2015 Nba Draft Discussion: Russell, Nance Jr., Brown

Very excited about the future of Lakers Basketball. Hoping for Okafor (although I will naturally still be pumped about KA Towns, or even moving the pick if you get a guy like Boogie), but the one reservation I have of Okafor is the FT shooting. Has to work on it and get better, don't have the numbers in front of me, but I believe he was around 50% from the line last year. Can't have that. No one wants to see Hack-A-Jahlil, that's for sure

 

I'm guessing both will have great careers but one will be bitter because of freezing temperatures and will go back to NJ

 

I almost had a heart attack when they pulled the Nuggets at the 7 spot. I saw some yellow peek out of the corner and my heart sank.

Not losing the pick to Philly was good luck enough, but moving up to the 2 spot... lovin' it.

I think I'd rather have Towns over Okafor but I'm cool with either one.

 

Jahlil rocking purple/gold at the Draft Lottery....

 

Personally I'd rather have Okafor. Nowhere near the rim protector Towns is though. Okafor has tree trunks for legs, and appears more sturdy than Towns. Don't know why, but Towns' lower body worries me. He reminds me alot of another teen phenom big man from New Jersey that wore the P&G. But don't get me wrong, if he falls to us at 2 we gotta take him

 

^^^ CLF, this is not directed at you. therealdeal has long pointed it out and others have agreed. Was typing while you were posting.

OK. Seems like silly question but if peeps on LB can spot potential, even likely problems with Towns' disproportionately smaller legs and loading, jumping, landing .....if he falls to us at 2, is it probably "likely" that the pro trainers on the staff will have noticed it too and make sure that he does as much as possible to retrain and add strength and bulk in the legs? Look what they're doing with Julius as they noticed his mechanics.

As well I would hope and expect Byron will be smart enough, trainers too, after what happened with Kelley last year with his hamstring 1st day of the insanely physical and running practices ..... to give all of the roster that's coming to camp fair warning about the shape they're going to need to be in, in advance. Competition is going to be crazy intense this year in practice.

 

I literally cringe watching Towns' highlight videos and seeing him jump up and down. It looks awkward to me. That is something our trainers will need to address if he comes to LA.

 

Am I the only one that prefers Russell or Mudiay over Towns?

His weak legs remind me of Bynum so much that I'm having allergic reactions.

 

I'll be honest, I'm not as worried about this as others seem to be. I agree with you. I think with proper training we can minimize those kinds of risks.

 

I think Towns can avoid being like Bynum because he seems to have a better work ethic and attitude than Bynum did.

 

I hear you, but a weak base is genetics and I'm not convinced a good work ethic can overcome that.

 

I'm sorry, I understand Towns "looks" like he's ready to be injury prone, but he doesn't have a history of injuries. AT ALL.

Bynum had a gait issue, knee issues to begin with in high school. He was also overweight and did not have a strong basketball background. He was pretty much a big ball of clay we turned into a decent center. Additionally, both of Bynum major injuries were terrible accidents that could have happened to anybody.

Towns is already a good player. He went through a long NCAA season and tournament under a great Kentucky program, and never had any problems. It's not like Embiid or something with knee injuries to begin with.

 

Towns definitely has a lot more aspects to his game on offense than he got to show at Kentucky.