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

Been lurking for awhile, glad to be here!

 

@lakerfan2 beat me to it. What evidence of injury does Towns have? None that I know of. A weak base is not a guarantee of injury problems.

 

@TIME hits it on the head as well.

Having a weak base isn't the death sentence it is being made out to be. I lean toward Okafor right now in the draft, but I'd be perfectly content with Towns if he ends up in a Laker jersey.

 

There are a bunch of new and talented BIG men in the league now and coming into the league. We need one to be competitive IMO. Good BIG man over good small man.

 

I mean, Anthony Davis wasn't necessarily the prime example of a "solid base" either coming out of college. He was a stick. He's certainly developed one over the course of his rookie season and look at him now.

 

Good points @TIME @lakerfan2 @ElginTheGreat @LTLakerFan

I understand all your points that Towns has no injury history, and that we need a big.

It's just that his post-moves (the prolonged hesitation before he jumps) resembles Bynum so much that it brings back bad memories.

 

I wasn't a Towns guy because of his low minutes in KU unlike Jahlil but looking at his highlights I see now the potential that people are talking about. He moves really well and very active on defense. He can defend the perimeter unlike JO. I'm ok with either guy.

 

The hesitation is a few factors:

1. They aren't as confident with their post moves yet. Guys like Okafor know what they are going to do and don't hesitate because they know they aren't going to miss. Towns and Bynum don't have the same development and aren't sure about themselves. Something they can easily work on.

2. Towns and Bynum are on the athletic side of bigs. It takes time for them to gather to go up. Okafor doesn't get off the ground that much and he knows that. So he just uses his size and whatever little lift he has and goes up, no hesitation.

3. Lastly, this will be on the latter end of his development, he's pump faking to get a clear shot.

 

i keep waiting to see a detailed analysis of okafor's "defensive issues". he seems big and pretty mobile, with a huge wingspan and high hoop iq. rare that this equates to a bad defender.

 

2nd Pick.............$5.050 (approx)
Julius Randle.......$3.132
27th Pick............$1.200 (approx)
Jordan Clarkson...$0.845
Tarik Black..........$0.845
34th Pick............$0.525

In 2016, their cap holds would combine to be around $13M or so, with about a $91M cap. I don't expect us to hold on to everyone, but this gives us ENORMOUS flexibility.

 

If they don't get moved, we're going to be asking #2, Randle, & Clarkson to be our 4th through 6th best players over the next few years. If one or more of them becomes a star, even better. We're in such a great position.

 

Those are definitely some valid factors, but I honestly think it's more a lack of coordination.



At 1:07 of this video, his legs almost get tangled up. The knees look like they'd lock up and I cringe.

 

I couldn't see anything at 1:07, but nothing out of the ordinary for me. I think Towns can learn a few more things in terms of how he blocks shots and footwork. He's definitely got a lot of room to grow.

 

You're right, it's really just a gut-feeling. Nothing more nothing less.

 

I went back to the first page of this thread when I started it back in October; Okafor is the first guy I started researching coming out of high school. He dominated at that level, came into college, dominated and won the national championship. He's so efficient offensively; Okafor's offense and WCS defense are the two surest things in this draft.

 

We should make a poll of who we prefer.

 

Sure. Start the thread. Although, my preference could change from day to day...LOL!