Knicks · Duncan just showed why Okafor (page 1)

Watching Duncan last night convinced me that Okafor should be the Knicks pick. He did what big men are suppose to do. He dominated his 10ft radius around the basket. His footwork and ability to back his opponents down to get the shot he wanted were huge. Watching him play the post made me think Okafor would bring a lot of the same elements. Duncan isn't the high flyer on defense he always played great position defense. I see Okafor doing the same.

The more and more I think about it Town who I believe will be a good player too. Isn't going to be that player who demands doubles right out of the gate. I can see Okafor demanding doubles right away opening up the floor for his teammates. Put it this way you want your big man to do big man stuff. I'm not sure if Towns will be doing big man stuff on the NBA level. Getting a dominant inside presence might be more beneficial in the long run.

Okafor has to get better with the free throws which I believe he will. There is no reason why 70% free throws can't be achieved. He is more skilled than DeAndre Jordan so I believe he will get there. There is a luxury about a big man who plays in his area it's space for his teammates.

Vmart wrote:Watching Duncan last night convinced me that Okafor should be the Knicks pick. He did what big men are suppose to do. He dominated his 10ft radius around the basket. His footwork and ability to back his opponents down to get the shot he wanted were huge. Watching him play the post made me think Okafor would bring a lot of the same elements. Duncan isn't the high flyer on defense he always played great position defense. I see Okafor doing the same.

The more and more I think about it Town who I believe will be a good player too. Isn't going to be that player who demands doubles right out of the gate. I can see Okafor demanding doubles right away opening up the floor for his teammates. Put it this way you want your big man to do big man stuff. I'm not sure if Towns will be doing big man stuff on the NBA level. Getting a dominant inside presence might be more beneficial in the long run.

Okafor has to get better with the free throws which I believe he will. There is no reason why 70% free throws can't be achieved. He is more skilled than DeAndre Jordan so I believe he will get there. There is a luxury about a big man who plays in his area it's space for his teammates.

You absolutely nailed it on the head--perfectly. I thought the exact same way as you watching Duncan. Okafor doesnt have to be an overwhelming defensive C. He just has to be an efficient 10 foot radius PF. I can see ways we can fill out the C spot for cheap yet it can be effective. Thats why to me Im picking 1 or 2 without exception Towns and Okafor. The problem here is--of course we lost 10% of our draft positioning for NOTHING!!! and we ONLY have a 40% chance of this scenario. Im VERY VERY fearful that Jackson was talking about Stein--Im petrified of it. To me hes like plan J. But that was very insightful Vmart and I agree with you--you are dead on.

I like OK4 but Duncan brings it on both ends of the floor..Duncan has lost weight as he has grown older..Does OK4 have the discipline to do what it takes to be successful at the next level. He wasn't in shape in college...But I see the offensive similarities..

my three picks might be

1. Okafor
2. Russell
3. Towns

franco12 wrote:my three picks might be

1. Okafor
2. Russell
3. Towns

Id take Towns #1 Okafor #2. I think Towns offense can be very good and hes more diverse as a player.

BRIGGS wrote:

Vmart wrote:Watching Duncan last night convinced me that Okafor should be the Knicks pick. He did what big men are suppose to do. He dominated his 10ft radius around the basket. His footwork and ability to back his opponents down to get the shot he wanted were huge. Watching him play the post made me think Okafor would bring a lot of the same elements. Duncan isn't the high flyer on defense he always played great position defense. I see Okafor doing the same.

The more and more I think about it Town who I believe will be a good player too. Isn't going to be that player who demands doubles right out of the gate. I can see Okafor demanding doubles right away opening up the floor for his teammates. Put it this way you want your big man to do big man stuff. I'm not sure if Towns will be doing big man stuff on the NBA level. Getting a dominant inside presence might be more beneficial in the long run.

Okafor has to get better with the free throws which I believe he will. There is no reason why 70% free throws can't be achieved. He is more skilled than DeAndre Jordan so I believe he will get there. There is a luxury about a big man who plays in his area it's space for his teammates.

You absolutely nailed it on the head--perfectly. I thought the exact same way as you watching Duncan. Okafor doesnt have to be an overwhelming defensive C. He just has to be an efficient 10 foot radius PF. I can see ways we can fill out the C spot for cheap yet it can be effective. Thats why to me Im picking 1 or 2 without exception Towns and Okafor. The problem here is--of course we lost 10% of our draft positioning for NOTHING!!! and we ONLY have a 40% chance of this scenario. Im VERY VERY fearful that Jackson was talking about Stein--Im petrified of it. To me hes like plan J. But that was very insightful Vmart and I agree with you--you are dead on.

Its seems like everything coming out of Phil's mouth is there are 3 guys at the top he values as franchise cornerstone guys he wants to draft and groom. There is simply no way that WCS is one of those 3... there just isnt.

I have said similar things about Towns and that is met around here "my guy is better that your guy" type of fodder with people saying stupid things about OK4 to support their positions. But the reality is OK4 has a skill set that will help and NBA team win games.

franco12 wrote:my three picks might be

1. Okafor
2. Russell
3. Towns

This is my exact draft order and I would be thrilled to have any 3. The only reason I have Towns 3rd is he doesnt have that clearly defined skill set he can lean on making the transition, so its going to be harder for him. When things are harder its easier to get derailed in your development or frustrated and thats the start of why guys bust.

In terms of highest ceiling I rank them Towns #1 with OK4/Russell tied for 2nd.
In terms of NBA readiness I put them Russell #1, OK4 #2, Towns #3
In terms of bust potential I put them Towns #1, OK4 #2 and Russell #3

Thats my reasoning.... fwiw

All excellent prospects

Blocking shots, rebounding, and shooting are skill sets that Towns have and can rely on. However, I have no problem with people having Towns ranked 2 or 3, to each their own.

The biggest argument against OKafor was that the game has changed and we need to stay ahead of the curve... I'm sorry, but there are certain things that are timeless and great interior presence is one of those timeless basketball principles. You will never, ever hear me say that an elite post presence is no longer necessary. Quite the opposite.

SupremeCommander wrote:The biggest argument against OKafor was that the game has changed and we need to stay ahead of the curve... I'm sorry, but there are certain things that are timeless and great interior presence is one of those timeless basketball principles. You will never, ever hear me say that an elite post presence is no longer necessary. Quite the opposite.

exactly. And he's not a black hole. You watched him for 2 minutes at Duke and you see a guy who scores at will when single covered and looks to pass to open shooters everytime he's doubled. When thats backed up by scoring at 65% you have something special.

SupremeCommander wrote:The biggest argument against OKafor was that the game has changed and we need to stay ahead of the curve... I'm sorry, but there are certain things that are timeless and great interior presence is one of those timeless basketball principles. You will never, ever hear me say that an elite post presence is no longer necessary. Quite the opposite.

perfectly said bro. guys like ok4 are and always will be key players on winning teams. not all winning teams are built the same and having a guy like ok4 is definitely passing the league by, but its only because there are so few of them. we'd be lucky if we have a shot at taking him. although, i still prefer towns.

fishmike wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

Vmart wrote:Watching Duncan last night convinced me that Okafor should be the Knicks pick. He did what big men are suppose to do. He dominated his 10ft radius around the basket. His footwork and ability to back his opponents down to get the shot he wanted were huge. Watching him play the post made me think Okafor would bring a lot of the same elements. Duncan isn't the high flyer on defense he always played great position defense. I see Okafor doing the same.

The more and more I think about it Town who I believe will be a good player too. Isn't going to be that player who demands doubles right out of the gate. I can see Okafor demanding doubles right away opening up the floor for his teammates. Put it this way you want your big man to do big man stuff. I'm not sure if Towns will be doing big man stuff on the NBA level. Getting a dominant inside presence might be more beneficial in the long run.

Okafor has to get better with the free throws which I believe he will. There is no reason why 70% free throws can't be achieved. He is more skilled than DeAndre Jordan so I believe he will get there. There is a luxury about a big man who plays in his area it's space for his teammates.

You absolutely nailed it on the head--perfectly. I thought the exact same way as you watching Duncan. Okafor doesnt have to be an overwhelming defensive C. He just has to be an efficient 10 foot radius PF. I can see ways we can fill out the C spot for cheap yet it can be effective. Thats why to me Im picking 1 or 2 without exception Towns and Okafor. The problem here is--of course we lost 10% of our draft positioning for NOTHING!!! and we ONLY have a 40% chance of this scenario. Im VERY VERY fearful that Jackson was talking about Stein--Im petrified of it. To me hes like plan J. But that was very insightful Vmart and I agree with you--you are dead on.

Its seems like everything coming out of Phil's mouth is there are 3 guys at the top he values as franchise cornerstone guys he wants to draft and groom. There is simply no way that WCS is one of those 3... there just isnt.

I have said similar things about Towns and that is met around here "my guy is better that your guy" type of fodder with people saying stupid things about OK4 to support their positions. But the reality is OK4 has a skill set that will help and NBA team win games.

Is there any way that Phil has his eyes on the big man over in Europe K.Porzingis? He did have some of his team over in Europe looking at some of these guys and even S.Mills went over there. I know there's plenty of players they were looking at but who knows if this guy could be a guy they're looking at?

yellowboy90 wrote:Blocking shots, rebounding, and shooting are skill sets that Towns have and can rely on. However, I have no problem with people having Towns ranked 2 or 3, to each their own.

That's a skill set that will be consistent. Blocking shots, rebounding and defensive energy. You can count on Towns bringing that every game, regardless if he's scoring or not. OK4 has to score to be impactful. I agree, I would love to have both players, I'm just afraid of the Melo and Stat experiment that failed. Both players were offensive minded, they both took up the same real estate, and they were both defensive liabilities against athletic bigs (I'm talking Melo and Stat). OK4's game will be similar to Zach Randolph, with that old man bully ball in the post. But that's also what Melo does. Melo needs that room to operate in the post, instead of jacking up 3's all game, which will be the case if we keep adding more post up bigs. The good thing is that Phil is not building this team around his draft pick, so he could really pick anybody, regardless of Melo......That's probably the best idea. I can see most of the players mentioned as our first round pick (OK4, Towns, Russell, Winslow, Mudiay)

As Phil said plenty of times, we need players that wants to go to the rim....OK4 check. We need players that wants to play defense....Towns check.

We have so many holes, you can make a case for having both players on your team. But regardless who we add, it's free agency that will make or break this team for the upcoming season. And Phil will do his best to make sure this team has enough talent to make the playoffs. This is what I got from Phil's message. This pick will be great for the future, maybe even after Phil leaves, but his strategy is to build a championship team through free agency. I think his eyes will be on Kevin Durant. Especially if we drop to pick #5, he will try and package that pick for KD.....Or just wait until 2016 when he becomes a free agent. But KD is the Jordan or Kobe type that Phil needs to make his triangle system flourish.

newyorker4ever wrote:

fishmike wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

Vmart wrote:Watching Duncan last night convinced me that Okafor should be the Knicks pick. He did what big men are suppose to do. He dominated his 10ft radius around the basket. His footwork and ability to back his opponents down to get the shot he wanted were huge. Watching him play the post made me think Okafor would bring a lot of the same elements. Duncan isn't the high flyer on defense he always played great position defense. I see Okafor doing the same.

The more and more I think about it Town who I believe will be a good player too. Isn't going to be that player who demands doubles right out of the gate. I can see Okafor demanding doubles right away opening up the floor for his teammates. Put it this way you want your big man to do big man stuff. I'm not sure if Towns will be doing big man stuff on the NBA level. Getting a dominant inside presence might be more beneficial in the long run.

Okafor has to get better with the free throws which I believe he will. There is no reason why 70% free throws can't be achieved. He is more skilled than DeAndre Jordan so I believe he will get there. There is a luxury about a big man who plays in his area it's space for his teammates.

You absolutely nailed it on the head--perfectly. I thought the exact same way as you watching Duncan. Okafor doesnt have to be an overwhelming defensive C. He just has to be an efficient 10 foot radius PF. I can see ways we can fill out the C spot for cheap yet it can be effective. Thats why to me Im picking 1 or 2 without exception Towns and Okafor. The problem here is--of course we lost 10% of our draft positioning for NOTHING!!! and we ONLY have a 40% chance of this scenario. Im VERY VERY fearful that Jackson was talking about Stein--Im petrified of it. To me hes like plan J. But that was very insightful Vmart and I agree with you--you are dead on.

Its seems like everything coming out of Phil's mouth is there are 3 guys at the top he values as franchise cornerstone guys he wants to draft and groom. There is simply no way that WCS is one of those 3... there just isnt.

I have said similar things about Towns and that is met around here "my guy is better that your guy" type of fodder with people saying stupid things about OK4 to support their positions. But the reality is OK4 has a skill set that will help and NBA team win games.

Is there any way that Phil has his eyes on the big man over in Europe K.Porzingis? He did have some of his team over in Europe looking at some of these guys and even S.Mills went over there. I know there's plenty of players they were looking at but who knows if this guy could be a guy they're looking at?

I highly doubt it.

blkexec wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:Blocking shots, rebounding, and shooting are skill sets that Towns have and can rely on. However, I have no problem with people having Towns ranked 2 or 3, to each their own.

That's a skill set that will be consistent. Blocking shots, rebounding and defensive energy. You can count on Towns bringing that every game, regardless if he's scoring or not. OK4 has to score to be impactful. I agree, I would love to have both players, I'm just afraid of the Melo and Stat experiment that failed. Both players are offensive minded, they both take up the same real estate, and they are both defensive liabilities against the athletic bigs. OK4 will be similar to Zach Randolph, with that old man bully ball. But with Melo, it's kind of redundant.

As Phil said plenty of times, we need players that wants to go to the rim....OK4 check. We need players that wants to play defense....Towns check.

We have so many holes, you can make a case for having both players on your team. But regardless who we add, it's free agency that will make or break this team for the upcoming season. And Phil will do his best to make sure this team has enough talent to make the playoffs. This is what I got from Phil's message.

I don't think how a player pairs with Melo should be the biggest issue. I think you have to judge the player based on his skill set and potential. This draftee is supposed to be a Knick longer than Melo and will only be 23 yrs old when Melo's contract is up. You have to look long term with this pick.

Towns and Russell are great though not only because of their awesome ability but because they work we'll with this year FAs and Melo. I have all the prospects ranked the same on ability and potential, Russell and Towns are ahead of ok4 to me because they help long term and short term goals.

We'd be fortunate to land OK4. He fits the system perfectly. I think OK4 does have some Duncan qualities to him. We have to remember that OK4 is only 19 and not a finished product like Duncan, so there is a lot more growth to come for OK4.

I think Towns would also be a great fit. Towns has a different game but still very effective on both ends. Towns would provide that rim protector we need and could be effective from all areas on the floor. We can't go wrong IMO with either guy. I think also that Russell would be a great pick. Just gotta hope we land one of the top 3 spots.

I would be happy with Okafor. We just need to get a defensive rebounding center to match with him.

blkexec wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:Blocking shots, rebounding, and shooting are skill sets that Towns have and can rely on. However, I have no problem with people having Towns ranked 2 or 3, to each their own.

That's a skill set that will be consistent. Blocking shots, rebounding and defensive energy. You can count on Towns bringing that every game, regardless if he's scoring or not. OK4 has to score to be impactful. I agree, I would love to have both players, I'm just afraid of the Melo and Stat experiment that failed. Both players were offensive minded, they both took up the same real estate, and they were both defensive liabilities against athletic bigs (I'm talking Melo and Stat). OK4's game will be similar to Zach Randolph, with that old man bully ball in the post. But that's also what Melo does. Melo needs that room to operate in the post, instead of jacking up 3's all game, which will be the case if we keep adding more post up bigs. The good thing is that Phil is not building this team around his draft pick, so he could really pick anybody, regardless of Melo......That's probably the best idea. I can see most of the players mentioned as our first round pick (OK4, Towns, Russell, Winslow, Mudiay)

As Phil said plenty of times, we need players that wants to go to the rim....OK4 check. We need players that wants to play defense....Towns check.

We have so many holes, you can make a case for having both players on your team. But regardless who we add, it's free agency that will make or break this team for the upcoming season. And Phil will do his best to make sure this team has enough talent to make the playoffs. This is what I got from Phil's message. This pick will be great for the future, maybe even after Phil leaves, but his strategy is to build a championship team through free agency. I think his eyes will be on Kevin Durant. Especially if we drop to pick #5, he will try and package that pick for KD.....Or just wait until 2016 when he becomes a free agent. But KD is the Jordan or Kobe type that Phil needs to make his triangle system flourish.

The bold part is dead wrong. We saw teams commit to doubling him every second he touched the ball and the spacing he created out of double teams opened things up for other players. He also beautifully boxes out on every possession which often lead to one of his guards or Winslow getting easy rebounds so I totally disagree on that. He 100% needs more balance in his game but when you watch Duke you can understand why he played a pretty conservative defense. That being said he made some nice defensive plays down the stretch didnt he?
My beef with the guys touting Town's defense is I watch that style of play and what he was able to do and I think those situations will not be there in the NBA. I mean my god he played next to WCS who was the best defender in the league and Trey who's got a 7'5 wingspan and his huge. The style of play he was afforded in that system doesnt translate. He's going to have to make some huge adjustments in his approach. He will learn that the hard way. I would still be happy with Towns (duh) but his learning curve is going to be bigger. Much bigger. My fear with Towns is less that he's bust, and more that he's a guy that matures slowly. Look at Whiteside... he's 25. Thats young. Sometimes it takes time and the more to learn the more time.

fishmike wrote:

blkexec wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:Blocking shots, rebounding, and shooting are skill sets that Towns have and can rely on. However, I have no problem with people having Towns ranked 2 or 3, to each their own.

That's a skill set that will be consistent. Blocking shots, rebounding and defensive energy. You can count on Towns bringing that every game, regardless if he's scoring or not. OK4 has to score to be impactful. I agree, I would love to have both players, I'm just afraid of the Melo and Stat experiment that failed. Both players were offensive minded, they both took up the same real estate, and they were both defensive liabilities against athletic bigs (I'm talking Melo and Stat). OK4's game will be similar to Zach Randolph, with that old man bully ball in the post. But that's also what Melo does. Melo needs that room to operate in the post, instead of jacking up 3's all game, which will be the case if we keep adding more post up bigs. The good thing is that Phil is not building this team around his draft pick, so he could really pick anybody, regardless of Melo......That's probably the best idea. I can see most of the players mentioned as our first round pick (OK4, Towns, Russell, Winslow, Mudiay)

As Phil said plenty of times, we need players that wants to go to the rim....OK4 check. We need players that wants to play defense....Towns check.

We have so many holes, you can make a case for having both players on your team. But regardless who we add, it's free agency that will make or break this team for the upcoming season. And Phil will do his best to make sure this team has enough talent to make the playoffs. This is what I got from Phil's message. This pick will be great for the future, maybe even after Phil leaves, but his strategy is to build a championship team through free agency. I think his eyes will be on Kevin Durant. Especially if we drop to pick #5, he will try and package that pick for KD.....Or just wait until 2016 when he becomes a free agent. But KD is the Jordan or Kobe type that Phil needs to make his triangle system flourish.

The bold part is dead wrong. We saw teams commit to doubling him every second he touched the ball and the spacing he created out of double teams opened things up for other players. He also beautifully boxes out on every possession which often lead to one of his guards or Winslow getting easy rebounds so I totally disagree on that. He 100% needs more balance in his game but when you watch Duke you can understand why he played a pretty conservative defense. That being said he made some nice defensive plays down the stretch didnt he?
My beef with the guys touting Town's defense is I watch that style of play and what he was able to do and I think those situations will not be there in the NBA. I mean my god he played next to WCS who was the best defender in the league and Trey who's got a 7'5 wingspan and his huge. The style of play he was afforded in that system doesnt translate. He's going to have to make some huge adjustments in his approach. He will learn that the hard way. I would still be happy with Towns (duh) but his learning curve is going to be bigger. Much bigger. My fear with Towns is less that he's bust, and more that he's a guy that matures slowly. Look at Whiteside... he's 25. Thats young. Sometimes it takes time and the more to learn the more time.

I think someone pointed out a while ago that injury hindered Whiteside's growth more than anything.

fishmike wrote:

blkexec wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:Blocking shots, rebounding, and shooting are skill sets that Towns have and can rely on. However, I have no problem with people having Towns ranked 2 or 3, to each their own.

That's a skill set that will be consistent. Blocking shots, rebounding and defensive energy. You can count on Towns bringing that every game, regardless if he's scoring or not. OK4 has to score to be impactful. I agree, I would love to have both players, I'm just afraid of the Melo and Stat experiment that failed. Both players were offensive minded, they both took up the same real estate, and they were both defensive liabilities against athletic bigs (I'm talking Melo and Stat). OK4's game will be similar to Zach Randolph, with that old man bully ball in the post. But that's also what Melo does. Melo needs that room to operate in the post, instead of jacking up 3's all game, which will be the case if we keep adding more post up bigs. The good thing is that Phil is not building this team around his draft pick, so he could really pick anybody, regardless of Melo......That's probably the best idea. I can see most of the players mentioned as our first round pick (OK4, Towns, Russell, Winslow, Mudiay)

As Phil said plenty of times, we need players that wants to go to the rim....OK4 check. We need players that wants to play defense....Towns check.

We have so many holes, you can make a case for having both players on your team. But regardless who we add, it's free agency that will make or break this team for the upcoming season. And Phil will do his best to make sure this team has enough talent to make the playoffs. This is what I got from Phil's message. This pick will be great for the future, maybe even after Phil leaves, but his strategy is to build a championship team through free agency. I think his eyes will be on Kevin Durant. Especially if we drop to pick #5, he will try and package that pick for KD.....Or just wait until 2016 when he becomes a free agent. But KD is the Jordan or Kobe type that Phil needs to make his triangle system flourish.

The bold part is dead wrong. We saw teams commit to doubling him every second he touched the ball and the spacing he created out of double teams opened things up for other players. He also beautifully boxes out on every possession which often lead to one of his guards or Winslow getting easy rebounds so I totally disagree on that. He 100% needs more balance in his game but when you watch Duke you can understand why he played a pretty conservative defense. That being said he made some nice defensive plays down the stretch didnt he?
My beef with the guys touting Town's defense is I watch that style of play and what he was able to do and I think those situations will not be there in the NBA. I mean my god he played next to WCS who was the best defender in the league and Trey who's got a 7'5 wingspan and his huge. The style of play he was afforded in that system doesnt translate. He's going to have to make some huge adjustments in his approach. He will learn that the hard way. I would still be happy with Towns (duh) but his learning curve is going to be bigger. Much bigger. My fear with Towns is less that he's bust, and more that he's a guy that matures slowly. Look at Whiteside... he's 25. Thats young. Sometimes it takes time and the more to learn the more time.

IMO Towns has LOADS more game than he was allowed to show in UK. He's gonna be able to spread his wings in the NBA. I actually think he's gonna show his ability relatively quickly being more of the focus of the team he's on. We saw when he was the go to guy in the Tourney he actually produced for his team. I can imagine him in the Triangle being able to move around and score from different areas. So he's going to be different than OK4 but I think he can show offensive ability fairly early on.

On Defense I think Towns would get help and not be put in a situation where he's the lone defender near the basket. I see no reason why we wouldn't pair Towns with another big who can also block shots. Not to mention that I think we'll have Thanasis with the team next year. I think we'll be seeing a much stronger defensive team next year regardless of who we draft.

yellowboy90 wrote:

fishmike wrote:

blkexec wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:Blocking shots, rebounding, and shooting are skill sets that Towns have and can rely on. However, I have no problem with people having Towns ranked 2 or 3, to each their own.

That's a skill set that will be consistent. Blocking shots, rebounding and defensive energy. You can count on Towns bringing that every game, regardless if he's scoring or not. OK4 has to score to be impactful. I agree, I would love to have both players, I'm just afraid of the Melo and Stat experiment that failed. Both players were offensive minded, they both took up the same real estate, and they were both defensive liabilities against athletic bigs (I'm talking Melo and Stat). OK4's game will be similar to Zach Randolph, with that old man bully ball in the post. But that's also what Melo does. Melo needs that room to operate in the post, instead of jacking up 3's all game, which will be the case if we keep adding more post up bigs. The good thing is that Phil is not building this team around his draft pick, so he could really pick anybody, regardless of Melo......That's probably the best idea. I can see most of the players mentioned as our first round pick (OK4, Towns, Russell, Winslow, Mudiay)

As Phil said plenty of times, we need players that wants to go to the rim....OK4 check. We need players that wants to play defense....Towns check.

We have so many holes, you can make a case for having both players on your team. But regardless who we add, it's free agency that will make or break this team for the upcoming season. And Phil will do his best to make sure this team has enough talent to make the playoffs. This is what I got from Phil's message. This pick will be great for the future, maybe even after Phil leaves, but his strategy is to build a championship team through free agency. I think his eyes will be on Kevin Durant. Especially if we drop to pick #5, he will try and package that pick for KD.....Or just wait until 2016 when he becomes a free agent. But KD is the Jordan or Kobe type that Phil needs to make his triangle system flourish.

The bold part is dead wrong. We saw teams commit to doubling him every second he touched the ball and the spacing he created out of double teams opened things up for other players. He also beautifully boxes out on every possession which often lead to one of his guards or Winslow getting easy rebounds so I totally disagree on that. He 100% needs more balance in his game but when you watch Duke you can understand why he played a pretty conservative defense. That being said he made some nice defensive plays down the stretch didnt he?
My beef with the guys touting Town's defense is I watch that style of play and what he was able to do and I think those situations will not be there in the NBA. I mean my god he played next to WCS who was the best defender in the league and Trey who's got a 7'5 wingspan and his huge. The style of play he was afforded in that system doesnt translate. He's going to have to make some huge adjustments in his approach. He will learn that the hard way. I would still be happy with Towns (duh) but his learning curve is going to be bigger. Much bigger. My fear with Towns is less that he's bust, and more that he's a guy that matures slowly. Look at Whiteside... he's 25. Thats young. Sometimes it takes time and the more to learn the more time.

I think someone pointed out a while ago that injury hindered Whiteside's growth more than anything.

I am assuming that it was Briggs.

If his guys don't make it, its either the teams fault or injuries ... LOL

Whiteside has an injured head ... thats the problem