Ss&r: Why Karl-anthony Towns Is The Best Fit For The Lakers

eh, I don't buy the theory that the center position will be Tyson chandler from here on out. and I think you're diminishing marc gasol's value and conveniently ignoring that tim Duncan has always been a traditional low post center and remains one to this day with his five rings.

I mentioned the three because this seems to be some sort of fan/media tipping point on the towns/okafor debate (towns' offensive versatility). I suppose the other is defensive versatility, though I'm not sure I want to depend on a scheme that involves my center switching pick and rolls with pgs, no matter how mobile he is, and again, m. gasol and Duncan have both played the pick and roll effectively despite being relatively slow afoot.

anyway, if centers are just good for those four things, shouldn't WCS top the draft board?

teams like wings and penetrating pgs right now because they are likely to generate good looks at the basket and at the three point line. but a really good post player does that, too. the key difference is that in end-game situations, it can be difficult to the get the ball to a big. but that's always been true.

in short, I don't see anything about today's game that precludes a franchise player who plays within 15 ft of the basket at pretty much all times.

 

Fair enough, but if you need to think about the effectiveness of prime Shaq in 'today's game,' we will never agree on this subject. If the game has evolved that much it is no longer the same sport.

 

The last two trip to the Finals Duncan has been used in an entirely different way than the first 3 championships. WCS isn't at the top of the draft board because Towns, Okafor, and Russell are better prospects. Towns is a rim protector, though. Okafor could be the best big to come out in the last decade, and Russell is a flat out stud, IMO.

Agreed with your last sentence. However, it depends in the context you provided; scheme, personnel, etc; that said, I'd run post-ups as a secondary option and get Randle and Okafor on the move instead of giving the defense time to setup; that's where you can exploit the small ball approach that teams run.

We need to get both Okafor and Randle on the move, and if post touches arise within that context, great.

 

Marc Gasol...one of the best post players in the game...shot 40.5% from the field in last year's playoffs, and 39.5% from the field in this year's playoffs. Zach Randolph shot 40.4% from the field in the playoffs last year, and 42.3% this year. Both guys had significant drop offs when the screws were tightened. I don't know why the post game is viewed as a reliable stalwart when jumpers aren't falling. It's not, and it's not the only alternative to what GSW does.

 

I think Okafor & Randle would be exceptional in Horns for example, with their ball-handling ability. Pau & Howard ran some nice 4/5 PnR action out of that in their year together, and Pau wasn't nearly the threat to drive to the basket that Randle is.

You can also create some great ISO looks for each of them out of it, again because of their ball-handling ability. One being left-handed and the other being right-handed helps too, in that you can put each on an elbow where going to their strong hand gets them right to the basket.

This is one of the way you can do that.



Post entry to Okafor.



Randle downscreens for Kobe. Clarkson could as well and make it a stagger screen if you wanted, but if the intention is to create a quality ISO look for Okafor, you need him to protect against transition. I digress...



This moment right here is a great opportunity for Okafor to go to work in a one on one setting. Randle setting the down screen has cleared space for Okafor, who can utilize his vast array of moves without bodies in the way. After the screen, Randle settles into the short corner and dives to the basket if Okafor draws the attention of the 4. (think of how DeAndre Jordan gets a lot of his baskets) He also has shooters in logical places if the help comes from there. You can run the same type of action with Randle getting the ball and Okafor setting the down screen as well.

You can't do this sort of stuff with most bigs, because they lack the ball-handling ability to create a good shot in space like this. Few teams have one that can do it. Having two would be very difficult to defend.

Teams won't be able to switch many screens against us either, unless they want their 2's & 3's defending Okafor & Randle.

Kind of stuff I'm talking about...

 

Courtney Lee shot 40% from PO's in the regular season; 46% in the PO's. However, Allen is a lost cause. We just philosophically disagree. That's ok. We'll see what happens...

 

Not sure why we'd want to put Okafor in the high post where he's quite limited. Unless we're looking at a different player, his strength is clearly in low post. He doesn't have the speed to take advantage of that 'moment' you speak of.

 

really hoping the wolves take okafor but i highly doubt it

trust me, i'm ecstatic that we're going to end up with either of the two but i think towns can make an impact faster than okafor. to me, okafor is still a few years away from reaching his true potential. but then again, if there's any team that can completely screw up such an easy draft choice it's the wolves

 

Sure he does...unless we're just seeing different things.

Edit. I wouldn't say speed. But his agility, footwork, coordination, could all work in various sets. He's more than just a back to the basket big. He has a legitimate face up game.

 

Okafor is a Top 2 draft pick because of his post game in the low post. You take that away from him, and you're left with a slow-footed, unathletic big man with questionable defensive and shooting abilities. Basically, he'd be a borderline lottery pick, a worse prospect than Bogut.

I'd see your point if you're talking about Towns, but your usage of Okafor is equivalent of buying a Ferrari to go camping.

 

No problem. We'll just agree to disagree.

 

I don't have a problem either. I just find it amusing that we can have polar opposite opinions on this subject.

 

Very much so. I'm just telling you; I could also show you a video of exactly what a high post isolation will give you; Jackson ran it a ton in GS and it didn't produce great results. Grant it, the players he was trying to post up weren't Okafor by any stretch of the imagination; however, the point still remains, it didn't work too well.

I have a feeling that what Byron will try, and we'll see how it works.

 

When I think of a high post ISO play, I think of a player like Kobe that can be a triple threat. Not a big like Okafor that is a terrible shooter. No matter how good his footwork is, defenders will not respect his jumper and sag off him. What's he going to do then?

 

Use his ball handling and size to make a move to the basket, even if they sag off of him he can take one dribble in to a quick post-up and work from there. We saw Randle do the same thing from the elbow during summer league/preseason. With space, his first step/spin move is tough to stop, same holds true for Okafor.

Of course, I think that Okafor's face up game is better than we saw at Duke. I think he actually has a solid handle that will let him attack from the high post in addition to standard low block post-ups.

 

Check out this first play by Randle on an elite defender in Green; Green sagged off of him, but Randle still decided what he wanted to do and Green couldn't stop him. That's the sign of a very good offensive player; you can't stop a very good to great offensive player from they want too go.

The constant movement/motion in a scheme where it will allow Okafor to be on the move from 15 feet on out with the ability to attack; we'll say they sag off of Okafor; you actually think their going to stop him from getting where he wants too go? I sure don't It would help, though, if Randle would develop a jumper, and Okafor develops that 13-15 bank shot that Timmy has...

 

soo...we agree then? the game has not changed so much that a player like okafor can't be a franchise-level talent? and that one could play a randle type and an okafor type together and win? because that's all I'm saying.