Your Preference For Lakers No.2 Pick

Imaginary? Who do you think he was facing up on when he did that drive and dunk? Karlito actually moved his feet quite well there and stayed in front of Towns, but Towns rose up and dunked on him.

 

Those handles look great with no defender, but if you just imagine a defender in front of him... who did he get around there? There's no change of direction, just one burst of speed. In reality, he'd run right into a defender and either get a charge or just lose the ball.

Still I am encouraged at his slimmer upper body actually. His legs are still too thin, but he was carrying a lot of extra weight up top that made it worse. His legs certainly look stronger too than he did during the season.

Watch his knees though on those jumpers. See how they bend inward? That's imperfect body mechanics and the bigger you are the more strain you put on your knees when you bend that way. It's not the end of the world (Kobe actually has similar lower body mechanics on his set shots) but it's not ideal either.

If nothing else I feel better about Towns' talent, but also quite certain that Minnesota doesn't pass on him. They've got Dieng and Pekovic. They need a kid who can shoot a little jumper to space the floor adequately. His mechanics on that wide open dunk looked good. He needs to keep filling out that lower body frame though. All that talent will only go so far if he's got weak legs.

 

But Dirk plays almost exclusively below the basket as well and has been hidden on defense for years. Towns is supposed to be a rim protector out of college meaning he's going to do a lot more leaping. Kobe is the same way when he catches the ball. It's not a big deal because there's not much lift. Not too much strain on those knees. It's when he really winds up to jump that it becomes an issue which he would have to do as a rim protector.

Like I said, his mechanics now look better than before but there's still red flags there.

 

What is so great about his 3 ball is that it's a set shot for him. No jumping = more endurance and less injury risk and more consistency.

 

That's fine, but even in the video he admits there's risk in that motion. Whenever your knees bend at that angle you're putting a load on ligaments that aren't meant to bend that way. Your ACL, MCL, and miniscus all are there to prevent your knee from moving medially or laterally too much. Any kind of action that encourages that motion is going to have a negative effect on that area.

To be fair, basketball in general is going to have a negative effect on your knees. It's just natural degeneration.

The eccentric/concentric motion thing is a finer point, but I'm not convinced it's a good idea to have your knees at that angle anyway. For those guys it's really not that big of deal for a few reasons:

1. Everyone in that video was lighter. That motion is exacerbated by heavier upper bodies. Towns is 6'11" and 250 pounds. Just by looking at him the ratio of upper body weight to lower body weight isn't good meaning he's putting a ton of strain on those knees basically at all times. Any motion that increases knee rotation isn't a good idea for a man his size.

2. Those guys aren't moving very far. Most of those jump shots aren't going very high off the ground meaning they're not loading all that much. Curry hardly gets off the ground, Harden you can fit a paper underneath him. Towns had similar form to Kobe's set shots which is why I wasn't all that concerned just not in love with the motion for a man his size.

3. Older players I'm not as concerned about. Even the difference between a 19 year old and a 25 year old is huge for your body structure. Their muscles are mature, their diets are different, their bodies are pretty much done growing. Towns is still developing physically which means extra internal strain on those ligaments.

Cool video though. I can see what he's saying being perfectly true for guards and even some forwards, but I don't love the idea of a kid Towns' age bending his knees that way at all. Like I said before though! I already see some progress. I'd love to see him focus on jumping and landing on two legs though and I'd love to see some of his leg workouts.

edit- I'm married to a physical therapist and I'm a trainer of young athletes lol so that's where I'm coming from on this end. I'm sure a basketball specific trainer at the higher levels could have a ton to teach me.

 

The more I see, hear of towns the more I want him. Chances are slim we get him though.

 

He's a good shooter but he's no AD. Sorry. I don't see his ceiling that high. I still prefer Okafor, but again, I would be happy to take Towns if Minny doesn't.

 

Pick one. Focus on just him. Youtube, espn, LB, discussions.....

Then, if we get that player, you know all about him.

If we get the other player, it's like Christmas morning and you get to investigate a whole new player and find what a great surprise he is.

 

I voted for Okafor last week in this poll because I didn't think we had a shot in hell of nabbing Towns. Now, all the buzz is that Flip prefers Okafor. Holy hell would we be ridiculously fortunate to have Towns fall into our laps at #2. Dear Lord, please let this happen!

 

Once Towns puts on that weight in his legs, he'll be a stud in the NBA. Until then he'll have trouble bullying anyone in the NBA and he'll unfortunately have a higher injury risk. The frame is THERE though. He just needs the proper training. All these guys prepping him for the NBA aren't doing him favors by NOT emphasizing lower body workouts.