NBA Thread

gilesfan said:
Exactly right. Love is a great shooter like Bird, but he's not the facilitator nor can he take people off the dribble like Bird. Love is a great rebounder, OTOH, but loses points for lack of defense and grit.
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I find it hard to believe that Love lacks grit. He looks like he has grit. He fits all the traditional qualities of grit.
 
This.

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zitothebrave said:
I find it hard to believe that Love lacks grit. He looks like he has grit. He fits all the traditional qualities of grit.
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Maybe I just have it in for Love from his time in Minnesota. He's a very good player. Like gilesfan says, the guy can rebound with the best of them on both ends of the court. Really works for position and has that unteachable sixth sense of where the ball is going to end up. He's a good straight on shooter with very good range.

Now, his weaknesses that were ever apparent in Minnesota. He had a lousy supporting cast and an incredible will to win, which led to a number of problems in that he took too much on himself and didn't stay within his capabilities. Was a bit of a cry baby and didn't hesitate to throw his teammates under the bus. Can't take guys off the dribble. Was pretty much a black hole when he got the ball down low in the two-man game as he wasn't creative enough to involve other guys (and again, the other guys were pretty lousy).

His challenge in Cleveland is that he's dropped to third banana to some extent behind both James and Irving and that probably doesn't sit well with him. If he plays within himself, which he can comfortably do in Cleveland with all the talent surrounding him, and doesn't chafe at a reduced role in the amount of time the ball is in his hands, he could end up in the Hall of Fame.
 
I think his problems initially in Cle were that the coach thought he was a post up/iso guy. WHen they decided he was better use hitting 3s, they spread the floor a little more.
 
Chad Ford
@chadfordinsider

Workout over. Towns one of the most freakishly talented bigs I've ever seen. Not sure what his weakness is in this setting. 1h

People are talking about Towns draining threes at a high percentage clip in his workouts as well. Minnesota is going to have a freakish team with Towns/Wiggin/Lavine. I just wish that Rubio could stay healthy.
 
thethe said:
Chad Ford

@chadfordinsider

Workout over. Towns one of the most freakishly talented bigs I've ever seen. Not sure what his weakness is in this setting. 1h

People are talking about Towns draining threes at a high percentage clip in his workouts as well. Minnesota is going to have a freakish team with Towns/Wiggin/Lavine. I just wish that Rubio could stay healthy.
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Yup. I don't like Lavine, but Towns and Wiggins should be deadly in a couple of years.
 
chop2chip said:
Yup. I don't like Lavine, but Towns and Wiggins should be deadly in a couple of years.
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I don't think Lavine is a good player or anything. Just speaking strictly on the overall athleticism of the team. Its pretty awesome and makes them a definite league pass watch if Rubio is healthy running the break.

Overall though I think its clear that Towns is going #1. It will be interesting what the Lakers do a 2.
 
Sounds like LA will take Okafor provided Towns goes 1, although im not sure how Randle/Okafor fit given both clog up the paint.

I can see the argument for taking Russell though.
 
thethe said:
I don't think Lavine is a good player or anything. Just speaking strictly on the overall athleticism of the team. Its pretty awesome and makes them a definite league pass watch if Rubio is healthy running the break.

Overall though I think its clear that Towns is going #1. It will be interesting what the Lakers do a 2.
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I think Towns has a chance to be unlike any player the league has ever seen.

The thought of a player like Rudy Gobert that could have 3 point range is freaky.
 
I think its becoming obvious Minny takes the potential in Towns over the more sure thing in Jahill. But, Chad Ford is ridiculous. He goes after this once in a generation type thing every couple years. His proof this year is KAT making 4 out of 5 threes in a workout? Willy Stein also drains a bunch of threes in this same workout. https://twitter.com/Mike_Schmitz/status/605436076602171393

Ford, BTW, is the same guy that goes back and edits his mock drafts years after he made them. I remember Chad Ford saying Darko had the best workout he'd ever seen in his life. Others:

Chad Ford: Yi Jianlin of China. Is putting up huge numbers in the Chinese playoffs in front of a number of top NBA scouts and exec who have been over there the last few weeks. One scout, who claims to have seen Yi over 20 times, said that he has him ranked as the 3rd best prospect in the draft behind Oden and Durant. He's a 7 foot skilled athletic kid with a beautiful jump shot. Sounds like another Andrea Bargnani.

If he can find the right home (as I discuss in today's blog entry), Yi has the potential to be every bit the star Yao is, both in America and abroad.

I think the pre draft hype maching of KAT is getting a little out of control. Very talented guy for sure, but I don't think he has the defense of Gobert. I'm not sure he's quite athletic as people are making him out to be. He can dribble well for a center and probably hit mid range shots better than most centers, but I'm not sure he's going to be a 3 point threat.

I read a great scouting report the other day. Okafor is very good at posting up, Towns is much better at putting the ball on the floor. The report was much higher on Okafors defense than he gets credit for (KAT is still better defensively). Okafor got props for his bulk in the paint and ability to protect the rim by moving his feet. Okafor was much better as a help defender.
 
Everyone knows what Okafor can do well. The problem is that the game is moving away from that style of play unless the big can cover all over the place. Okafor is going to be in trouble when opponents go small.
 
gilesfan said:
I think its becoming obvious Minny takes the potential in Towns over the more sure thing in Jahill. But, Chad Ford is ridiculous. He goes after this once in a generation type thing every couple years. His proof this year is KAT making 4 out of 5 threes in a workout? Willy Stein also drains a bunch of threes in this same workout. https://twitter.com/Mike_Schmitz/status/605436076602171393

Ford, BTW, is the same guy that goes back and edits his mock drafts years after he made them. I remember Chad Ford saying Darko had the best workout he'd ever seen in his life. Others:

Chad Ford: Yi Jianlin of China. Is putting up huge numbers in the Chinese playoffs in front of a number of top NBA scouts and exec who have been over there the last few weeks. One scout, who claims to have seen Yi over 20 times, said that he has him ranked as the 3rd best prospect in the draft behind Oden and Durant. He's a 7 foot skilled athletic kid with a beautiful jump shot. Sounds like another Andrea Bargnani.

If he can find the right home (as I discuss in today's blog entry), Yi has the potential to be every bit the star Yao is, both in America and abroad.

I think the pre draft hype maching of KAT is getting a little out of control. Very talented guy for sure, but I don't think he has the defense of Gobert. I'm not sure he's quite athletic as people are making him out to be. He can dribble well for a center and probably hit mid range shots better than most centers, but I'm not sure he's going to be a 3 point threat.

I read a great scouting report the other day. Okafor is very good at posting up, Towns is much better at putting the ball on the floor. The report was much higher on Okafors defense than he gets credit for (KAT is still better defensively). Okafor got props for his bulk in the paint and ability to protect the rim by moving his feet. Okafor was much better as a help defender.
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Other than low-post scoring, what does Okafor do better than Towns?

So because Okafor is a better post scorer makes him a safer prospect even though Towns is a better defender, rebounder, shot blocker, FT shooter, and jump shooter than Okafor? And better athlete?
 
I'm a bit torn as a long-time and long-suffering T-Wolves fan. I don't watch the college game much anymore, but have seen both Okafor and Towns. I think Okafor is exactly what the T-Wolves need on the offensive end of the court. Deng is a good defensive center and rebounder, but the Wolves have no #4 right now. Thaddeus Young is a good player, but he's like a #3.5.

That said, if Okafor can't play defense, he'd fit right in with the rest of the T-Wolves sans Deng. Team is terrible on the defensive end. No one stops the ball . . . ever.

T-Wolves will get a good player and my guess is there will be some shuffling. Lavine is a superior athlete, but the T-Wolves have a log jam of #2.5s on the team now (Wiggins, Muhammad, Lavine, Martin, Budinger). Lavine is clearly no point guard and doesn't fit unless they start running the offense through Wiggins. Rubio's inability to stay on the court has been problematic and he was showing signs of having a complete offensive game last season (can't play a lick of defense) before his ankle injury. It's kind of a stew of distinctive but mismatched ingredients right now.
 
50PoundHead said:
I'm a bit torn as a long-time and long-suffering T-Wolves fan. I don't watch the college game much anymore, but have seen both Okafor and Towns. I think Okafor is exactly what the T-Wolves need on the offensive end of the court. Deng is a good defensive center and rebounder, but the Wolves have no #4 right now. Thaddeus Young is a good player, but he's like a #3.5.

That said, if Okafor can't play defense, he'd fit right in with the rest of the T-Wolves sans Deng. Team is terrible on the defensive end. No one stops the ball . . . ever.

T-Wolves will get a good player and my guess is there will be some shuffling. Lavine is a superior athlete, but the T-Wolves have a log jam of #2.5s on the team now (Wiggins, Muhammad, Lavine, Martin, Budinger). Lavine is clearly no point guard and doesn't fit unless they start running the offense through Wiggins. Rubio's inability to stay on the court has been problematic and he was showing signs of having a complete offensive game last season (can't play a lick of defense) before his ankle injury. It's kind of a stew of distinctive but mismatched ingredients right now.
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How did Wiggins look on D last year? He was said to have a lot of ability there, right?
 
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