Karl-Anthony Towns VS Kristaps Porzingis

[NovU]

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These guys are not just going to be good but GREAT. And they're already more than just good anyway.

Remember Wall vs Irving vs Lillard thread? As everyone loves Versus discussion, let's have one on these two young bigs that will turn the league upside down in the future. Move aside, Andre Drummond, your time's up already.

[stereoxide]

I hope that Jahlil can get his mind straight so this can be a three-way battle.

[mp3]

KP! KP! KP!

Love this kids so far, KAT has being great too and will probably run away with ROY but I think KP will be right there chasing him down.

Okafor has the skill set and I think with Brand and Carl Landry around him he will grow up fast and be just fine, I feel a lot better about the Sixers now that they have someone in front office that is clearly not trying to tank.

[Andrew]

It's great to see both of them showing such promise right out of the gate; Okafor too. The big numbers aren't always there, but they're still producing quite nicely for their rookie campaigns. You'd probably like to see Porzingas and Okafor shooting a little better (Towns is over 50%, Okafor probably should be as well), but it's not uncommon for players to be a little inefficient and not have their best shooting performances their first year. For what it's worth, Porzingas' percentages are around what Kevin Durant put up in his rookie season, and better than LeBron James in his first year.

Definitely some legit skill on display, combined with the potential to be even better in the future. I think the 2015 Draft could end up being a pretty good class after a few years, headed up by some star bigs.

[air gordon]

Zinger's TS% is average and his PER above average. Impressive considering he is supposed to be a project.

[NovU]

It seems Zinger's mediocre advanced stats translate really well to real life performance though. His Real Plus Minus stats is quite impressive, way above Towns', suggesting his presence to the team is very positive regardless the individual numbers. This is great for the Knicks because most rookies do hurt their team more than helping. The Knicks really do benefit a lot from having Porzingoat on the court and his large role within the team makes the fact all the more intriguing especially since he's only a rookie. Imagine what kind of impact he would be making in a few years if developed right, Tim Duncan vers.2?

Karl-Anthony's individual stats is just wow. Anthony Davis better watch out type of #.




Okafor? Sorry but no. He still needs to prove himself before we could include him in this discussion. He's still got a long way to go.

[Andrew]

What does he need to do to prove himself? His current numbers aren't too shabby.

[NovU]

Yeah, based on his numbers we know he could* be good whereas Kristaps and Karl-Anthony are already more than good and are invaluable to their teams. Jahlil hurts his team, the other two don't. Kristaps and KAT also play hard defense and can be the backbone of defense system. Jahlil, no. He's got some work to do before he could join this discussion imo.

[air gordon]

would Okafor's numbers be "not shabby" or "shabby" if he was on the knicks or t'wolves?? or vice versa with KAT and KP?

[NovU]

Who knows, Okafor's role has been different as he's been the focal point on both ends of the floor whereas KAT and KP were given a lighter role since they have established star teammates.

Okafor oriented offense and defense have been disaster. And he's hindered Noel from playing defense too, hence leading to a disastrous record (gonna be fun to see new Okafor with real PG Ish not short SG). Could this guy provide positive playing time for the Knicks team like KP has? I doubt it. KP is better off the ball player, a better defender, better shooter with better range, a much better shot blocker, and bigger/lengthy below rim presence that could be match up nightmare. And these are what the Knicks have needs for. What would Okafor provide better? Only thing I could think of is POST UP moves/skillset. I doubt the Knicks need him to do so. They already rely heavily on Melo/Afflalo iso post up plays which aren't that efficient anyways. Last thing they'd need would be another heavy yet ugly post up player. Good grief, check this kid's RPM, he's dead last in the league as a center and second last Bargnani has significant lead over this kid. Okafor remains to be a big project. Who knows what Hinkie would have done with him this offseason. I am not labelling him a bust but both Mudiay and Okafor are definition of Big Project. KP and KAT are at another level at this point.

[Spree#8]

Okafor's been better lately, on both ends.

On defense, his rotations are visibly improved and he just looks more engaged. His defensive ceiling is still limited of course, but smart positioning and knowing where to be coupled with his size and length can at least neutralize his negatives. He gets most of his blocks under the rim without even jumping.

On offense, in the 9 games he's played with Ish, he's averaging 17 PPG on 59.5% FG and less than 2 TOPG in 26.3 MPG. His jumper appears to be developing rapidly, by the way. In the last game alone, he knocked down a fadeaway, at least two off-dribble jumpshots and one with a foot on the 3-point line. It's all about getting him into position to go to work earlier in the shot clock (big problem early in the season), which I suppose is a combination of a competent PG and Jah improving his conditioning.

Things have been coming along, even with Noel and Oak on the floor at once. Not sure if it's Smith, or D'Antoni, or them just growing together and adapting. Probably some combination of all three.

As for RPM, ESPN doesn't even say how exactly it's calculated, so I refuse to put a whole lot of stock in it. In this case, though, PI RAPM happens to tell a similar story (hope I'm looking at the right one, not at the boxscore-garbage pseudo-RAPM). According to it, Bargnani, Wroten and Bennett are the worst players in the league, with Okafor being 6th worst (ahead of another Sixer, Stauskas). His negative impact up to this point can even be deduced from simple on/off, but I expect it to noticeably improve during the 2nd half of the season.

[mp3]

Ish Smith has made the world of difference to Okafor's overall game agreeing with Spree here, the Sixers didn't have anyone that could get him the ball in motion before they seemed very stagnant on offence but I hate to say it but I think we need to give.... Mike D'Antoni some credit here for helping out with "IshSanity" there offence looks very much like a Mike-D product

[NovU]

PHI @ NYK is being played as we speak right now.



a couple minute later...





Both rookies playing solid so far tho.

[mp3]

Watching....

Happy MLK Day everyone by the way!

Think the Sixers will take this one, there showing so much more heart!

Both Rooks look great here but I think KP looks more like the (early) complete package and this has nothing to do with do with me being a knicks fan either!

[NovU]

Wow. Carmelo's 3 forced overtime then Covington banked 3 to force another overtime. So close for the 76ers yet another loss.

Looks like Okafor played pretty good. Why was he limited to 25 minutes tho?

[mp3]

According to the Sixers coach Brown he said that he sat out Okafor for the 4th + both OT quarters because Noel and Ish had great chemistry going.

I really didn't think he sat for that long! But yeah it was pretty much like being benched at half time when you have scored 20 points, very strange as we really didn't have an answer for his scoring either.

[NovU]

Indeed odd. I guess Okafor hasn't earned enough trust.

In the meantime KAT continues to impress. Kid played pretty good tonight against AD. I think his numbers might mimick AD in a few years. Look at his numbers tonight. KAT made a 3 and hit 5 for 5 from the line. Pretty neat for an athletic sizable pf/c.

[mp3]

KAT is my pick for ROY so far but I think KP will be a bigger force in years to come only because there has not being many players that have had his skill set in the nba I mean like the total package like KP has shown.

Dirk has the offence and the rebounding but not that shot blocking skill, if Phil Jackson compared KP to Shawn Bradley he was spot on in regards to defence because that kid just has that knack for blocking shots

[benji]

KAT is a completely different level of player potentially. KP is going to be something else, first next-Dirk to live up to it, but KAT has legitimate transcendent possibility because he's two years behind in development in comparison. Shame about Anthony Davis deciding he didn't want to be that player.

Both have been amazing at good usage while low turnovers for bigs and FT rate. For 20 year olds!

Minnesota probably has zero doubts about that Love deal now.

[NovU]

At first I thought KAT is on different level too. But Porzingoat is unique. He's bigger yet athletic. 7'3" small forward. Have you not seen the vine vids just above? That's what wings do. KAT in some ways is similar, guard like big and that's why he's awesome. But falls tidy bit short from 7 foot. I wouldn't say either one is significantly better than the other at the moment. We do know however they are above everyone else though.