Kentucky prospects.

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

Not sure I love what I see here.

Here is my issue.....insert WCS, Towns, Johnson, Lyles.....and you can hardly determine the difference. Many would maybe see that as a good thing, or a product that they all have great talent. While it's a great thing for the Kentucky basketball team, I am more looking at this through the lens of trying to analyze the better prospect. While I would agree that they all certainly have talent, shouldn't we expect someone to jump out as the clearly superior player (especially as people debate Towns and WCS as rather high draft picks)? They all seem relatively redundant to me. As far as I can tell, much of their collective defensive prowess is in part due to their ability to throw out 3 guys on the front line that are over 7 feet tall and active. While they may all be great defenders, it is just hard for me to tell given the dynamics of the team.

Also, several on this board have commented about WCS as a top 5-10 pick next season. Statistically, year 1, 2 and 3 have all been virtually identical. If he was worth a pick this high, he seemingly would have transformed something in his game. Other than improving his FT% from abysmal to horrible, I see nothing different. Doesn't scream "high potential" to me.

The Harrison brother are underwhelming at best. Man, these 2 turned out to be extremely disappointing (minus tounament last year).

There was a post the other day debating Towns and Okafor.....my only thought here is that at least with Okafor you are almost certainly getting a dominant low-post scoring center. Too many of the players drafted as "potential defensive big's" seem to flame out.

I am not counting our guys like Towns, but I can say they scare me a bit. Would be very nice if they were on a team where you could better determine their real value.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

WCS has gone from a good defender to an elite defender. That is where his game has grown. The numbers might not be that much better, but he is valued so highly because he is going to be a really good PnR defender in a league primarily run on the PnR. He's also a good shot blocker and rim protecter. The only area I see him struggling with out of the gate is 1 v 1 like we see with Dieng. He's always been a lottery pick so it's not that huge of a jump for him to go top 10. Add to that the fact that big men usually take more time to develop and an elite defensive big man who already has some seasoning is actually helping his draft stock. There's a reason Dieng has been able to contribute more early in his career than some of his other peers because he just came in with more experience.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I finally had a chance to watch Towns and Okafor this past weekend. I agree that with Kentucky it's tough to get a beat on a guy when they are part of a battalion of bigs rotated in and out by Calipari. That being said, I thought Towns showed some pretty solid floor vision for a man of his size. Some of his passes didn't work out, but he definitely seems to have good instincts. In addition, it didn't look like the Kentucky guards looked for him much in the low post, even though he repeatedly established good position. There was one time they did, and he used some nifty footwork and banked in a nice shot.

Okafor was much easier to scout because he is such a focal point for Duke. The first thing I noticed about Okafor is he's built very proportionately for a man his size. He's like 6'11 and 270 lbs, yet when you see him, he doesn't appear to be overweight (i.e. fat), or on the other end of the spectrum, musclebound (in a Patric Young sort of way). He's just a naturally big dude, with a nice low center of gravity. This is different from Gorgui Dieng, who is narrow and top-heavy, which makes him so easily rooted out of the position in the paint. Yet Okafor also has decent length, which means he can wall up and still bother shots without having to leave his feet.

Okafor is VERY good at posting up and making himself a big target. So many college teams have problems with post entry passes, but not Duke, and I think a lot of that has to do with Okafor's size and fundamentals when he posts up. However, NC State was constantly coming at him with double-teams, so he didn't get much opportunity to go one-on-one and show his post moves. He still ended up having a big game, thanks to working the offensive glass and just constantly being around the basket.

It's easy to see why Okafor is the consensus top pick. Unlike a lot of big men, he knows exactly what he is - a Center - and one that belongs in the paint. He has been incredibly efficient this season.

[Lipoli390]

I've watched Kentucky play several times this season. So far, I'm not blown away by Towns or anyone else on that team. Watching Towns I see his length and fluidity, but I don't see a guy oozing with the sort of talent that will potentially put him in anything close to an elite category against NBA players. In fact, I have a hard time picturing him successfully competing against NBA players. Contrast that with Wiggins. He didn't have Durant level college stats, but you could see flashes of talent watching him that made you know he could compete and stand out at the NBA level.

Okafor is a different story. Like Q I saw him play for the first time Sunday against NC State. And I agree with all of Q's points about him. I don't necessarily see an NBA all-star in the making, but I can definitely see him competing effectively at the next level - at least on the offensive end. I see Al Jefferson potential in him.

[WildWolf2813]

the problem with selecting Okafor is simple: he doesn't project to be the front court defender we need. Given the limited resources we have, how can we realistically expect this team's fortunes to change on defense by adding a guy who will be awful at it at the next level? That's why I go with Towns over Okafor. I just fear that we'll take Okafor and think everything will work itself when that has never happened.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

the problem with selecting Okafor is simple: he doesn't project to be the front court defender we need. Given the limited resources we have, how can we realistically expect this team's fortunes to change on defense by adding a guy who will be awful at it at the next level? That's why I go with Towns over Okafor. I just fear that we'll take Okafor and think everything will work itself when that has never happened.

What about Okafor says he's going to be a bad defender and anchor? He has long arms, is big enough to hold his position and not get backed down easily and defends the rim with his hands up at all times. He might not be a great shot blocker, but he has the length to bother shots and already is pretty good with his verticality. You don't need an athletic freak flying around blocking shots left and right. Hibbert is a great defensive anchor because he is massive and plays with his arms up. He is also a bad athlete. That athletic limitation hasn't affected his ability to protect the rim at all. Okafor is big enough where he'll be able to be a capable defensive anchor as long as he is in the right position and using his long arms to bother shots.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

We shouldn't even be close to a top 3 pick this year (given the odds turn out right). We should have a healthy team for the second half of the season, which means we should be competitive again and find ourselves in the 6-10 range. Like others have said before me, there is talent to be had throughout the top 10 and further.
I want to see this team win 25 games.

[Coolbreeze44]

You want defense in the middle - Cauley-Stein is your guy.