Yeah I'm also high on Towns despite never seeing him play. I watch 0 college basketball but following the draft quite closely. Is there any chance Okafor is basically Greg Monroe? Also how much of how good he is comes from his size/strength? 270lbs in college is surely ridiculous, but in the pros where guys are bigger/more skilled defenders, does he lose some of his offensive skills?

anyone hating on okafor or picking another #1 is mildly insane at this point.

Okafor's the best pure post player I've ever seen as a freshman. He's FAR better offensively than Duncan was his freshman year. MASSIVELY better. People forget that duncan averaged a whopping 13 pts/40 his freshman year. Jahlil is at 26 pts/40. And with a much higher efficiency as well (Duncan 55%, Okafor 68% shooting). Duncan didn't really become Duncan offensively until he was an upperclassman.

to answer cortez, it's pretty unlikely Okafor is just beasting on strength. If you watch his tapes he just has the footwork, post moves and savvy of a 10-year NBA vet. Hell, better than the majority of NBA vets. Beasting on strength looks like Julius Randle did last year. Okafor has a nasty, nasty skill-based post up game with moves, countermoves, etc. Freshmen simply shouldn't be able to do the things he does. I've never seen it before. I think you'd legit have to go back to Shaq or maybe Chamberlain/Alcindor to find that level of offensive skill in a freshman (although two of those didn't get to play as freshmen, lol olds).

Okafor is a freak for having the offensive game that he does. He's a freak. Duncan's defense was better, but Okafor is still an above-average defender, just not an elite one.

i think the towns love is not a diss on okafor at all since it's obv how hard he's dominating and his skill level. personally i was a bit of a jahlil doubter due to his d but he's bigger and way more mobile that i thought so i'm basically sold on him as a lock allstar kind of guy. towns just appears to have the tools to be great at everything. it's still potential with him though, so it kind of depends on your level of gamble. easy to fall in love with toolz though, the gap in effectiveness at ncaa level so far is wide

i looked up duke's sched, do they really not even play kentucky reg season? why the **** not? lol ncaa

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...=150&year=2015

Duke, Michigan St, Kansas and UK play in doubleheader with the games alternating. Next year will be Duke-UK.

do you see okafor as a potential great danny? like i've seen duncan's name come up a bunch. i might need to reassess my opinion of okafor's ceiling if people think he's a chance to be that level of player

that's my main issue with 1. Okafor, i think he is a solid tier below guys like Towns athletically and if his lack of athleticism is already showing in his defense against people he dwarfs in size in the NCAA, it's going to limit his upside in the NBA.

athleticism is a tool for being good, it's not a requirement...he's a historically great freshman player...youre making it seems like hes 6'5 julius randle

hes huge and incredibly skilled and polished

hahahaohwow.jpg

smoke another one stoner

I do. Okafor has best player in the league equity. Not sure exactly how much, but his skill level is absurd, and it's a rare skill set. It's probably the most rare thing in the modern NBA - The true post-playing center who can iso as the center of an offense. There simply aren't a ton of those guys. Duncan, Shaq in the modern era are the best. Anthony Davis, incredible as he is, still doesn't have a dominant post game. Dwight Howard was a top 5 player in the league for a good amount of time but never REALLY had a great post game. It was still kind of painful to watch him iso in Orlando even with all those shooters around him - he looked awkward and stiff a lot. It's just a rare thing to have a dominant iso low post game.

I'll say something with a disclaimer - I don't know if I actually believe this yet. But I'll say it anyways just to generate discussion.

Okafor has the best offensive game for a freshman true post player ever. Full-stop, all-time.* It's just freaky how many moves he has. I'm used to pumping up post prospects like Brow or Nerlens where they play freaky defense and are great athletes, but are glorified dunk machines on offense. Okafor has Duncan's great 10-12 ft bank shot. He has a super nimble spin move. He's got a great running hook. He can do all this from both sides, with both hands. He can muscle through a guy physically or spin around and leave him in the dust. Freshmen just don't have that, like ever.

His defense isn't bad, it's just not elite like with recent prospects like Brow/Nerlens/Embiid. He's a good, above average defender in NCAA right now. Tall and long (6'11 or 7'0 at 18 years old, 7'3 wingspan. Could easily grow another inch). A pretty good athlete, he's not some no-jump-fatty, he's just not elite. Stocks are respectable but not great. I think he's reasonably good in the NBA on D.



*Noting that Chamberlain/Alcindor/etc never got to play as freshmen.

To be fair to Towns/Mudiay/etc, I've watched a ton more of Okafor than of them because I watch every Duke game. That might bias me, but I don't think it does too much. I love Okafor and Winslow as prospects. Not super in love with Tyus Jones yet as a prospect even though he's killing it for Duke.

I'm going to make an effort to watch more footage on Towns soon. Mudiay will just remain a mystery box to everyone. I feel like he'll be drafted somewhere between #3 and #6 and we'll spend 500 posts discussing him, even though there's just no way to tell how good he is. How the hell could we know?

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Troy-Williams-6460/

Troy Williams, SO SF Indiana University

Seems like a sleeper

Can't find great video on karl towns. plenty of HS or random international highlight tapes. Plenty of UK games, but they only show his made shots (and most games he's got like 10 points, so it's not that much).

I was hoping there'd be some more "all possessions/all shots" videos so I can see the good with the bad, not just him making 3 dunks, a jumper and a putback. Anybody got a good video of towns that shows more than that?

I mentioned this in the NCAA thread, but I'm cooling off on Winslow. He's still a great prospect, but I'm no longer fast tracking him as a top 5 pick. He's got some rough areas.

His shooting percentages are all down, and he's had a really rough stretch of games. Been pretty bad lately on offense, seems to coincide with conference play. Season numbers have dipped to 43% shooting, 36% from 3pt, 57% FT. Down several points across the board. Eye testing, he's also having more troubling finishing at the rim against conference opponents.

He started super hot - looked like a 3pt shooter and a dunktastic wing who was also great on D. He's still looking like a great athlete and great on D, but the shooting and the rim finishing have fallen off somewhat. He's still a great prospect, and will likely be a very good NBA player, but his offense is just going to need some time to fully develop. The signs are there, he's just not as complete/polished as I initially thought.

define sleeper imo.

I don't watch much indiana, so I'm taking DE's profile at their word. It scares me that they list nine positives and literally every one is a version of 'this guy is a freak athlete'. length, frame, jumping, athlete, transition, elevation, first step.

But the negatives are terrible shooter, average to bad instincts and feel, can't dribble/create well, loses focus, inconsistent defense.

I guess a second round flier is fine, but i dunno. is DE being accurate there? Doesn't seem to have an actual selling point other than ATHLETE.

Never saw this coming at the beginning of the year, but I think Devin Booker might end up being the best pro from this years UK team. Devin has such a sweet shot and shooting 50% from 3s for the year (22-33 from 3s since the UNC game).

(watch his shot at 5:18, not sure how to time stamp and post in thread)



That shot there has NBA written all over it. Can do everything else you expect a 6'6" SG to do.

How can booker get any shine when Cal insists on playing the clown bros over him?

https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBask...fference_2016/

Things that make scouts drool - 6'4 commit to colorado with a 7'6 wingspan. That blows my mind.

No idea if the kid can actually play, but I kind of want to watch to find out.

Stole that move from my man Curry. Not too many players in college can do a back cut like that. Takes impeccable footwork and ball handling.

Let's discuss how Deangelo Russell is the GOAT. Can play either guard position and has legit PG skills. Ohio State's offense runs through him and he is a great passer/distributor on top of being a great scorer.

He doesn't have elite athleticism I don't think but still a good athlete.

Don't see how he falls out of the top 5

DE has moved DeAngelo to #2 and rightfully dropped loltowns to #4

Lol at people who said Towns>Okafor

Towns blocks shots, shoots 3s, and is 18. He's probably going to be Channing Frye, but that ceiling.

Interesting stuff on DE's front page right now. Several d'Angelo videos, a good okafor breakdown, and a winslow vs anderson H2H video.

i've shaken off my doubts and am declaring TOWNS > okafor. his barriers to becoming good offensively in the nba are like nothing, he has skillz/size/athleticism to get it done and is shooting almost 80% on fts, his stats reveal he's already a strong passer for his size and his highschool vids do show off his potential as a focal pt since his handle seems good. his tovs are low in cbb so that's another good sign for his hands being good. i see his offensive trajectory as heading towards "very good" with little resistance and his rim protecting defensive chops are obvious

is this post supposed to be about turner? cos lol at frye being a likely outcome for towns for one he's made 2 3s this yr and is twice the athlete frye is

So now that my team sucks, any good wings in the 5-9 range? I keep hearing about that kid Herzonja, he seems a bit like a Klay Thompson clone no?

Kelly Oubre and Justice Winslow are your best bets