Minnesota Sports Forum

Johnson vs Russell

A Friendly Flatulence wrote:*sniffs the air* ahhhh the smell of civil discourse in the air. Disagreeing and being disagreeable are two different things.

Now onto the right opinion on the draft. Okafor IMO is and will always be a 5, ie. not being able to guard any PFs looking through the West I don't see 1 PF he could matchup against. However someone made a good point earlier that paired with Gorgui, G in theory could play the perimeter post player when paired next to Okafor.

Towns I see him as being able to defend several PFs in the West as well as guarding the Center position less succesfully now but will get better as his body reaches equilibrium. I do think Towns is athletic, but he's not a great athlete. Would you say he is a better or worse athlete than LaMarcus Aldridge? I like that comparison in terms of similar athleticism (off the top of my head) as he doesn't strike you as really athletic or unathletic. I mean everyone is going to struggle in some sense when trying to match up with Griffin, Ibaka, Davis, Favors, Boogie? I don't think thats a reason to say he can/can't guard the PF position.

If he can't stay with those guys defensively then he can't be your primary option at the 4 and we're better off finding someone else anyway because the guys you mention are all young and likely to be in the West for a while. I'm fine with Towns but he is a defensive 5 who can play some 4 but only against certain matchups like Randolph who don't stray far from the basket. Otherwise you take away his defensive value when you make him guard guys out to the perimeter. It's why we could always hang with OKC with Love because Ibaka wasn't able to hang around the rim like he normally does. Being able to play a second position based on matchups isn't the same as say Wiggins being able to be a 2 or 3 regardless of the opposition. It gives you a little more flexibility, but not nearly as much so I wouldn't consider it a significant reason to take him over an Okafor. Meanwhile Cam has Towns as our starting 4 next year. I don't think he can fill that role.

Horrible game shooting for Russell.

This will be my last post about it because I know it's annoying by now. The decision between Okafor and Towns is based on which strategy we want to move forward with. Taking Okafor means we don't have to make many more moves because our frontcourt was built around Pek and Okafor will play a similar offensive role. KG, AP and Dieng all are best on the offensive end in the high post and they are all best defensively as help defenders at the rim as opposed to having to body up guys because they don't have the beef to hang. With Okafor we'd need better shooters around him because he won't be able to live in the post if the defenders can help down on him without worrying about their guy on the perimeter. We'd need an influx of 3 and D talent that we currently don't have in great supply. So those would be the primary moves needing to be made.


If you take Towns I think you need to shift a lot of pieces in the frontcourt. You need to bring in a better scorer to go next to him at the 4 because he's just not going to be a go to offensive scorer. He'll be a PnR big (maybe PnPop) and janitor, but I don't see him as a go to guy in the post or as a guy you give the ball to and tell him to get a bucket. But drafting him gives us more leeway in regards to who we fill around him because he'll be able to defend the rim for us and rebound.

I see Okafor being maximized with our current roster with some smaller moves and Towns being maximized with a different roster makeup, but his play style gives us some flexibility in who we can bring in.

Russell looks like a Rubio type to me, flashy passer but not much else.

I think we need someone a little more well rounded. Not impressed with Stan Johnson.

Both looking terrible shooting the ball. But Russell at least showing his floor vision with some of these passes.

Johnson not looking too skilled with the ball. Yes he's got a crazy body for such a young guy, but skill-wise, you can't even mention his name with LeBron's in the same sentence. This isn't football, it's basketball. I can see the possible Ron Artest comparisons though.

Russell's season overall shows a lot more than he's showing in this game. He's definitely more of a scorer than this game suggests, but you can see from this game how he could help a team with his passing.

LloydBraun wrote:Russell looks like a Rubio type to me, flashy passer but not much else.

I think we need someone a little more well rounded. Not impressed with Stan Johnson.

It's been a bad game shooting for Russell, but he is a very good shooter overall. Not a good game.

I wish Johnson were a few inches taller. I think his best position would be PF.

TRKO wrote:

LloydBraun wrote:Russell looks like a Rubio type to me, flashy passer but not much else.

I think we need someone a little more well rounded. Not impressed with Stan Johnson.

It's been a bad game shooting for Russell, but he is a very good shooter overall. Not a good game.

I wish Johnson were a few inches taller. I think his best position would be PF.

He'd be a monster. Like Julius Randle with a handle.

LloydBraun wrote:Russell looks like a Rubio type to me, flashy passer but not much else.

I think we need someone a little more well rounded. Not impressed with Stan Johnson.

That is so unfair to Russell off of one game, he is the most well rounded player in college basketball, it might not translate like evan turner, but don't base him off one game