NBA Draft Watch

NBA Draft Watch:

     Karl Anthony Towns is going to be a star in the NBA for a lot of years.  He’s big, quick, and athletic and looks like he cares.  There was a sequence in Minnesota’s last game in which he scored on a drive and Jim Peterson, the play by play announcer, was going on about what a star he was going to be.  Towns rewarded his reverie by blocking a shot and then coming down the other way and draining a sweet jumper.  I’m really impressed by Town’s complete skill set.  His jumper looks good and pure and he’s got actual moves in the post.  He’ll be able to back down smaller players and yet still has the quickness to go around bigger ones.  He seems patient and calm and yet still has enough intensity that I have no worries about his drive to get better.  To be this complete a player and this young an age is very rare for a big man.

     I was a big fan of the Knicks picking Porzingas in the lottery.  He’s really tall and can shoot and has some actual NBA skills already.  I’m fine with him taking a few years in order to grow into his body and develop into a viable NBA player. After having watched Mudiay play a few games I’m starting to wonder if the Knicks didn’t make a huge mistake.  Were Mudiay playing in NYC right now people would be freaking out.  The newspapers would be anointing him the next greatest thing in the world.  There’s nothing the New York area likes more than a point guard.  Instead, Mudiay is in Denver where he’s flying a bit under the hyperbole radar.  I’m sure you’ll hear this 10,000 times this season but he’s already got a classic NBA body.  He’s big and solid for a point guard and moves really well.  I’m impressed by how well he sees the floor.  It’s funny but I feel like players can train and learn so much these days.  Their bodies can get better.  Their shot can improve.  But they’re either born with the passing gene or their not.  It’s almost impossible to learn court vision and timing.  My gut instinct is that Mudiay has that point guard gene.  I’m less surprised by that then by the fact that his jumper looks really good.  Coming into the draft the narrative was all about how he can’t shoot, but his form is excellent and the ball comes out of his hands quite easily.  Unless I’m missing something this dude is going to be a huge star for many years.  Sorry NYC.

     I’m going to wait on deciding much about D’Angelo Russell.  I watched The Lakers play the Kings in order to see what I could about him but at this point he doesn’t do much.  He’s got a nice handle and his jumper seems like down the line it’ll be pretty good.  He appears to have the good point guard passing gene but his role on the Lakers so far is extremely limited.  He’ll take a couple dribbles and pass it off and fade to the 3 point line in order to watch Kobe or Clarkson.  I’m a little worried that Russell has landed on the wrong team to develop his talents.  I don’t see anything can’t miss about him due to the fact that he seems naturally slow to me.  His athleticism seems a bit below average and that can be overcome in a variety of ways but nothing about the Lakers convinces me that their staff is prepared to develop talent either through training or through over all style of play.  I’m guessing Russell will have an ok rookie season.  He definitely sees the game well, but given the types of players and coaches around him I think he’s years away from meaningfully impacting the outcomes of basketball games in the NBA.

     I’m sure Okafor looks good but I just haven’t been able to get myself to suffer through a Sixers game in order to check him out.  Numbers-wise, he can’t possibly have a bad rookie season because Philadelphia pretty much needs him to score on every possession.  He’ll get as many shot attempts as he wants.  A bunch of the other lower picks seem like nice contributors so far but I’m going to wait a little bit to write about them until they’ve got more minutes on the floor.  For instance, Cauley-Stein looked pretty good in the Sacramento LA game that I watched.  In fact, I was quite pleasantly surprised by Sacramento in general.  It’s easy to forget that George Karl is a good coach amidst all the TMZ type reporting that has followed the kings.  I think I’ll watch a few more of their games closely and write something up on them and the other teams I’m intrigued by.  I know the NBA season can seem super long but I really love the first few weeks or so when every team is still thinking this could be the year they turn the corner.  Right now it seems like there’s a bunch of teams playing hard and believing in themselves.  Of course, it just takes one bad losing streak and the fragile psyche of the teams used to losing sets in and mediocrity or worse becomes the norm.  Stay tuned…