo-in to be a dominant defender at the next level. His offense on the other hand really intrigues me. He has a post game. He can shoot free throws. Apparently he's a 3 point dynamo just waiting to be unleashed. He should be able to flourish on the fast break. He has a great combination of size and athleticism. Why can't he become a 25 point per game scorer? I'm certainly not going to plug him in a just a decent offensive player.

Who is underrating his offense? Most the posts and articles I have read speak as though he's a surefire stretch 5 from a workout video and his mystical high school stats. He can become a 25 pt/game scorer but theoretically so could Kaminsky (hell he actually shot some 3s in a game). Kat has a lot to prove offensively before there is any tangible evidence that he'll get there. I hope he does it, but based on what's there currently I think hes being overrated personally.

We're not reading the same stuff then. Most of the forecasts I see for him say he should be a 17-9 type guy. And on the board, it seems like great defensive play is a given. I think he was a good, not great defender at Kentucky. Of course he has the raw tools to be great on both ends of the floor.

Versatility is nice, but what does he do really well offensively? Players don't traditionally dink and dunk to 25 PPG's. There's a degree of offense that they create themselves to get to that kind of elite average. The top scoring bigs in the league each have an area on the court they dominate. Dirk has the turnaround jumper. Aldridge lives in the mid post face up game. Griffin takes his guys off the dribble. Love got to the free throw line a lot for a big guy who hit them at a good clip. Cousins bullies guys on the block.

My question is what is Towns' bread and butter going to be? Every great scorer has a bread and butter along with the versatility to score in other ways. I'm hearing a lot of things Towns can do, but not many that he's going to be really good at outside of transition which isn't a big enough part of the game to fall back on. Okafor has his post game and can develop enough versatility to offset his bread and butter. That's why I think the numbers are lower offensively for Towns. Good at many, master of none. You have to be a master of something to get to 20+ PPG's.

I agree with what you're saying here. But I would counter by saying no one knows what COULD be his bread and butter because of the team he played on in college. No one was going to be given enough opportunity to stand out on that team. For al we know Karl could be impossible to guard without fouling in the post.

[60WinTim]

One of many reasons I like Towns over Okafor is his free throws to field goal attempts is over 50%, while Okafor's is under 50%.

And I foresee a new term being created for Jahill -- Hack-A-For...

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I'm on board with Cool's take...we don't really know enough about Towns' offense because of the situation he was in at Kentucky. Until Kentucky's final two tournament games, it was a frustrating experience to watch a game trying to evaluate Towns offensively. But when they really needed him in late March, he looked to be almost unstoppable in the post. Combine that with the nice shooting stroke he has shown in his post-season workouts, and I see a lot of offense versatility.

But this shouldn't have to be a Wiggins situation...there is enough scoring on the Wolves (if healthy) to allow Towns to develop his game at a more realistic pace. I'd love to see him play effective defense for 30 minutes at PF and C, and put up 14 and 8 his rookie season. If Pek, Wiggins, Martin and Shabazz are all healthy, they should carry most of the scoring load.

[A Friendly Flatulence [enjin:8907904]]

"Okafor has his post game and can develop enough versatility to offset his bread and butter"

Care to elaborate on/unpack that statement Khans? (not trying to sound like an asshole just curious what you meant). Are you referencing passing, defense, outside shooting or something else? I haven't really heard or seen much of anything that shows me that Okafor will be able to hit an outside shot, not sold on his defense although I've seen a clip or two of him moving pretty well when he was trying on D, passing game seems to be solid nothing special though.

To me the biggest red flag on Okafor is his FT%, being that his greatest skill is his offensive efficiency/ability to get a bucket can be rendered useless if you have to take him out of the game if he continues to shoot poorly from the FT line with the hack-a strategy. Not to mention if he catches it in deep just foul the sh*t out of him and make him earn it at the line which will also reduce his offensive efficiency.

I agree with LST, we don't necessarily need a go-to/#1 option on offense, we need is the best all around player that will give us the greatest chance to win. To me that player is Towns, defensively he should be solid to great (not DPOY but can anchor a D) and offensive versatility opens up a lot of matchup options & advantages that help win you playoff series