Minnesota Sports Forum

kekgeek1 wrote:I think there are 4 elite center. Jokic/Kat/embiid/Davis. Having anyone of those 4 are great for your franchise.

Personally I would take Kat 3rd in that group ahead of Jokic.

I think Kat will end up not making All NBA this year. With those 3 being ahead. Hard to take Jokic off being the best player on the NBA best regular season team. Embiid is putting up MVP numbers on one of the best teams in basketball and coming off leading his team to the 2nd round of the playoffs. Then Davis is considered a top 5 player in the NBA so if they are semi competitive he will get it.

Kat slow start, butler dragging his name and his playoff performance has really hindered Kat making All-Nba with Jokic coming on strong

I agree that those are the NBA's 4 elite centers. Looking at the way these four are playing right now, it's hard to pick any one over the others. Anthony Davis is the best shot-blocker. Embiid is probably the best overall defender. Jokic is the best playmaker. KAT is by far the best 3-point shooter and the most durable. They are all comparably great rebounders. KAT and Embiid are comparable shot-blockers while Jokic is the one among them who's not much of a shot-blocker.

If I were choosing among these 4 for one game, I'd probably rank KAT 3rd behind Embiid and AD, although that's a close call. However, if I were picking a player to build around over time I'd take KAT ahead of the other three based on his comparative 3-point shooting prowess and durability. Given how close all four are statistically and in overall skill set, KAT's durability sets him apart significantly from the group. In his three seasons since being drafted, KAT hasn't missed a game while playing huge minutes. In contrast, Anthony Davis has played more than 68 games in only 2 of his 6 prior seasons and has never played more than 75. In his last two seasons, Jokic has played 73 and 75 games respectively. Embiid played zero games his first two seasons after being drafted. So hasn't even played a game in two of his four seasons since he was drafted. In his last two seasons he played 31 and 63 games respectively. He had back issues coming out of college and both foot and knee issues since coming out the NBA. I think he's going to have a pretty short career.

So I'll take KAT to build my franchise around over any of the other three. But I'd be happy with any of the four.

Rudy Gobert has also chance to finish ahead of Towns in all NBA voting. He is having statistically his best season so far and if Utah will once again finish season strong and end up one of the top 4 teams in west, he might get voted to all NBA 3rd team like in 2016-17 season. Gobert is currently better than Towns based on all other advanced stats except PER.

Mikkeman wrote:Rudy Gobert has also chance to finish ahead of Towns in all NBA voting. He is having statistically his best season so far and if Utah will once again finish season strong and end up one of the top 4 teams in west, he might get voted to all NBA 3rd team like in 2016-17 season. Gobert is currently better than Towns based on all other advanced stats except PER.

Yes, Gobert's having a great season. I've alway been a huge Gobert fan going way back to the 2014 NBA draft when I complained about selling our 1st round pick rather drafting Rudy. He's exceeded my expectations and is definitely one of the best centers in the League. We could probably expand Geek's list of elite NBA centers to including Gobert - hence a top 5 rather than a top 4.

But at the end of the day, I'd take KAT or any of the other three over over Gobert in a heartbeat if I were picking among these five to build my team around.

I love KAT, but I would almost be tempted to start my team with Gobert, simply because he by himself is a game changer defensively and offensively he's still an asset with his rim running and efficiency.

Last night was just one game and it wasn't at long ago Towns outplayed Embiid...but it didn't help Towns case.

monsterpile wrote:Last night was just one game and it wasn't at long ago Towns outplayed Embiid...but it didn't help Towns case.

Head-to-head games are tricky because of sample size... but Embiid has really taken it to Towns the past few meetings.

It hasn't been close.

The KAT performance from the first game seems like the anomaly at this point.

monsterpile wrote:Last night was just one game and it wasn't at long ago Towns outplayed Embiid...but it didn't help Towns case.

It wasn't like Towns was good and Embid was better last night. It was more like Towns wasn't even out there. Embid kept him off the boards like he was a small child.

The lack of effort on rebounding was pretty telling.

thedoper wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Last night was just one game and it wasn't at long ago Towns outplayed Embiid...but it didn't help Towns case.

It wasn't like Towns was good and Embid was better last night. It was more like Towns wasn't even out there. Embid kept him off the boards like he was a small child.

Well, this speaks to that "all NBA" thread and which Center would you start a team with question....Embiid is physically a beast and completely different level than KAT. That's what makes him so imposing is this combination of skills and physicality that is really tough to match.

(not making excuses for KAT's cowardly performance last night, just more a nod to Embiid as the better overall player, especially defensively)

AD hurt his shoulder tonight and hopefully it's nothijg that's a problem long term but this could mean he plays even fewer games. It's lame but the guy should probably not be playing.

I've been thinking this for a few days but I could see neither AD or Towns making all NBA and Gobert getting 3rd team instead. He is having in some ways a career year. If the Jazz end up with a good enough record for home court and the Wolves are well under .500 some people are gonna vote for the guy on a winning team. When do people vote for all NBA anyway? They announced it like May 24 last year if I remember right. Maybe they make a run and he plays great innsome playoff games before the votes come in again I don't know when the writers media vote.

Of course maybe the Wolves play some pretty good basketball and Towns keeps playing the way he has the last stretch. The Wolves don't make the playoffs but end up near .500 (or MAYBE even better if they gonon a run after getting healthy etc) and Towns is playing really well and he ends up getting it after all. The passing has been really starting to click for him the last stretch of games. Bobby Marks mentioned on Wolfson's podcast that teams and players negotiate the percentage more of what they get for 1st 2nd and 3rd all-nba so he probably won't get that full 32 million or whatever it is even if he gets 3rd all nba but it will still be a sizable chunk of money both for him and for that cap. If Towns plays out of his mind I'll be completely fine if he gets it. Really it's the talent developing around him that will matter probably more than a few million more in cap space...