1) OK4 won the stat battle by a large margin, but although Towns only played 19 minutes because of foul trouble, he did have a +8 to -10 +/- advantage. I also thought that OK4 was not the force at the end of the game that he was earlier, and this is where Minny took over.

If this was the only game you saw before the draft, though, you very well might have taken OK4, although as stated, Towns was really handcuffed by the fouls.

Ironically, Saunders was supposedly a big fan of OK4, but his draft team wanted Towns.

Looks like the Lakers should have taken OK4, who was a lifelong Laker fan, I think. One of the Minny announcers actually brought up Darko's name when mentioning LA's decision to take Russell, although at the same time the OK4 performance did not change their opinion that the TWolves had drafted the right guy!

Kupchak was looking at his defensive issues, but OK4 will be adequate, though not dominant at this aspect of the game, from what I saw.

2) Towns did not really try to score much inside. Had a poor short turnaround that OK4 blocked- Towns got no lift on the shot, possibly because OK4's lower body hit into Towns' lower body as he was going up...Towns did seem to complain about something. I think he had one hook and 2 midrange Js. Did not go to the line.

Most of OK4's damage was on the inside, of course, but I think he hit 2 short Js. He also had some put backs. Got to box out on the guy...and it ain't easy. 5/7 from the line- he looks more confident taking the shots.

3) OK4 is going to be a divisive player in fandom in that he seems to get away with a lot of fouls, especially on offense. Guy has a ridiculous base, and loves to pound into an opponent, and uses his elbows a lot, too. Also has that move where he faces up, drives into a guy's chest with his shoulder, and then pulls back for a short J- something Melo does, too.

4)Towns deserved the fouls he got, which basically kept him out of the 2nd and 3rd periods, but OK4 easily could have been in foul trouble, and should have been.

5)OK4 has improved his fitness level- although you see it more on the offensive end, where he looks quicker doing his moves. Still does not run back on D that well. On one play he seemed to dog it, IMO, and Rubio caught up and veered in front of OK4 with the ball in an attempt to stop short and get a foul on him. As it turned out, Rubio got the foul as he was too obvious.

Ok4 does not jump that much on his blocks, but has very long arms. He had no impact at the end of the game where Wiggins took over and went to, or near, the basket to score.

Towns had a lot of time to rest following his battle against Drummond and Detroit, but I thought he looked slower than when I saw him earlier in the year. He battled a lot with OK4 in terms of base to base and hand fighting.

6) Longest shot OK4 took was a little bit inside the foul line...he missed. Towns' Js were in the 16-17 foot range.

7) You really saw the physical differences between Towns and OK4. Towns has those long legs, and when OK4 backs into him its OK4's butt or hip hitting Towns' thighs. Very hard to get leverage on OK4, who had a very low center of gravity AND a pretty impressive wingspan.

OK4 will eventually have the best hands of any big in the NBA...if he does not have them already. Seems like he's wearing those silicon gloves receivers are all using in FB.

As an aside- Noel was mostly a spectator. Played 32 minutes, and you really didn't feel his presence at all. Wonder if he is happy being there, especially now that OK4 has dibs on the offense in the paint, and is defending at the 5. Noel did not take a 3, had only 5 rebounds and a block, and did not seem like a former lottery pick who slid because of an injury (wasn't that the case?) and was almost ROY last year. He did get to watch Wiggins carry the TWolves on his back and win the game for them, though.

WaltLongmire wrote:One benefit of being retired is that I have the time to watch a game like the Minny/Philly game, which I only watched to see the OK4/Towns match-up. Given that fact that folks are already comparing KP to other draftees, this thread might be appropriate.

1) OK4 won the stat battle by a large margin, but although Towns only played 19 minutes because of foul trouble, he did have a +8 to -10 +/- advantage. I also thought that OK4 was not the force at the end of the game that he was earlier, and this is where Minny took over.

If this was the only game you saw before the draft, though, you very well might have taken OK4, although as stated, Towns was really handcuffed by the fouls.

Ironically, Saunders was supposedly a big fan of OK4, but his draft team wanted Towns.

Looks like the Lakers should have taken OK4, who was a lifelong Laker fan, I think. One of the Minny announcers actually brought up Darko's name when mentioning LA's decision to take Russell, although at the same time the OK4 performance did not change their opinion that the TWolves had drafted the right guy!

Kupchak was looking at his defensive issues, but OK4 will be adequate, though not dominant at this aspect of the game, from what I saw.

2) Towns did not really try to score much inside. Had a poor short turnaround that OK4 blocked- Towns got no lift on the shot, possibly because OK4's lower body hit into Towns' lower body as he was going up...Towns did seem to complain about something. I think he had one hook and 2 midrange Js. Did not go to the line.

Most of OK4's damage was on the inside, of course, but I think he hit 2 short Js. He also had some put backs. Got to box out on the guy...and it ain't easy. 5/7 from the line- he looks more confident taking the shots.

3) OK4 is going to be a divisive player in fandom in that he seems to get away with a lot of fouls, especially on offense. Guy has a ridiculous base, and loves to pound into an opponent, and uses his elbows a lot, too. Also has that move where he faces up, drives into a guy's chest with his shoulder, and then pulls back for a short J- something Melo does, too.

4)Towns deserved the fouls he got, which basically kept him out of the 2nd and 3rd periods, but OK4 easily could have been in foul trouble, and should have been.

5)OK4 has improved his fitness level- although you see it more on the offensive end, where he looks quicker doing his moves. Still does not run back on D that well. On one play he seemed to dog it, IMO, and Rubio caught up and veered in front of OK4 with the ball in an attempt to stop short and get a foul on him. As it turned out, Rubio got the foul as he was too obvious.

Ok4 does not jump that much on his blocks, but has very long arms. He had no impact at the end of the game where Wiggins took over and went to, or near, the basket to score.

Towns had a lot of time to rest following his battle against Drummond and Detroit, but I thought he looked slower than when I saw him earlier in the year. He battled a lot with OK4 in terms of base to base and hand fighting.

6) Longest shot OK4 took was a little bit inside the foul line...he missed. Towns' Js were in the 16-17 foot range.

7) You really saw the physical differences between Towns and OK4. Towns has those long legs, and when OK4 backs into him its OK4's butt or hip hitting Towns' thighs. Very hard to get leverage on OK4, who had a very low center of gravity AND a pretty impressive wingspan.

OK4 will eventually have the best hands of any big in the NBA...if he does not have them already. Seems like he's wearing those silicon gloves receivers are all using in FB.

As an aside- Noel was mostly a spectator. Played 32 minutes, and you really didn't feel his presence at all. Wonder if he is happy being there, especially now that OK4 has dibs on the offense in the paint, and is defending at the 5. Noel did not take a 3, had only 5 rebounds and a block, and did not seem like a former lottery pick who slid because of an injury (wasn't that the case?) and was almost ROY last year. He did get to watch Wiggins carry the TWolves on his back and win the game for them, though.

+- not fair Minny much better teammates. Okafor is the ROY so far. Towns 2nd Porzingis 3. all close Hey did you notice that Kaminsky had his uptick in play looks like he has supplanted Hawes. No other rookie including Mudiay have been close to the top 3. I think Turner and Booker will be really good. Also Portis got drafted by the wrong team.

KP has a bigger defensive impact then OK4 so you would have to believe that OK4s offense has been that Mich better then KP. I would put Towns #1 at the moment also.

BRIGGS wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:One benefit of being retired is that I have the time to watch a game like the Minny/Philly game, which I only watched to see the OK4/Towns match-up. Given that fact that folks are already comparing KP to other draftees, this thread might be appropriate.

1) OK4 won the stat battle by a large margin, but although Towns only played 19 minutes because of foul trouble, he did have a +8 to -10 +/- advantage. I also thought that OK4 was not the force at the end of the game that he was earlier, and this is where Minny took over.

If this was the only game you saw before the draft, though, you very well might have taken OK4, although as stated, Towns was really handcuffed by the fouls.

Ironically, Saunders was supposedly a big fan of OK4, but his draft team wanted Towns.

Looks like the Lakers should have taken OK4, who was a lifelong Laker fan, I think. One of the Minny announcers actually brought up Darko's name when mentioning LA's decision to take Russell, although at the same time the OK4 performance did not change their opinion that the TWolves had drafted the right guy!

Kupchak was looking at his defensive issues, but OK4 will be adequate, though not dominant at this aspect of the game, from what I saw.

2) Towns did not really try to score much inside. Had a poor short turnaround that OK4 blocked- Towns got no lift on the shot, possibly because OK4's lower body hit into Towns' lower body as he was going up...Towns did seem to complain about something. I think he had one hook and 2 midrange Js. Did not go to the line.

Most of OK4's damage was on the inside, of course, but I think he hit 2 short Js. He also had some put backs. Got to box out on the guy...and it ain't easy. 5/7 from the line- he looks more confident taking the shots.

3) OK4 is going to be a divisive player in fandom in that he seems to get away with a lot of fouls, especially on offense. Guy has a ridiculous base, and loves to pound into an opponent, and uses his elbows a lot, too. Also has that move where he faces up, drives into a guy's chest with his shoulder, and then pulls back for a short J- something Melo does, too.

4)Towns deserved the fouls he got, which basically kept him out of the 2nd and 3rd periods, but OK4 easily could have been in foul trouble, and should have been.

5)OK4 has improved his fitness level- although you see it more on the offensive end, where he looks quicker doing his moves. Still does not run back on D that well. On one play he seemed to dog it, IMO, and Rubio caught up and veered in front of OK4 with the ball in an attempt to stop short and get a foul on him. As it turned out, Rubio got the foul as he was too obvious.

Ok4 does not jump that much on his blocks, but has very long arms. He had no impact at the end of the game where Wiggins took over and went to, or near, the basket to score.

Towns had a lot of time to rest following his battle against Drummond and Detroit, but I thought he looked slower than when I saw him earlier in the year. He battled a lot with OK4 in terms of base to base and hand fighting.

6) Longest shot OK4 took was a little bit inside the foul line...he missed. Towns' Js were in the 16-17 foot range.

7) You really saw the physical differences between Towns and OK4. Towns has those long legs, and when OK4 backs into him its OK4's butt or hip hitting Towns' thighs. Very hard to get leverage on OK4, who had a very low center of gravity AND a pretty impressive wingspan.

OK4 will eventually have the best hands of any big in the NBA...if he does not have them already. Seems like he's wearing those silicon gloves receivers are all using in FB.

As an aside- Noel was mostly a spectator. Played 32 minutes, and you really didn't feel his presence at all. Wonder if he is happy being there, especially now that OK4 has dibs on the offense in the paint, and is defending at the 5. Noel did not take a 3, had only 5 rebounds and a block, and did not seem like a former lottery pick who slid because of an injury (wasn't that the case?) and was almost ROY last year. He did get to watch Wiggins carry the TWolves on his back and win the game for them, though.

+- not fair Minny much better teammates. Okafor is the ROY so far. Towns 2nd Porzingis 3. all close Hey did you notice that Kaminsky had his uptick in play looks like he has supplanted Hawes. No other rookie including Mudiay have been close to the top 3. I think Turner and Booker will be really good. Also Portis got drafted by the wrong team.

ok4 is ROY this year so far over towns? No chance. Towns has been better in every way.

The rookies are like two whole college seasons away from the end of this one.

Someone is going to emerge from the pack.

mreinman wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:One benefit of being retired is that I have the time to watch a game like the Minny/Philly game, which I only watched to see the OK4/Towns match-up. Given that fact that folks are already comparing KP to other draftees, this thread might be appropriate.

1) OK4 won the stat battle by a large margin, but although Towns only played 19 minutes because of foul trouble, he did have a +8 to -10 +/- advantage. I also thought that OK4 was not the force at the end of the game that he was earlier, and this is where Minny took over.

If this was the only game you saw before the draft, though, you very well might have taken OK4, although as stated, Towns was really handcuffed by the fouls.

Ironically, Saunders was supposedly a big fan of OK4, but his draft team wanted Towns.

Looks like the Lakers should have taken OK4, who was a lifelong Laker fan, I think. One of the Minny announcers actually brought up Darko's name when mentioning LA's decision to take Russell, although at the same time the OK4 performance did not change their opinion that the TWolves had drafted the right guy!

Kupchak was looking at his defensive issues, but OK4 will be adequate, though not dominant at this aspect of the game, from what I saw.

2) Towns did not really try to score much inside. Had a poor short turnaround that OK4 blocked- Towns got no lift on the shot, possibly because OK4's lower body hit into Towns' lower body as he was going up...Towns did seem to complain about something. I think he had one hook and 2 midrange Js. Did not go to the line.

Most of OK4's damage was on the inside, of course, but I think he hit 2 short Js. He also had some put backs. Got to box out on the guy...and it ain't easy. 5/7 from the line- he looks more confident taking the shots.

3) OK4 is going to be a divisive player in fandom in that he seems to get away with a lot of fouls, especially on offense. Guy has a ridiculous base, and loves to pound into an opponent, and uses his elbows a lot, too. Also has that move where he faces up, drives into a guy's chest with his shoulder, and then pulls back for a short J- something Melo does, too.

4)Towns deserved the fouls he got, which basically kept him out of the 2nd and 3rd periods, but OK4 easily could have been in foul trouble, and should have been.

5)OK4 has improved his fitness level- although you see it more on the offensive end, where he looks quicker doing his moves. Still does not run back on D that well. On one play he seemed to dog it, IMO, and Rubio caught up and veered in front of OK4 with the ball in an attempt to stop short and get a foul on him. As it turned out, Rubio got the foul as he was too obvious.

Ok4 does not jump that much on his blocks, but has very long arms. He had no impact at the end of the game where Wiggins took over and went to, or near, the basket to score.

Towns had a lot of time to rest following his battle against Drummond and Detroit, but I thought he looked slower than when I saw him earlier in the year. He battled a lot with OK4 in terms of base to base and hand fighting.

6) Longest shot OK4 took was a little bit inside the foul line...he missed. Towns' Js were in the 16-17 foot range.

7) You really saw the physical differences between Towns and OK4. Towns has those long legs, and when OK4 backs into him its OK4's butt or hip hitting Towns' thighs. Very hard to get leverage on OK4, who had a very low center of gravity AND a pretty impressive wingspan.

OK4 will eventually have the best hands of any big in the NBA...if he does not have them already. Seems like he's wearing those silicon gloves receivers are all using in FB.

As an aside- Noel was mostly a spectator. Played 32 minutes, and you really didn't feel his presence at all. Wonder if he is happy being there, especially now that OK4 has dibs on the offense in the paint, and is defending at the 5. Noel did not take a 3, had only 5 rebounds and a block, and did not seem like a former lottery pick who slid because of an injury (wasn't that the case?) and was almost ROY last year. He did get to watch Wiggins carry the TWolves on his back and win the game for them, though.

+- not fair Minny much better teammates. Okafor is the ROY so far. Towns 2nd Porzingis 3. all close Hey did you notice that Kaminsky had his uptick in play looks like he has supplanted Hawes. No other rookie including Mudiay have been close to the top 3. I think Turner and Booker will be really good. Also Portis got drafted by the wrong team.

ok4 is ROY this year so far over towns? No chance. Towns has been better in every way.

WaltLongmire wrote:

H1AND1 wrote:What's funny looking back is the conventional wisdom was that 2014 was supposed to be the best draft in a decade and 2015 was supposedly low on talent. Right now it seems 2015 has more impact players if the tea leaves are correct.

Lot of nice players in this draft, IMO.

Some of them are a number of years from reaching their potential, others are in situations where they are not being given as much playing time this early.

Seems like a very decent draft- superior to last year from what I can see so far, but time will tell.

For sure. Wiggins looks like the best player in the 14 draft. Jabari Parker was supposedly a 20 a night scorer coming into the NBA but hes been hampered by injuries and defensive woes. A lot of the other big names from 14 are struggling. Elfrid Payton looks like he can have a nice career but needs a jumper badly. Insane passer though.